1/30/20 Boy Keeps Developing Other Talents?

    While Javalina keeps trying to be the strongest boy in central Texas, Boy keeps picking up skills he learns online.  His newest hobby surprised me.  Over the Christmas break, he asked us to hook him up with the basic tools for working with leather.  I was all "What?" "why?"  He then showed me this mostly ASMR "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" video where the person hardly talks and instead you get to enjoy the sounds made while cutting leather, shaping it, drawing on it, sewing on it, in slow motion, and every other aspect of making leather goods.  Basically, he said he was going to learn to work leather and make stuff to sell alongside his 3D printers.
    Fast forward to this past weekend and he showed up with a load from the Tandy Leather store (it helps that they opened this store that sells all this stuff like a mile from the house).  He then spent the weekend since Sweetie worked weird hours Saturday and Sunday, she had to be in to work like at 5:00am and work until like 2:00pm.  This meant she went to bed early Friday and Saturday, so there he was, like an old leather crafter of a bygone era.
    I find this almost surreal in that he has taken over the guest room upstairs with now three 3D printers set up in various tables (they have a fourth if they ever clean up the one Girlie's BF manhandled), they bought a new one over the Christmas break at a price of like $1500.  He said they used money made from the products they had made from selling stuff they made, so the beast is feeding itself.  But the funny part is he is all high tech with the printers and then he is sitting on his table with a piece of leather strap he is turning into a belt with red stitching all the way around.  I am guessing if he is successful with this, he will try making a tablet protector which he was looking at a video of.
    I love that instead of worrying about the boy out drinking or doing other stupid shit, he spends his weekends trying to learn new crafts.  They seem to be endless on YouTube, he has had me looking at videos on my own.  I have been looking at cobblers taking apart expensive old worn shoes to replace the bottoms and after a shine and some care, the shoes end up looking almost brand new.  I saw a guy pick up a couple of worn out ugly leather bags for like $20 a piece and he turned them into the beauties they once were by cleaning and treating the leather with some chemicals.  Boy is at thrift stores all the time, I am sure he will try to look for old bags and bring them back to life, he already has a love for bags, these videos just help him see the beauty in an old ugly one, perchance.
    They might need warehouse space just to keep up with their hobbies.  I was looking at the cost of warehouse space for his printers if they ever get going, but maybe he just needs space so his hobbies can keep growing.

1/29/20 Javalina Is Slowly Growing?

    I have no doubt this boy will be our strongest family member in a couple years.  He just started lifting weights last summer, I really didn't push him/allow him because of all the dumb stuff on how it stunted growth, which now health people are calling BS.  It's ok, he is not really behind many people, and actually he thinks himself pretty hot shit in the gym.  Now that they are in off-season for football, they mostly workout in the gym and he keeps being impressed at how not strong some people are.  Whereas he keeps pushing himself and even occasionally working out at home to stay ahead, he notices like specially the other linemen who he feels should all be stronger because they are his size.
    He comes home talking about taking this guy under his wing and now he is taking another lineman under his wing and he is going to make him stronger.  He tells me, maybe looks for a little advice, that the kid is big but he can't seem to get past lifting the one plate (biggest plate, weigh 45 pounds each and you load two on the bar).  I did push him all summer and told him it was important for him to at least be lifting this much weight to make sure he was on par with the other kids in there.  Turns out, maybe this was a little more than kids his age are doing for bench press as hardly anyone was there, other than the older varsity kids.
    squat is a lift I never cared for, but I did buy him a real nice squat rack this past summer and he got antsy watching some older guys he kind of looks up to doing two plates (225 pounds), so this last week he said he went for it while his lifting partner is barely doing one plate (135 pounds).  I tell him I worry that he is going to hurt himself because he is trying to do too much, or showing off plus they don't use belts and I was taught that anytime you go with the heavy weights, you should be wearing a belt to protect from hernias.  He is a teenager and of course, he knows everything.  I just hope he doesn't hurt himself because this is how he defines himself right now and it worries me a bit, but he seems to be keeping it under control.
    He then took his muscles on tour and challenged his cousin over at my in-law's house and I was surprised to hear he beat him 4 times arm wrestling.  This kid is kind of a giant, taller than me, only a year out of high school and I did not expect it.  I barely beat him last time, so I am not looking forward to going again.  DD came over Sunday and of course, he challenged him and it was nice that he still put my young beast in his place.  Although they went at it for a good 40-50 seconds.  I am quietly trying to get back in the flow, I hate thinking that probably by next summer, he will be the family strong guy and I'll just be the grey beard around here.  I have to fight for my position for at least another year.

1/28/20 Shouldn't There Be A Flight Ban From China?

    Trump has a ban on a few countries to protect us, he says.  Why is it so hard to ban people from China though?  They currently have a virus (although I am sure the minute I talk to the pro Trumpers at work, I am wrong about this and it is just a simple flu the media is blowing out of proportion) that is killing people, 81 so far, yet they continue to let these asshole college kids go back and forth.  I'm sorry you miss Mama or whatever, but fuck that.  Close the borders until the virus gets under control or it is understood better, there is nothing hard about that.
    Wife likes to turn on the news in the morning while she gets ready for the day (she is in town for a conference) and we are hearing of the virus possibly spreading to A&M here in Texas as a college kid went home and came back and also another college kid did the same in New Jersey or wherever.  What the fuck, we are willing to start a pandemic because we are too nice?  First off, these jack-offs come here, learn all our latest technologies and then take their knowledge to other countries, which is bullshit.  I don't have a problem with people from other countries, but if you are coming here to learn and take up space in our universities, you should plan on staying and becoming members of our society, not run back and forth, in this day and age, that is like having sex with everyone you encounter and then running to another population and spreading your sickness to an innocent group, that is how I see air borne diseases.
    What I don't get is there is a supposed ban on countries like Iran and yet, I keep meeting people from Iran all the time.  I believe the dentist that worked on Javalina a couple months ago was from Iran, and I thought he had such a cool background working in China and Africa before coming to the US, but now I think he could have been a carrier to some disease... Hmm?  Then this weekend, we went to the mall to pick up a couple of watches that Boy got batteries replaced on and the sales lady had a slower almost sexy cadence to her talk.  The sales guy was teasing her how she should know spanish to deal with customers here, maybe a stab at my Mexican ass, but she smiled and said she spoke four other languages but not Spanish.  I asked her where she was from and she said Iran.  I just said cool, but Wife agreed, she was a pretty lady.  That has been kind of my little theory that those jerks from the middle east keep their women veiled and in burkas because they tend to be attractive and they are greedy with the beauty.
    I guess that last bit was off topic, but I just keep wondering, how do these people get here if there is a ban on their countries?  Did they get here pre Trump and if they try to visit now, will they be trapped over there?  It seemed pretty easy for Trumpy boy to make this blockade, how about really protecting us and stop the Chinese from travelling for a while.  I am sure that by the summer this coronavirus will be gone like SARS, birdflu, avianflu, and others.

1/27/20 Looking At this Love Language A Little More?

    I finally got Wife to slow down and take the Love Language quiz and as expected, she came out the highest in liking "Acts of Service".  To show her I am her man, she had said she wanted me to take care of dinner for Friday and in the same sentence said "no chili", just as I thought some chili and homemade cornbread would be great.  I went to my other standby and made some meat on the grill.  She was already happy about me handling the meal, but then asked for Jalapeno bombers, which are kind of a pain in the ass to make, but what can I do if that is what makes her happy?
    I bought a pack of bacon, counted the slices (16), then bought the small pack of cheese, and 8 big jalapenos.  I always cut them in half and remove most of the seeds, that's where the hot part exists, and give them a washing, just in case.  I then put a bit strip of that Mexican cheese (it doesn't melt in the heat) and wrap it with the bacon.  A toothpick holds each one closed.  Since I got home from the store around 3:30pm, I had time to make them before I went and picked up Javalina on Friday afternoon and then placed them all on a tray and covered them in foil in the fridge.
    This was a huge time saver, because I managed to take Javalina for the test drive of the car and then we got home about 6:30pm.  Wife was supposed to get here around 7:45pm, so I had about enough time to cook.  I ran more meat on the grill than I planned as I found some chicken breasts and some thin steaks in the fridge which Wife thought a good idea to defrost on Tuesday night when she came in all of a sudden.  I put them on the grill so they wouldn't just go bad in the fridge.
    But back to the Love Language thing, she also came in last with gift giving, which is great, because exchanging gifts between us has never been magical.  Usually, my mom or my brother ask her "what did I get her for her birthday or even Christmas and she usually says nothing or a purse, when I am really trying.  They just get in her business because she lives down there with them, not that they are extra nosey.  I am called cheapskate and all sorts of colorful insults because I don't go out of my way, but it turns out that we are not gift people.  Like we always say, if she needs something, she goes and gets it right away, there is no build up or excitement of waiting until the holidays.  I am the same way, rare is the item that I get that truly moves me.  My mom tries to give me shirts, which is very nice, but usually don't fit or aren't the right color but she keeps trying.  I think this is kind of an eye opener, to know this and have it defined like this.
    I notice now that Boy spends most of his time with Sweetie, I really enjoy the times that he decides to go out with us to either run a couple errands or have dinner.  I have never minded paying for everybody, even when he brings Sweetie along, but we do expect some of your attention, tell us what you are up to, what you're planning.  You can't just sit on your stupid phone the whole meal, what we both want is your undivided attention.

1/26/20 Feeling Disconnected?

