6/30/20 Finding Out You Are Not Black?

    This is a testament to how not racist we have been, I think.  It is also a sort of here's our story after hearing a couple people on Tik-Tok doing testimonials about not knowing they were black.  We live in South Austin and prior to this house, we lived on the east side of I-35, where it is a lot more populated with minorities.  It just so happened that our first house was in a cul-de-sac and our oldest son, Boy, grew up there with kids to our right that were black and another kid with the family we were really close with, well, Girlie's aunt, and her oldest boy was half black, as is Girlie while we are pointing that out.  All of this was fine, everyone was cool and nobody ever said anything negatively about anyone.  Later on, Boy had Hispanic boys who became