    I am not sure what is going on but these last few weeks have felt like time is standing still, sort of.  Normally, we are going week in and week out and I kind of go by looking at pay check to pay check, but even that gets squirrely now and then.  It's like since we went on Christmas break we haven't gotten paid even though we have.  Part of that is because I get paid every two weeks and Wife only gets paid on the 15th and the last day of the month.  This means that twice a year, I get paid three times in a month and she only gets two pay checks.  This is fine, but the pay periods don't line up and it feels wrong.
    We are doing ok financially, but then the Christmas bills have started showing up and even tough we know what we are doing, it still feels like a big shocker to see a new $550 charge at Best Buy and a new $650 charge at Target.  It seemed easy buying boy some $400 shoes on the card, but it sucks when the bill comes a knocking.  This year was not as bad as other years have been, we did pretty good as far as staying on a budget, other than a couple things.
    I mentioned looking at the Mustang yesterday and for the first time in a long while, I got excited about getting a vehicle for me, kind of.  The car is cheap and people are making me nervous, Javalina's friends say it must have been involved in a drug bust, then DD came over Sunday morning and he said maybe the car comes from one of those flooded regions.  I am having doubts, why would the dealership sell it at a loss?  My thought is that they don't realize that on their website, they have the car listed as a manual transmission and that can turn a lot of people off, but even as I was dismissing it, I looked through the pics and the gear shifter was that of an automatic, so that is why I think it hasn't been bought by someone already.  The car is selling for $16,500 now, without the Lo/Jack, I am adding a 3yr/ 36,000 mile warranty for $1695, which the salesman said was at cost to the dealership, the first offer was at $2595 for the same warranty.  It is supposed to cover most everything, but tires, battery, and any other consumables, like hoses, or the cover of the convertible, although the mechanicals that lift it and lower it are included.
    If we get it, I can drive it for about a year before Javalina would need a car.  He walked in there not caring about no freaking car to absolutely needing to have it after the test drive and we suck if we don't get it and why do we do this to him all the time?  He was a basket case in his attempt to make sure we get the car.  Right now, we are supposed to close on our refinance at the end of the week.  We have the car on hold until Saturday, so I am hoping in a perfect scenario, we can close on the refinance paperwork on Friday afternoon and then we can go get the car on Saturday.  Wife starts classes again on Saturday, so it will all be touch and go until then, but that is the best plan I got.  I figure if Javalina takes the Mustang permanently, I will be free to choose another car afterwards and if he doesn't want it, I will have a convertible which is something I enjoy quite a bit.  This will be our third, well fifth convertible that we have owned.

1/25/20 Should We Add A Mustang To Our Stable?

    I have never thought of myself as a speed guy.  As a heavy person, I figure the car does not want to go any faster than it has to.  That being said, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday that I went and decided to test drive a 2018 Mustang I found accidentally while Boy was showing me some cars at Leif Johnson Ford.  I mainly stick to Maxwell Ford because Leif Johnson is a pain in the ass, as it has one website for three locations.  But the Mustang in question just seemed too good to be true.  It is a convertible, which I am a huge fan of, it is loaded like most cars with the smaller engine are not.  The car has leather seats, AC and heat in the seats, a huge screen that runs the radio, navigation, telephone, Spotify, rear view camera, and anything else the phone can do.  It has diagnostics much more detailed than Wife's car, such as the tire pressure at each tire, the temperature of the cylinder heads, temperature of the different fluids on the dash, paddle shifters, settings on the transmission for track racing, drag racing, and even for driving in the rain/snow.
    All this and it is not a V8, so it is not meant for racing, but I think the smaller engine still produces over 300HP, and MAN, you could feel it on acceleration while stepping on the pedal.  It is not all positive, it is a used car, but the guy showed me the window sticker and it listed for $39,000.  It has 59,000 miles and is a 2018, so it is selling for $17,000.  I noticed on the website they had it listed as a manual which made me think it wouldn't work, but then the gear shifter in the picture is an automatic.  That might be part of the reason it has sat on the lot for two months and why they have lowered the price so much.  The paint job in the direct sunlight looks like a car that has been around a bit, but in the afternoon when the sun wasn't glaring, it looked sexy and black.
    Ultimately, I would like the car to be for Javalina.  He had been a bit of a wet sock saying "no, I want an Edge like my brother, I don't like cars.  I told him to just come and test drive this one, I knew the power and the coolness of the car would get him.  I lowered the top and we got in.  Right away, he started coming around, this was not Grandma's VW Beetle, which is a Girl's car.  This is what douchebags and bros drive, I floored it out of the parking lot onto the feeder road on Ben White and he gave a little "what the F...!"  He smiled and I knew he liked it.  I softly said I just hit 80 in a couple seconds jumping onto the highway, in heavy traffic and he just said "whoa!"  I never drive like that, so it was very uncharacteristic, but Big Boy loved it.  As soon as we got back to the lot, he was all involved in the conversation and asking of he could drive it in the parking lot or if we could take it to the parking lot where we have been practicing driving.  I said no.  You can drive it if we buy it, not before.  He kept glancing and saying he wanted to jump in "Dukes of Hazzard style" since it was sitting there in convertible mode and just as I thought of him and his friends, he was texting them saying he had gotten the ride for his Jedi council or whatever they are calling themselves these days (he has nerdy friends).

1/24/20 Loratadine Is A Game Changer?

    I have finally found something that helps me daily.  They say that the longer you live in Austin, the more likelihood you will develop allergies to cedar and other things.  I remember when I moved here I was not allergic to anything, I even remember playing disk golf and hitting the trees with my disk and huge clouds of pollen would fall out and I wouldn't have a reaction to it.  Fast forward 10-15 years and man, my nose never dries up.  I swear it is so bad and continuous that even when I am dreaming and fixing to have a sex dream I have to stop and find something to blow my nose (yes, honestly, in my dreams I run around all snotty).  

    I also have this bad attack of sneezing, this time of year, where I will sneeze up to around 10 sneezes in a row.  It is especially hard when I am trying to drive to stay focused on the road.  I can sit here in the morning and blow my nose and two minutes later blow my nose again, and then again and again.  I figure there must be a finite amount of nasal drip, but then again, I might be filled in all my sinuses and nostril and wherever else it sits.

    So on Monday I was at about my wits end, I have been taking allergy relief pills, generic from HEB.  The bottle says Diphenhydramine HCL 25mg Antihistamine.  Wife would give me up to two and was part of the reason I walk around drowsy all the time.  Javalina and I went to Target and before we left, I stopped over in the allergy pill section and I was trying to find something different, I have tried Claritin pills before and not noticed anything, the HEB stuff is comparable to Benadryl Allergy Ultratabs, so I wasn't sure what to get.  I was explaining to Javalina what my symptoms were and to chill and give me a chance to look, but when the Chubbs is hungry, he only cares about himself.  He grabbed the Loratadine, which turns out to be the generic Claritin and threw it in the basket.  He had grabbed the 10-20 pill bottle and I decided it was cheaper/better to buy the 70 pill bottle at like $13.

    I took one and almost instantly, my nose stopped running, and I didn't sneeze while getting ready for work.  I don't know if it is related, but even my peeing seems excessive where I am going every 2-3 hours and after I took a pill, I made it from when I got to work until I came home without going to the bathroom, at 2:00am, about 6 hours.  I then went back and made it until I got home without going.  I slept like a baby, again, I've been getting up every two hours on the dot, and yet I slept 4 hours, from 10:00am until 2:00pm, got up and peed, then woke up at 4:30pm, when I needed to get up to pick up Javalina.

    I am still blowing my nose, once in a while, but I am not doing it constantly.  I don't know if it is helping me with my sleep, but I did feel better Tuesday and Wednesday, even with only 6-7hours sleep than I usually feel.  I am going to keep taking this magic little pill for awhile, I am liking how I feel.

1/23/20 When Does A Partner Get To Say No?

    Last night, I was more bored than anything, Wife called after she had been in a board meeting or something that kept her at work later than usual.  I usually have a wild thought in my head, which is the only way to keep going in this mundane same thing day in and day out.  Just last week she thru out the thought that we should keep the Excursion as a back-up vehicle, if I decide to buy something new.  I've been really interested in these "van life" vlogs people post on YouTube and the thought occurred "are there Excursion Conversions?"  I already own the vehicle and it is 15 years old, it would be cool to do something with it and keep it indefinitely.
    I know there are shops that will convert a 2-wheel drive to a 4-wheel drive vehicle and if I want it to be our "camper", it should be able to traverse the world without hesitation, so it should be a 4x4.  This is where we ran into our disconnect, like a mother talking to her fat slow child or a Director at a small school talking to a dopey teacher she just flat out said "you aren't doing that!"  I'm sorry, but if any of you were in my position, don't you feel like saying "who the fuck are you to tell me what I can and can't do?"  I don't mean any disrespect and of course I love Wife, BUT, I work and we make roughly the same amount of money right now, and we both know I won't go doing something stupid.  Have fun with the conversation and go along with it for a minute.  Do you always have to be strung as tight as a guitar string?
    Her conversation headed into a you don't need a 4x4 so I don't think you should be buying one.  Ummm, I never tell you what you should and shouldn't do, why do you think you are Miss Bossy Pants all of a sudden?  Aesthetically, the 4x4 trucks are nicer looking, and yes, they do tend to cost more, but who wants a boring base model?  I've been very disciplined and I've kept driving the Excursion way past its best days.  The only reason it still looks good is because I keep fixing things on it, like replacing the leather seats in the front driver and passenger when they were torn.  I've also replaced the radio, the driver sun visor, and soon the passenger sun visor.  I probably will replace the passenger door inside panel, knuckleheaded Javalina put his weight on the door pocket and broke it.
    What if I decided I am Mr. Authority and I said "no, we aren't going to Disney, we already went 6 times!"  I feel stupid making proclamations like that.  or "no, don't look at the Tellurides on your own, I say you can't buy one!"  The hubris of one person to tell another grown up what they can and can't do.... it amazes me to think I would tell her what to do.  Wow!

1/22/20 Love Language?

    I was talking with Sweetie before I came in to work yesterday and after a while she mentioned if I knew what Wife's Love Language was.  I said I didn't know what she was talking about and then she explained that a study came out (actually some 25 years ago, she thought it was new), and the way we express and receive love is broken down into five major categories.  I thought it sounded a bit like warm smoke up my buttocks, but after listening to her, I agreed that there was something to it.
    I have noticed that in these last few years that Wife has been working out of town, she can be downright pleasant and her normal self if I do some simple chores, such as sweeping and washing the clothes.  I never really thought it mattered if I swept the kitchen or not, I can't really tell, same as vacuuming, but to her, she completely acts like a different person.  When I don't do it, usually I am busy doing something else or I had a rough week too, she can be downright nasty and she'll walk right into sweeping and mopping and doing all this extra noise that can be really annoying.  We figure that her main language of love is doing "Acts of Service".  According to the study, it shows that I acknowledge how busy she is, and I am "lightening her load" by taking care of something that is important to her.  She always says she grew up in a house where they were expected to clean the house before their parents came home.  We did not grow up like that.  Mom always said we can be miserable and try to keep a clean house or we can live and just accept life as it is.  I guess different households when you have mostly boys, and Wife had a house with mostly girls.
    I took the test and I think I fall into the "Quality Time".  The others are "Giving Gifts", Words of Affirmation", and "Physical Touch".  I would rather have you give me your undivided attention and focus on what I am saying.  There is nothing I hate more than to start telling a story and the person appear to be distracted or uninterested, I usually just stop talking, I don't feel like I should compete with shit.  Either you want to hear what I have to say or you don't.  When Wife comes home, many times we go to the bedroom and she will watch her crappy shows and I'll get on my computer, but I know she is there with me, and that is good enough.
    There is a questionnaire online which I took to tell you what type of love language you fit into.  It is about 20 questions long and takes about 5 minutes.  It is mostly would you rather this or that type questions.  I can't wait for Wife to get back up here and show it to her so she can take the quiz.  Stuff like this can be helpful, if used correctly.

1/21/20 SMART Symphony?

    Buying some new clothes might have possibly sent me down the rabbit hole I should have found many years ago.  The guy working there is the president of the SMART symphony.  SMART stands for San Marcos Artists' Retention and Training, but ultimately it is a group that plays orchestra music and he said we would be the perfect type of people to join.  Wife was making small talk and mentioned that we met in band and that our son had followed in my footsteps playing the bari sax and she ad played baritone.  I know Wife is too busy being a ballbuster at work to join, but she quickly told the guy I would probably love it.
    Once I stopped trying on clothes and I could focus on what he was saying, I got all excited.  He says since everyone has busy schedules, they only practice on Sundays, when they do practice.  Concerts are like four times a year and again only on Sundays.  He said he had been playing with orchestras like this for about nine years.  He was playing with one from Bastrop before finding the one in San Marcos.  He was especially proud that since he was made president, he got the group a $12 thousand dollar grant which saves the members from paying dues, so if I was interested it would be free.
    I do have to get access to a saxophone.  This is where I wish I had kept paying for Javalina's alto sax a couple years ago.  It was basically brand new since he had transferred to Bari Sax.  If I get really involved I might consider buying a bari sax, but new and good quality, those beasts cost around $6,000.  I can get a new saxophone for $2500.  I could also claim to "need" a professional quality and then proceed to spend up to $20,000.  Things like this get crazy fast.  For now, the best thing would be to find a used one on Craigslist or something like that for a couple hundred bucks.
    I am not going to lie, I am excited at the thought.  Even more so, the guy mentioned there was a father daughter combo playing cello.  I would love to get Javalina playing with me, I told him what he thought and Wife said the world is not ready for double baris from you two.  He and his ego was trying to tell me how he would outplay me without trying to which Wife surprisingly stood up for me saying something like "your dad was really good, you're going to have to work real hard to keep up litle boy."
    The guy gave me his e-mail and I e-mailed him from my phone which he said he would add me to the distribution list so I could take a look at the new sheet music.  He said he also composed and arranged music for quartets and other small groups.  This genuinely got me excited, and maybe I need it.  I haven't had anything that I do, for me, in quite a while.  Wife has her classes, Boy has his school, Javalina is busy with school and becoming Mr. Strong Guy.  I am at a point where work requires no thinking, nothing really challenges me on a day to day basis, maybe this is why I am always sleepy.  Maybe having something to look forward to will give me life again.  We shall see.

1/20/20 Shopping For My Fat Ass?

    As I said at the end of the blog yesterday, I was in real need of some new clothes.  I have been wearing this jean shorts which were stretched perfectly and fit just right, but I think the chemicals at work finally ate them up.  On both sides where my hands come and meet, the shorts just formed two holes, they just gave out.  I've kept wearing them because I work mostly alone and I put on a lab coat as soon as I get to my lab room, but the tears just keep getting bigger and bigger.
    I told Wife since we were supposed to be home before 5:00 or 6:00pm yesterday, that drug on, as usual, but we still made it to San Marcos by 8:00pm, that I wanted to stop at the Big and Tall store, Casual Male XL, I think it's called.  I fell asleep as soon as we took off, but Wife woke me in the parking lot.  It didn't look right, but Wife said it was the right place.  There was no Casual Male store, but there was an empty store about where I thought it should be.  I walked into the next store over and asked if the Big and Tall store had closed and the jackass pointed to the wall in the back where they had like 3 different shirts for Azod or some brand, but no shorts or pants.  As we were walking out, Wife asked the other clerk about the Big and Tall store and she said it was in the other section further down.  That whole shopping complex is a mess, from above it looks like a giant 3 and we needed to be in the middle part, not on the last swing of stores.
    Anyways, we found it and parked in front of it.  Wife and the boys ran to the Disney store a few stores down and that left me with a chance to shop on my own.  For once, I had a bunch of choices to pick from.  I freaking loved that finally they had the right guy there.  Last time, it was a chick, and fine I like women to help me, but not when dealing with my fat ass.  This was a husky guy and I didn't feel any embarrassment dealing with him.  He was even telling me his latest attempt to lose weight was giving up sodas and sticking to water, saying that alone helped him lose 26 pounds in a month and a half.  We kept talking as I went back and forth to the changing room.  Wife finally came in some twenty minutes later and she agreed that certain shorts looked better than others.
    I managed to find like 5 new shorts to wear.  I wanted some pants, but I tried on a couple and I just can't get into wearing the pants under my gut, which is the style today.  It's like there isn't enough material to pull them up where pants traditionally go, right at the belly button without splitting the boys down below which just looks wrong, but I also can't wear the pants below my gut to save the balls as it feels like the pants are going to fall off and my gut is exposed.
    While I was making my selection, Wife and the store guy were talking and we learned perhaps the best little gem of knowledge I needed to hear.  There are orchestras all around and they would love people like us to join.  This got us talking and we exchanged e-mails and phone numbers.  We will see where this goes.

1/19/20 Last Visit To My In-Law's For A While?

    I really hate the start of the year, there are too many birthdays on both sides of the family.  I guess my side has given up on me as I have yet to hear of any invitations this year, but Wife has been steadily getting it from her family.  There was another party yesterday and Wife flatly told me if you don't want to come then stay home and I will go and be back by 5:00pm.  With that, I guess she put it on me, and I don't like being addressed that way, but if I don't go, then we don't really spend any time together on the weekend.  Plus, it amounts to a buffet of good food and since they prefer to make everything at home, it is usually free, and we get to bring a bunch of stuff home, so win win for me.
    The plan was to leave by noon, so I was up as usual all night, not doing much productively, I just live like a vampire.  I then wanted to sleep at 9:00am but I only got to sleep until 10:30am or so.  I fell asleep watching TV downstairs while attempting to wash all our dirty clothes for the week.  I went upstairs at 6:00am, tossed and turned, and only slept a couple hours.  I managed to get myself showered and ready to go, then even though Javalina knew what time, he was busy goofing off with his buddies working out, then we had to wait for them to shower.  We still managed to get in the car by 12:20 and we were just about to get going when Wife's sister called that the food was not going to be ready until 4:00pm because she got up late.  I told her "that is perfect, we can go to Bass Pro Shops and you won't have any reason to rush me."  She had also thrown in the "come with me and I'll take you to Bass Pro Shops."  She tried getting out of it as I said "Nope, we got time, and I don't want you and chunky ham to rush me like you all tend to."  I knew I wasn't going to buy anything but I still enjoy looking around.
    We left after a good hour of walking around in there. Javalina was already getting fussy that he was hungry, that boy needs to eat every couple hours.  Wife bought him and his friends some fudge there which shut him up.  As soon as we walked in the door, my sister-in-law gave me a bowl of meat and bacon.  She said she barely caught her son almost finishing it, but she wanted me to taste it.  It tasted like steak pieces in a gravy with bacon pieces, very good, but it was deer meat from my nephew's first deer kill, backstrap, she said.  I really thought it was cow.  As good as that was, there were fajitas, mollejas, sausage, chicken fajitas, refried beans, rice and beans and a bunch of guacamole with chips, prety much a Mexican feast.  I ate until my eyes got sleepy and I excused myself to sleep for an hour.  I got up in time to eat cake, and then get going.
    We timed it just right, it seems, I wanted to stop in San Marcos at the outlet to shop for some shorts or pants, I was really down to one good short and that is not Bueno.  I hate wearing warm-ups unless I can justify it by the weather being really cold.  Tis winter has not really been cold, we've only had a couple nights even touching the 30's.

1/18/20 The Range at Austin?

    Technically, we went to the Range at Austin, realistically, we didn't take our guns, so we only walked through, much like a tour.  I have declared this year we will be doing a lot more activities and one of them is getting more comfortable with our guns.  Up until now, I have let Boy handle them, I don't even know where he learned so much, but he has this knowledge of guns, such as cleaning them, making sure they are unloaded, keeping stock of ammo, and everything else that goes with it.
    My plan was to have a boy's afternoon and come to this new place, but I didn't really give them a head's up and Boy does tend to plan up his weekends pretty well.  Since he was not able to join us, I felt uncomfortable grabbing the guns, picking up Javalina and going.  Can I even have a backseat full of rifles and shotguns at a school while picking up a kid?  I decided to play it safe and if Javalina wanted to go we could come back to the house and pick some up.  Of course, Javalina's only concern after school is where are we going to eat?  He does not eat on campus, he says there are too many people and not enough time, I don't know if that is true, but that is his story.
    I managed to keep him distracted enough from food to at least go check out this place.  I picked him up extra early, since the start of the year, he has said to pick him up after 5:00pm, so the traffic dies down, I mean there are 1,400 kids trying to scamper off at 4:30pm, so it gets a bit hectic.  This week though, it was rainy and grey all week, so he wanted me to get him early.  I managed to get myself out of bed early and I was probably there by 4:40pm, not that it was raining, it was just cloudy.  We talked about stopping here and there, I like to get my little shopping needs done during this time, if they don't concern Wife, which she is usually on the road on Friday afternoons?  Javalina had mentioned our curl bar was not heavy enough for him anymore, so I wanted to stop at Academy and buy one that would take Olympic weights (they have a 2" hole, instead of 1").  Javalina wanted nothing to do with this, he just wanted to eat.  With the gun range, he was interested enough that he said "fine."
    The guy at the door was nice enough, he explained the cost to come in and shoot ($25 per person, $10 for an additional shooter if sharing the same bay).  We can also buy a monthly membership which allows unlimited visits at $55 a person and $25 more to add the family.  He said to walk around and check it out.  It is very nicely organized.  You walk around the corner and tot he right there is a room with 4-5 100 yard bays for rifle shooting, then to the left, there are three separate bays which are separated by glass doors and glass walls, I think it is all ballistic glass, but I am not sure.  There were people shooting, but the noise was not deafening like at the Lockhart location which is outdoors and it gets loud as hell as soon as you get off your car.
    They have some nicely laid out lounge areas with fat leather chairs here and there, so it feels like you could hang out, if you wanted to.  Along the walls, they have maybe a couple hundred guns to show and purchase.  It all looks very new and impressive, I almost felt like buying a gun, except I could tell the prices were a little more than at Academy or Cabela's.  Both Javalina and I lean towards wanting a revolver, I think as a home defense, that would be good.  There is no pulling back on the thing and then wondering if it is ready to shoot, or oops, I forgot about the one in the chamber.  Simply point and shoot.
    So yeah, we'll go back and shoot, but I still think it is better to take Boy with us.  I don't like feeling like a noob in a place like this.

1/17/20 Ramy? (Hulu series)

    My brother would look at this and say this is just propaganda, but I really enjoyed looking into the lives of this Muslim family.  The series mostly follows Ramy, a young adult Muslim finding himself in New Jersey in a post 9/11 world.  He struggles with the temptations of being a horny young man who finds temptation all around and his inner desire to be a good and devout Muslim.
    Through the course of the 10 episode show (which I watched all in one night), we learn the dad fled Egypt when he was young to come and study in the US.  He met his wife and never went back to the motherland.  His parents are strict but in a regular way, they are very American, even more so because they are still a traditional nuclear family with both mother and father living happily together.  Ramy has a sister and they are both in their 20's.  He, being a male, gets to come and go as he pleases, but the sister still is trapped a little by the ideology of being a good virgin for her future husband.
    We see Ramy in his world and he has two Muslim friends, one is a doctor and the other owns a small restaurant, so they are succeeding in life, while Ramy struggles.  In the 2nd episode he is shown being let go from a start-up which is going under.  He has another friend who is severely disabled with muscular dystrophy or something that leaves him barely able to move.  Still, he is involved in the shenanigans and even in one episode there is an extended sequence in which Ramy takes him to meet a girl (key word being girl).
    The parents are very laid back, they are not persistent in him marrying any particular type of girl and he seems to prefer dating jewish girls, he "hooks up" with at least two of them in different episodes.  He is not what I would call an attractive dude, but he gets around.  The final straw is when he meets a married woman and before he knows it, she is confessing to her husband who knows his father and they sit down to have a stern conversation about him coming to America and sacrificing everything to provide a better life, and this is what you do with the opportunity?
    The last two episodes have him in Egypt where he hopes to find clarity and instead is harassed by his cousin to go eat at Chili's and go do all the American things he is trying to get away from.  He seems to be finding a better connection with his female cousin but this guy just can't keep it in his pants and before we know it, he is making the moves on a family member.
    I have to admit that was weird for an ending.  I don't know if it is a cultural thing, but even his friends were encouraging him to "go for it, she's hot!" There were some hilarious scenes throughout that kept me engaged and laughing out loud.  I hope there is a second season.

1/16/20 Good Girls? (Netflix Series)

    I've become obsessed with Craig Ferguson's bits on YouTube, he had a late night show and on one of them I saw Christina Hendricks, the super hot curvy secretary from Mad Men and realized she is a real actress and not just a cartoon character from that show.  I then looked on Netflix and noticed she was the lead on a new-ish series, Good Girls.  It really reminds me of Breaking Bad, the good guy forced to do something bad but then realizing that the bad thing gives them a rush and they enjoy being that bad element.
    In a bad twist of events, her character discovers that the husband has blown through their credit cards and has not been making the house payments which leaves her desperate, her younger sister has a rough life getting by working at a supermarket and with a teenager who the ex wants to take away and give her a better life, but that means she doesn't get to be with her mom.  Then a third friend also is having financial problems with a sick kid who has kidney problems.
    The one working at the supermarket suggests they do a heist and steal from her store, she says if they can get the money in the safe, there should be something like $30k, enough to help them.  This is successful, but maybe too successful as they end up with $500,000.  Turns out, the store is being used by really bad people to store and launder money.  Before they know it, they owe a "bad hombre" money and shenanigans ensue.  Just about when they are able to satisfy them, the main character asks if there are any other jobs good suburban moms can pull off for them.  They then get pulled into a shady life of doing wrong, such as money laundering fake money, and other creative things.
    It seems like every time they have an opportunity to get off the merry-go-round, another emergency pops up and they need more money.  This keeps them on the hook with the "Bad hombre" who kind of wants to help them, but is still more interested in his affairs first.  I don't want to give all the plot points away, but what is one to do?
    Given that they have the chance to make a lot of money illegally but for noble causes, and nobody is getting hurt, do they continue?  Christina's character is definitely a bored housewife and she is turned on by the power and seduction of the dark life.  It seems that when they can walk away on multiple chances, she invites the trouble back.  I just binged the whole first season in two nights, ten episodes long.  It was exciting, but in real life, I just think they would have been shot on the first or second episode and that would be it.  Bad hombres don't have a need to listen to white suburban chicks, but then we wouldn't have a show.

1/15/20 Maxwell Ford Did Me Dirty?

    I have been getting a ton of notices from Maxwell Ford.  I have opted out, but I believe everything is connected today and I do keep going back to their website to look at different vehicles.  By connected, I mean have you noticed that if you start talking about something, the commercials and ads next to the articles you are reading suddenly relate to whatever you are shopping for?  We frequently talk about 3D printers here with Boy and we even pull some up to look at their specs and before you know it, those are the commercials we see on YouTube and the ads alongside Google stories.
    Well, Ford has been telling me for about a year that they are now open on Sundays to service your vehicle.  I thought cool, but my vehicle does not need servicing all the time.  If it did, I would get rid of it.  But after wasting a couple hours yesterday changing out the flat tire on Wife's car, I thought I would try going in on Sunday and get my oil and filter changed, along with maybe my radiator fluid.
    I got up later than usual, at 9:30am but everyone was still asleep but I decided, I should go and deal with my old oil.  When I got to Ford, it looked kind of dead and maybe there were 3 guys working.  I was quickly told that they only take work by appointment, so I was screwed.  I figured Jiffy Lube would be open by this time, if they are open on Sunday.  I went to the closest Jiffy Lube to the Ford place and that is the one on Stassney Road, in front of the Lowe's.  There weren't even that many cars, only one in front of my car in the first bay.
    It still took over an hour, but they did the work.  I was bothered by the guy telling me the dipstick was not seeing oil in my engine, it had run a tad low.  They also have a new machine which I didn't like the looks initially.  I asked the technician what was going on and he said they no longer take the screw out at the bottom of the engine, they suck it out this way.  This way, they can't be sued for not putting the screw back on properly and it falling out.  I had exceeded my miles by a few hundred, but I wtill don't know why I was reading so low that the dipstick didn't even touch the oil.
    The guy said there was plenty of oil in there after, which made me feel a little better.  I also agreed with them to change the air filter, it was looking pretty dark and worn.  My next oil change is at 182,500 miles.  I am getting pretty close to putting 200,000 miles on my first true vehicle.
    At this point, there was nothing left to do but get back in bed.  I talked to Wife about grilling some meat and then fell asleep until 4:00pm.  I got up, we went to Sam's and got some meats to grill and that is how we ended the night.  It had been awhile but we grilled some sausages, burgers and some sirloin steaks.  Everything just tastes better when it comes off the grill and we should have some meat for at least a couple days.

1/14/20 Nasty Sty Or Pink Eye?

    Apparently, somebody farted bare ass on my pillow, or that is what that one movie with Seth Rogan and his buddies, Knocked Up taught me.  Either way, I woke up Saturday morning with a heavy eyelid and I look like a monster right about now.  I usually look like shit, like I don't get enough sleep, this definitely doesn't help anyone.
    I could go to the minute clinic, but like Wife said, that lady will only end up sending me to the emergency room again, so I am just gonna wait it out.  I know I am supposed to put warm compresses, but who has the time, plus we don't really get hot water coming out at our sink upstairs.  So, what to do?  I mean is it really anything to worry about?  It looks gross, but it amounts to being some clogged tear ducts, they'll clear up in a couple days and I'll go back to normal.
    I dealt with it while I went to get Wife's tire changed.  I left my hoodie on to try and hide my face from most of the people.  The one service guy I had to talk to, we mostly talked while walking to and from the car, so we didn't spend time looking at each other face to face, so it was good.  I then sat away from everybody and buried myself in a magazine before falling asleep.
    It was another story at my in-law's as everyone saw it and reacted to it.  Wife's cousin said it best "it's your eye this time?"  "It's always something falling apart with you lately."  I laughed and said "I told Wife to trade me in a couple years ago, now she's stuck with a clunker.  She is definitely upside down now with my value."  I thought it was funny.
    I told Wife today that it is bad enough I always want to fall asleep, but this heavy eyelid just makes me want to close my eye.  This morning again when I went to change the oil in my Excursion, I had to sit there and avoid eye contact with all the other dudes sitting there.  It's a good thing it was mostly crusty old dudes who don't look like they want to chit chat, they just want to get their oil changed and leave.
    Sweetie said she had a pink eye early in the week, so maybe if they are contagious she gave it to me somehow.  Anyways, it doesn't hurt or anything, well it itches a bit, I want to get in there and just scratch it like a mad man.  Maybe it is time for a warm compress, we are going on day three.

1/13/20 Celebrating My Sister In-Law's 50th Birthday?

    I kind of hate the start of the year because there are too many birthdays going around.  Wife was saying there are something like 6 birthdays in the two families in January.  I can't keep track of all these and usually we just go to the one or two parties of whoever makes the loudest noise.  I have learned that I can't attend all the parties, so we d the best we can.  Last year, we had a mega blow out celebrating my niece's quinceanera (15th) birthday.  In Hispanic families, I believe 15 marks when the female is introduced to the city and finally allowed to date or be a grown up or something along those lines.  It was a huge expense, especially for the parents, but even for the family as we all helped out.
    This year, I was hoping to just stay low key and just avoid parties that are going to cost me $1000 dollars.  So far, so good.  Wife's older sister turned 50 on Saturday and we had already gotten a heads up on New Year's that she wanted us to be there.  Considering it was just going to be a meal at my in-law's house with some cake and other sweets, it seemed right up my alley.  I don't know if she was selling the birthday event, but my sister in law had a mini break down on New Year's I guess about turning 50.  I mean, I'm two years away yet I don't feel like I am going to be sad or tearing up about the event.
    Truth be told, I felt that way when I turned 23 or 24 and because I was married and had a kid, I had to realize I was not going to become a doctor or whatever grand visions I had for myself in high school.  I guess one cries a little when their dreams die, not sure if that was what was going on with my sister in law, but that is the best that I can relate.
    Still, I got up super early to go take care of the low tire she had which turned out to be a nail in her tire, came back and slept until about 1:30pm, then Wife woke me to get ready.  My sleep gets all messed up during the weekends and I rarely want to get up at the proper times when everyone else does.  I went ahead and showered and got dressed knowing that as soon as I got in the car, I could go to sleep.  Wife even pulled out a little blanket so I could cover my legs up and next thing I know we arrive.  The brisket and sausage was good, as always, my brother in law loves smoking briskets, and he has gotten good at it.
    I managed to stay awake far longer than normal and everyone had a good time.  We sat at the table and joked around and then took pictures with some props, by around 6:00pm, I got sleepy and found a sofa and slept until Wife said it was time to go.  So far, I have wanted to stay busy on the weekends and do stuff, preferably stuff that leads us outside and possibly fishing, but this weekend just did not pan out that way.  We still managed to bring a bunch of cake which I just finished as I was writing this at midnight on Sunday night, and some brisket and stuff.  I will probably eat that tomorrow when I wake up.

1/12/20 Convenience Of The Big City?

    I wouldn't even know how to deal with a small but big annoying problem, such as the light on the dashboard telling Wife she had a low tire on her car if we lived back home.  Back then, when I lived there, I drove my parent's truck working with my uncle roofing in the summer and I would get nails in my tires like once a week, but I didn't know well enough to worry.  I would put one of those Walmart patches and keep going.  The truck never left town and it did not run at high speeds, so it never seemed like a problem.
    Yesterday was one of those times.  We were going to run around with no particular direction, I wanted to go test drive some cars and Wife wanted to go to At Home, the old Garden Ridge store to look for discounted Christmas and/or Halloween decorations.  We got as far as outside our community when the light came on and Wife quickly came back in through the second entrance and parked her car.  We couldn't outright tell which tire was low but it was before it got cold, so it wasn't one of those barely low because of temperature things.  I decided I would get up early and take of the problem before Wife and the gang got up, by morning the rear passenger side tire was definitely lower.  I ended up going to nap around 9:30pm, woke up at midnight and stayed up until 4:00am.  I then slept until 7:30am and decided I would strike early and get the tire fixed.
    Apparently, about a dozen other people had the same thought and they got up earlier than me.  By the time I got there, it wasn't even open yet, but there was already a mass of people outside just standing in the cold.  It took another 5 minutes for them to open the doors, and then I was in line for another good 10 minutes.  The guy I talked to did the standard walk through, I know the tires are only about a year old which meant I shouldn't need new ones, so then it was a matter of waiting for the car to go in and have the tire plugged.  It took almost two hours, I scanned through one magazine and then I said "screw it" and fell asleep.
    The store clerk called me at almost 10:00am to say the car was ready, and that they found a nail in the tire.  I feel better to have them do the work.  Wife runs back and forth all the time and she is alone most of the time, so I feel better that an expert does the work.  I would feel shitty if she ever ended up stranded somewhere between work in La Pryor and us over here in Austin because I used a cheap $2 patch.
    Tomorrow, I plan on getting up early again and taking my Excursion to Ford to get the oil changed as they have been advertising Sunday hours through text and e-mails.  Again, I find this a convenience of living in a big city.  What I understand, my folks have to drive about 40 miles to the closest city with a dealership where they get their oil changed.  There might be a place that will change the oil in Crystal, but then again, I remember my brother doing that and they managed to screw it up and he needed a new engine which the oil change place paid for, but the truck was never the same.

1/11/20 Men and Women Hear Differently?

    I love watching fan reactions to songs I like.  This is even more so with Lil Dicky who I think has the most clever song lyrics around.  He does these "freestyles" when he goes for interviews at different radio stations and the end result is kind of a sing songy rap with usually very clever lines with double and even triple entendres.  This week, I started following a new gal doing reaction videos mostly because she is attractive and sounded smart, but then I noticed her reactions were very different than what I was expecting.
    There is this one particular freestyle that everyone that listens to it considers it the best of 2019, it is just one clever line after another and most people will miss a line here or there when doing the initial listen, but some of the lines are so over the top, most male listeners stop the song to comment or laugh or you at least see a big smile as a proper reaction.
    With her though, and it was the very first time she was listening to him at all, but like others said in her comments, all the clever puns and word uses were completely missed by her.  This reminded me of Wife having the same reaction.  I was so excited to get someone to listen to it that I played it for Wife, but all she gets is a headache because he uses too many words and then she gets turned off because he uses a couple of swear words.  This is Wife, she doesn't get offended by anything, she grew up listening to heavy metal more than me, my potty mouth has never bothered her, but I don't think she can process the singing and the word play and the comedy of it all at the same time.  My mom was worse, when she comes to visit, usually while we are sitting at the table drinking coffee I'll show her a video or two of whatever I may have found lately that is amusing to me, but she could not take the tempo of the words coming out of his mouth.  She claimed that he was just yelling words together and it made no sense.
    So maybe it is a thing, a male coworker who I was afraid might be offended by whatever music I was playing one morning told me "nah, I can't decipher lyrics, I just hear the beat."  I find that weird to understand, but I guess it makes sense why some people hate music and only listen to talk radio or turn off the radio altogether.
    Maybe that is why heavy metal was a mostly male thing back in the 80s.  Those songs would take you on a journey and tell you a tale, at least stuff like Metallica's music or Led Zeppelin's did, or any other creative band.  Pop music is much easier to decipher and mostly sticks to cheery ideas of love and hope with a ton of repetition of their little ideas.  I am not trying to be a dick (this time) and say men are better or more deep (because usually women are the ones that catch nuance and stuff like that), but it does appear that at least on a first pass, we are looking for different things in an experience.  I like to find that nugget of humor or purpose to the song.  If you are not laughing with something that is obviously hilarious, then I am confused and really wondering as to what you are focused on.  That reviewer girl simply came out of that song from Lil Dicky saying "I can tell that he went to University, and I can tell tat he has mastered his craft."  Great, but that didn't tell me that she got the song or not.

1/10/20 Saddest Movie WIth Nobody Dying?

    I saw Up In The Air a couple days ago with George Clooney and wow did it take a turn on me from what I was expecting.  I had no idea what it was about, I barely remember the commercials a year or so ago and it was Clooney flying around in planes doing something, then talking with the Anna Kendrick character.
    In the movie, his job is to go from business to business to fire people.  He talks to the audience a lot, breaking down the 4th wall, in a weird way to explain stuff to us to keep the movie going, mostly.  He explains that when companies are too chicken shit to do the hard part of downsizing, they outsource the job to his company and he is very good and efficient at it.  He says something about being in the air 320 days out of the year.  As bad as this sounds, he also has no wife or kids and leaves in a tiny efficient apartment.  He totally lives for his job, but alas, change is coming.
    The company just hired a new upstart and she has ideas of using the computer to do the same job, so Clooney will no longer be a bird flying high from city to city, almost non-existent to those on the ground.  He does not like this monkeying with his lifestyle and offers to take her under his wings to teach her what the job is really about.  At the same time, he has a sister (Rose from Two and A Half Men) and she has requested he take a picture cutout of her and her hubby to be and take pictures in front of interesting US landmarks.  Along the way he meets a lady who is very much like him, also travels a lot and they get together to do what adults do in private.
    At a certain point, the young Anna character breaks Clooney down as a boy pretending to know everything when in reality he has not lived because he takes no chances on building real relationships and this life he is living is nothing more than a mask to hide him from the world.  He takes his chance after this when it seems like it is the end of the line for his flying days and goes to the apartment where the lady lives hoping to make a bigger commitment but finds she has a husband and a house full of kids.  Suddenly he feels exposed and even with his family at the wedding, his aunt tells him it is very hard to count on him or see him as family as he is gone most of the time, he is like a ghost.
    I am not trying to get into the story of the movie, just the loneliness and sadness of this character who built a life by his own choice only to realize, perhaps too late that what he thought he wanted is not really anything, but that is what you are going to get.  In the end, an accident happens and the video chats prove to be the wrong thing and his boss tells him he is going back up in the air, but I don't think he has the energy for it anymore, perhaps he wants to live like a real boy.  Instead, the cameras cut away as he is staring at the board at the terminal figuring out what plane he is going to board next, just him and his efficient little suitcase.
    Nobody died, which is what usually makes a movie sad, but this character was built empty and alone from the beginning and he says a couple of times that he is not interested in getting married and tied down.  Maybe because I am and that seems to fill most of my time outside of work, what does one do if they never marry and don't have family close by?  It seems a lonely way to be, or maybe I just don't get it.

1/9/20 Closing Out Our Holiday Break?

    This was a great holiday break.  The only negatives is that Javalina and I got sick for a couple days each, but a little diarrhea never hurt us too much.  Like Wife said, it kept me from overeating for a couple days.  Other than that, I couldn't have scripted it any better.
    We started the break scampering for last minute gifts for mostly everybody we didn't go Christmas shopping until Sunday before Christmas for the bulk of the gifts.  We then spent Christmas at home like I wanted, Javalina was a little sick the day before, but he was fine by Christmas Eve.  We then spent the day here on Christmas Day, had a visitor or two, ate a fine brisket meal, then we went to Crystal to visit my folks after my dad threw out his back and they had to change plans of coming up here.  We spent one night down there and we were on our way back home.  It was a short trip, but it was the four of us, so I liked that.  It is becoming harder and harder to have Boy with us, but he is 25 and he is in a serious relationship, s much so that Sweetie is in the process of moving in.  They have been slowly tearing apart his room and giving it a thorough cleaning, so I am really liking that.
    Most days have been great, I go to sleep when I feel like, wake when I feel like it, Wife does the same, nobody is being bitchy or demanding.  The boys are doing whatever they want, everyone is up around 2:00pm, we eat, I might nap after, or not.  Wife has done a minimal of cleaning, but hasn't been crazy about it.  She has offered Boy and Sweetie half the pantry for their things, so I think she is waiting to see if they decide to tear the pantry apart and clean it.
    We weren't sure for a minute whether we were going to my in-law's house for New Year's but we did.  It was a little slow and boring, half the people were missing, so it didn't feel like a party party, but it was probably fine.  We left and got home by 3:00am, which got us right back to our thing.  Wife stayed up watching TV until 5:00am, I think I went to sleep in the car and didn't recover other than walking in from the car.
    The new year has been good with a new Star Wars movie, a new restaurant, the boat convention, doing a little actual fishing, plus we got home and talked about planning a trip somewhere for Spring Break.  It sucks again this year that Wife Javalina have different weeks off, but we will manage like we did last year.
    As far as today (Sunday), the only plans we have is to put away the Christmas stuff outside and maybe take down the tree.  I do feel especially proud of myself for replacing the windshield on Wife's car, I only hope it lasts awhile before it gets hit again.  Javalina has an additional day off on Monday, but poor Boy already started working, but at least now, he is in a real salaried job, he brought home the pack where he has to decide what to do about his 401k, and all that jazz.  I know it is an exciting time in his life, I hope he is enjoying it.  We told him he can enjoy his first paycheck, but he has to start paying for his things like his car come February.
    I could not have scripted a better two week period, and to prove that, I think I will go back to bed.  It is 7:30am and I have now written blogs for the next 3 days.

1/8/20 Finally Fishing Fun? (Part 2)

    We had looked at a couple of places on Google maps with water, like New Braunfels, but that was too far, Lake Travis, again too far.  Wife said maybe just the overflow pond at the end of the street, which made me think of kicking her, that sounded so lame, but we have seen people stopped there and trying to fish, so who knows.  There are also huge ponds behind Sam's at Southpark Meadows but that also seemed lame.  I decided to go to a park area called Roy G Guerrero park on Lake Austin by Pleasantville road in East Austin.
    The weather could not have been nicer at 71 degrees and with the sun setting, a cooling breeze was in the air.  I took a sweater but it was not needed, although it would have been fine to wear.  Wife decided she would just observe, which I do carry those folding chairs in the Excursion for these occassions.  We got our 4-5 rods, and tackle gear and Wife grabbed a chair and we walked along this nice trail where people were taking their afternoon walks.  Javalina was kind of worried that the area was a little ghetto but I told him "look, those are old white people walking by, this is a safe neighborhood, or they wouldn't be here."  That seemed to relax him.
    We had to walk a bit, we were right in front of a fat part of the lake, and looking up it is a perfect spot for taking in the downtown view of all the highrises.  The only problem is that the trail is more for walking than fishing.  There were only 2-3 spots where it wasn't all overgrown on the water's edge so we could throw out our lures and stuff.  I was a little worried the boy's would get bored as I saw no fish activity in our first spot we stopped to try.  Still, I thought it would be good to put some lures on their rods and let them try.  I put a crankbait on Javalina's rod so he could throw and retrieve, to keep him busy, explaining that as he reeled it in itlooks like an injured minnow and that is what bass attack.  On his friend, I put a jig head and a little grub tail, telling him that goes down and the wiggling tail attracts nearby fish, specially if they are laying lower.  I tried an artificial worm, on a Texas rig.  The water was very clear and I could not see any fish there, so it didn't really matter, but to my surprise, the boys were having fun, regardless of no fish.  We walked further on the trail and Javalina found a second place that had a nice opening, so we tried there for awhile.  We lost a hook and grub to a tree branch and Javalina almost lost a crankbait he named George (for some reason), then we kind of decided to call it a day as it was just turning to evening with a perfect sunset.  The sun gleamed off the surface of the lake, and the downtown buildings looked brighter than normal for a few minutes, then it got dusky.
    There was a look out point with a concrete pad and even rails to prevent people from falling in and even better, no grass or trees and I saw a few crappie moving around the water.  I had 1 of the rods set up with a tiny hook, and I had been joking around about using the stinky bait, which I pulled out.  Javalina didn't see it come out, but he must have his mama's delicate nose because he got whiny about "ughh, what is that smell?"  I put a little pellet on the tiny hook and by the 2nd strike, I pulled out about a 3-4 inch crappie.  It got the boys excited, and then we were there a good half hour after the sun set where they were trying to catch one.  I kept setting the hook with fresh pellets but they weren't reacting fast enough.  The line even had a bobber and you could see it go up and down, but they wouldn't jerk the line fast enough.  It was fun watching them trying so hard and they were having fun doing it, so I didn't mind them trying for so long.
    Eventually, I walked all the other extra stuff to the car and they kind of trailed behind me.  It was a good afternoon.  We didn't really catch anything, but Javalina said he had fun and wouldn't mind doing it again, so I call it a win.  I told him, part of the fun is just being outside doing something different.  I feel great that at least for the start of 2020, we have been to the movies, a boat-con, fishing, and even a new restaurant.  Not bad for the first week....

1/7/20 Finally Fishing Fun?

    I told Javalina we would go fishing some time this Christmas break, if he wanted to.  Every day has had its own thing going and it almost seemed like we were going to run out of time before we got some free time to do it.  This simple hour of fishing we did was not even simple, I prepared for it almost the whole two weeks since mentioning we were going to do it.
    Once we had the discussion and Javalina said he might be interested in trying it out from the shore, not to go crazy and buy a boat or go to the coast and spend a lot of money, I had the responsibility to make sure we could do it properly anywhere nearby.  This started first by taking inventory of whatever fishing rods I might still have.  I left some rods and reels in the RV when I sold it a couple months ago and honestly I was worried I had left two really expensive rod and reel combos, one being a Calcutta reel that cost over $200 bucks.  Wife insisted I look in the garage and check for them before just going out and buying a whole new armada of new rods and reels for everyone.  Luckily, I found about seven combos, including the two I was worried about, which still meant nothing to me when it came to getting a couple new rods.
    The next part was getting fishing licenses for Wife and I so we can be ready anytime we decide to go out there.  I always like to buy the combo license, good for both fresh and saltwater, just in case we find ourselves along the coast during spring break or during the summer.  I know that 7-10 rods sounds like a lot to some, but some of them are only for fishing from piers on the coast.  I keep it real and realize we have never caught anything bigger than 4 pounds, so I like to keep "my rods" set up with a reasonable 10-12 pound line and I even like dropping down to 6-8 pound line on my smallest rods and reels.  Thinner line means the fish have a harder time seeing it.  My dad believes every bite will be a 50 pound behemoth, so he likes those giant Penn spools meant to catch marlin out at sea and he is not happy unless he has about 50 pound test line, which looks like cable compared to my 6 pound line which is about the thickness of hair.  Then I need rods/reels for everyone joining us, so I have to have a couple extra set-ups.  Javalina said we were going to take his three buddies, so I needed to make sure I had a reel for the 3 buddies plus him and I and possibly Wife.
    Apart from the rod/reel combos, I also made a trip to Academy to get new hooks and weights and a couple lures.  Then there was the trip after we saw my in-laws who all gave me gift cards to Bass Pro Shops and I used the money to buy two more rods and reels.
    Finally, I told Javalina yesterday (Saturday) was the day, and of course he couldn't get ahold of one of his friends, and the other two said they wouldn't be here until 5:00pm.  I got a little pissed and muttered "you can't do shit at 5:00pm, it takes 30 minutes to an hour to get anywhere, forget it."  He then came back with 1 of my friends said he is on his way, and he arrived about 3:30pm.  I told him to tell his other friend to just get here after 6:00pm, or we will go pick him up.  He always has to run errands wit his mom, maybe he watches his younger siblings, but it is a pain waiting for him at times.  Anyways, once the 1 kid showed up, we were able to get going.
    We had looked at a couple of places on Google maps with water, like New Braunfels, but that was too far, Lake Travis, again too far.  Wife said maybe just the overflow pond at the end of the street, which made me think of kicking her, that sounded so lame, but we have seen people stopped there and trying to fish, so who knows.  There are also huge ponds behind Sam's at Southpark Meadows but that also seemed lame.  I decided to go to a park area called Roy G Guerrero park on Lake Austin by Pleasantville road in East Austin.

1/6/20 Gus's Fried Chicken?

    After the boat show, I was particularly disgusted with the effort and the direction the boating world has taken.  One of the salesmen who I had a small conversation said it was the fault of the component manufacturers, or more the engine manufacturers.  When they sell engines for $20,000-30,000, the boats have to adjust accordingly.  I understand all that, but in the end, who can afford such crazy prices?  We got there at 7:10pm and I was worried that because they closed at 9:00pm, I wouldn't have enough time to take in everything, but we were walking out on my insistence by 8:25pm.  I stopped at the potty, we talked about what to do next, and then noticing that Gus's Fried Chicken was not packed and full, I told Wife we should eat there.
    Every time we have walked by it, she had wanted to eat there, it is a place she had tried a couple of times while doing different conferences.  We were sat instantly, but my first complaint to the waittress was if they could turn down the heat, it was like an oven.  I don't know if se adjusted the temperature but after 5-10 minutes I felt more relaxed.  It helped that more and more people were leaving and not many more were coming in.
    We all ordered chicken (it is the only thing on the menu), Wife and I ordered the 3 piece white meat and Javalina ordered the three piece tenders.  It took a few minutes for our order to come, we argued over Javalina being weird when I want to talk.  He mentioned what has been a hot topic about "World War 3" to which I said "oh, those idiots in the middle east have been at it longer than you have existed…"  I wanted to bring up that funny meme of Chevy Chase doing the news on SNL in 1976 and starting with "Trouble in the Middle East...", but Javalina got all tense and just said "ok, shut up, fine…"  I hate when he gets weird like this, but I guess there were some people who were maybe from that part of the world and he was afraid they would go all "lalalalala, I kill you!"  I just laughed and said "nah, they are probably like us Hispanics here in the US, they don't give a fuck about the people back in the middle east, they are Americans now.
    Eventually, the chicken showed up and I must say it was very good.  It was super spicy, more so than I expected, but getting past that, the chicken had a very freshly cooked flavor.  I don't normally get the beans and cole slaw but I decided to eat the plate as they recommend it.  I might have preferred the fries, but the plate was very satisfying as it was.
    We left and had to walk one block to the parking garage.  I didn't think much of it and was more concerned about the 4-5 idiots approaching on scooters that they might hit us but Wife and her delicate nose smelled the bums and almost threw up.  It smelled a little of urine and muskiness, but nothing out of the ordinary for a downtown area but it took the whole drive home to calm Javalina down, he hates how they stink up the place and "what the fuck with bums wearing Jordans?"  I did the rare thing and drove home while Wife cleaned her sleeve of a little spit as she was almost throwing up from the street smells.
    I felt great that we have started the year off right.  We went to the movies last night, and tonight we had dinner downtown.  I hope it is a sign f things to come, that we become more active in 2020.

1/5/20 Austin Boat Show 2020?

    Man, what happened to this boat-con (since Boy does comic cons)?  I was looking forward to going to this event since about September when I got my first e-mail notification.  Finally, the weekend got here and even after I had to argue with Wife and Javalina to be nice and if you're going to go, please behave.
    The day started out about the same as they have the last two weeks, we have been enjoying being off and just being lazy and moving at our own beat.  I got up around 10:30am and had a couple movies to write about so that came fast and easy today (Friday).  I then went back to bed because my feet were freezing, I didn't put my slippers or socks and the bare floor in the kitchen is cold in the mornings.  I was awoken pretty quick after that, I had scheduled a glass repair on Wife's car, it is one of the things she wanted to get done during her two weeks off and she is about out of time.  The guy called at 12:30am that he was on his way, so I got out of bed and came down to wait for him.  He did the work out of his van right here at the house, which was nice.  By the time he finished, it was 3:00pm and Wife said "ah no, I am not driving downtown right now when we are approaching rush hour, we can go after 6:00pm."  This sounded perfect as it gave me a chance to nap for an hour and take a poop and a shower.  We both ended up napping until almost 6:30pm, then I got up insistent that I was going to go.  Wife got dressed and I got Javalina off his video game and we headed off.
    Traffic was ridiculous from Slaughter to Ben White, and I was wanting to just forget about the whole thing, but Wife said let's see how long it takes to get there.  She then offered to drop me off at the door and she would go park the car with Javalina.  There is a parking garage a block away so I said sure, and this saved a lot of time.  I was in there about a half hour by myself which allowed me to move how I wanted to without having to be nice and polite.  I was disappointed to find only about a third of the floor dedicated to boats, the rest of the floor was covered with RVs and old cars (which were by far the coolest thing I saw).
    I wouldn't have minded the limited number of boats, but fuck, pontoon boats shouldn't cost $190,000.  They had the usual big fantasy yacht types which now go for an insane $600,000 plus dollars.  I honestly saw a handful of pontoons below $50,000 and like 6 Bayliner boats that were affordable between $23,000-$48,000.  Everything else was easily above $60,000 and honestly the median boat price I could figure was about $100,000.  I know there are plenty of people with more money than brains, but goddamn, who is pissing away $140,000 on a regular looking boat these days?
    The best part of tonight was possibly eating at Gus's Fried Chicken, to be continued.....

1/4/20 A Star Is Born? (Movie)

    Wife had this movie on our recorded queue for a long while, I didn't think it was something I would enjoy.  I liked a lot of it, but I did have a hard time believing some of the plot points.  First off, I really like Bradley Cooper, he is a good looking guy, and since the Hangover and Silver Linings, oh and can't forget him as the voice of Rocket (Guardians of the Galaxy), I have been a big fan.  Lady Gaga might be a little weird when doing award shows and crap, but the lady has talent.  I do love watching her videos.  Add to that a seasoned cast with Sam Elliott as his brother, freaking Andrew Dice Clay as her father, and an assortment of other cool guys like Dave Chapelle having cameos and maybe I should have jumped on and watched this sooner.
    The story is something like this, Bradley's character is a big time musician celebrity but he is a huge drunk and after a show, all he wants is to find some more alcohol.  He ends up in this small dive bar where it is all trannies performing, except for the one girl.  He shows up just as the girl takes the stage.  He instantly falls in love (it has to be for real love for the rest of the story to work), and from here on out, he only has eyes for her.  They spend the rest of the evening talking about music and what not and the next day he sends his jet back to wherever she is from as his concert has moved along to the next city.  She reluctantly joins after being pushed by her boss to go ahead and quit her job.  Her dad is going on and on about making it in the music business is all about having the right look at the right time and he could have been someone, blah blah.
    Almost instantly, Bradley's character takes her character and starts pushing her onstage at his venues and of course, she is a hit.  Before long, her career is taking off, his is going downhill, mostly because he drinks too much.  We see a crossing of paths, but even more I thought we get to see all facets of the musician's life.
    In his path, we see the guy that has it all and he cannot handle the success, so he gradually loses it, the "could have been".  There is also her father who is constantly talking about how he had a better singing voice than Sinatra, he is the "never was."  And of course, with her, we see real talent and control, which I believe is when you truly see "a star being born", one that will last generations.
    I don't want to give up the storyline even if it has been out for a couple years, but some of my hang-ups with it are that he seems like a drunk, why would he pick up only one chick?  Seems like he could do what all musicians do and just pick one in every city.  No way a drunk guy like we see can keep it together for one chick this late in life.  Why would he want to help her career?  There is being generous, but a guy on the edge of losing his mind isn't going to be interested in helping some unknown and sitting around waiting for her to become someone.  All this seemed to be a little fantastical, but the story overall was alright.

1/3/20 Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise Of Skywalker? (spoilers)

    I was not expecting much from this latest creation in the Star Wars world, the last few movies were a whole lot of ehhh, to me.  I didn't dig that it seemed like we needed to be rescued by a girl, just to make it fair since it was a man last time around.  Getting past that, they respected enough of the history to keep us looking for more throughout the movie.
    In the first of this 3 part series, Rey (our heroine) finds the Millenium Falcon junked but still working and I called bullshit that after sitting for years, it just fired up and vamoose, let the action begging.  At least by this time, logically, one can figure it has been worked on by the other rebels and if it is their spacecraft of choice, so be it.  It did make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, so she's fast.  We finally saw Rey training with Leia, so at least if she is a bad-ass Jedi warrior, she has seen some training.  It was a stretch to say Luke trained her and then Leia could do the same, but at least it tracked.
    C3PO finally was sounding like a part of the group before he was rebooted, which was nice, but really, R2D2 should have gone on the mission and C3PO should have stayed with Leia, R2 was always the warrior and C3PO the more scared of the two.  Still, it was cool to see C3PO be a real part of a scene and he even looked scary when his eyes turned red.
    It was great to see Lando Calrissien fighting with the Rebels, he is about the last of the old guard still "alive" and not a hologram or a special effect, no offense to the rest of the cast.  It was such a scary sight to see Chewbacca get taken away by the stormtroopers without a fight even, then the next scene was a shocker and led me to believe that Rey was going to turn to the darkside and Kylo would save the day.  It didn't turn out completely that way, but almost.
    The most touching scene was that after Kylo Ren was defeated yet again by Rey, he finally let go of the anger and hatred and he became simply Ben again and he was visited by a ghost of Han Solo.  That was a tear jerker or sure.  As a father, to be killed by your own kid wile giving them everything felt a little close.  I loved the implied "Dad, I love you" (Ben didn't say it, but the hug did) and Han, cool as always, simply says "I know" (like he always did).  And with that, we knew he was no longer a bad guy.
    There was even one last touch of nostalgia as Rey ended up in Luke's creepy island when she fears she might be evil and she has destroyed her ship, Luke does a little Jedi magic and pulls his old Red 5 X-Wing Fighter out of the ocean, again ready to fly without any maintenance.  There was of course, the storyline of saving the universe, and the lame "old bad guy who doesn't seem to ever die, COME ON!!!" (I FUCKING HATE SHIT LIKE THAT!).  Palpatine is still the center of all evil, which I find tired and lazy (the writing).  There were more and more characters introduced, even new lightsabers, but the Rebels kept it small and tight, relying on the same group of the robots, Lando, Chewbacca, Rey, Finn and Poe.
    I have to say this was a better effort than the last two films and specially that horrid one Rogue One where we have to accept that all the characters died on that planet, uggh!  We are fucking Americans, we go to the movies to escape reality and see the good guys win.  I can deal with maybe one good hero dying, but that is about my limit.
    I am not sure if the Star Wars universe will keep getting explored, but shows like Mandalorian are pretty good ideas.  If they do, they need to keep a little of the magic in there.  Without jedis, it really is just a space western, as it is always labeled.  The jedis are what make these movies magically delicious.

1/2/20 Bass Pro Shops, 20 Minutes At A TIme?

    It took almost the full two week vacation but we finally made it to Bass Pro Shops.  Everyone in the family is pro pontoon, even Boy who doesn't even like being outside.  The best prices for said pontoons that we have found have been at Bass Pro Shops.  I am not sure about the quality of these Tracker Marine products, but the prices are very competitive and are about the only way I have been able to get Wife on board.
    Out of the blue, Wife asked if I wanted to go to said store yesterday afternoon.  I was a little apprehensive because I have been asking to go every day and everyone had just been rolling their eyes at me and at this point, I might as well have just waited for the weekend when the annual Austin Boat Show is held in the convention center.  Still, we all got dressed up and headed out of the house around 3:00pm.  It is a good 30-40 minute drive in the best of circumstances and I was surprised, I guess most people were off, we shot right through downtown in minutes.  For once, there was no heavy traffic all the way to Round Rock.  I did nap the last 15-20 minutes, but I did wake at 10:00am and had been up the night before pretty late.
    I guess since it is almost unanimous that everyone wants a pontoon, I can start to see them more as a thing that is mine versus a thing I might get.  We looked at a couple of different models, from a tiny 16 footer which can ride about 6-7 people to a robust 24 footer that will ride up to 14 people or so.  I think the fishing models will do us best, either the 22 or 24 footer.  They both have a fishing chair at each corner of the boat, the middle area has a huge lounger on both set up with the sunbrella overhead and the driver's seat to starboard (right side).  Even with a decent 150HP engine, either of the boats (with 3 pontoons) goes for under $40,000.
    I could easily walk around the fishing area and the rest of the store for a couple hours, but as usual, someone in my party slows things down.  Usually it is Wife giving me about 20-30 minutes before she gives me the eye rolls and exasperated sounds and then "I'm hungry" starts.  Sure enough, I was being all cool with Javalina, got him a new fishing rod, but as soon as we had new fishing line on both new rods (I got a new one as well), he started with "I'm hungry", "can we leave?" and all the usual whiny lines.
    After awhile, I just gave up, as usual, and headed out.  It was nice that I was able to pay for everything with the Christmas gift cards my in-laws gave me.  We promptly headed to Wendy's to sooth the savage hungry beast, then we headed home.

1/1/20 Start Of A New Decade?

    It is a new decade, and once again, time to talk about making some changes.  I know I started the day off by making some calls to take care of a nagging little problem we should have dealt with already.  I scheduled a window replacement for Wife's car, it is only getting worse as time goes on.  Other than that, everyone is still asleep from last night's activities.  It is not that it was an exciting time, but once we commit to staying there until midnight, we have to stay at least an hour more to give the traffic a chance to calm down before we can head out.
    We headed to my in-law's around 4:00pm.  I, ever hopeful, to get a chance to walk around Bass Pro Shops was kind of thinking maybe we could stop for a little while, but then Wife suggested we stop for snacks in Kyle and that threw the whole timetable off.  HEB was packed to the gills, people acting like a hurricane was headed towards us or something.  We finally got out of there with some sodas and chips and assorted other treats to make a party complete.  Wife needed a soda and planned on stopping at McDonald's, but again, people were going crazy and both it and Whataburger were packed.  We managed to stop at Chicken Express where she got her soda, Javalina got a box of tenders, and we scampered away into the darkness.  I fell asleep at this point, and then woke at San Antonio right outside a Mr. W's firework stand.  By then it was dark, but like Wife said "better to stop now, than to get to my in-law's and then have to come back.  Although....
    We just assumed it would be the same hectic party it is every year, with all the kids running around, but it was maybe the quietest New Year's we have had in a long while.  Wife's brother and 4 kids were celebrating with his Wife's family and the younger sister and her two boys were in Crystal celebrating with her in-law's, I guess.  Most of the night it was us, Boy took Sweetie and their best friend.  Wife's older sister, her husband, two grandkids, and my in-laws.  We went out to pop the fireworkds around 9:00pm, but without more kids around, my boys felt silly and didn't even pop half of them.  I hate that I spent nearly $200 bucks and nobody really cared.
    We went back in, I was surprised that I stayed awake all evening, even as I thought of a nap, I didn't do it.  Eventually, it got closer to midnight, and Wife and a cousin of hers that showed up late, set up the champagne, and grapes and black-eyed peas that are supposed to be good luck.  We waited, watching one of the local channels to be with the right time and brought in the new year inside.  It was a tad scary if you were new to the country, the house felt like it was shaking for a few minutes with all the fireworks popping outside by the neighbors.  I have never felt comfortable being outside because of the thought of too may idiots shooting their guns up to "celebrate".  Whether it is an old wive's tale or not, I don't like taking the chance.  Javalina kept insisting tat it can't be true, even as his grandpa said let's get inside before they start shooting with their guns at midnight.
    Things settled down right after midnight, I called my mom who was dealing with checking my sister's house for possible lawn fires, and Wife helped clean up the kitchen.  We got home around 3:00am, and she stayed up until 5:00am watching some show.  It is now 1:00pm and I have been up since 10:00am, but the house is still as quiet as can be.  I think I'll go wake up some fools!!!  Happy New Year Everyone.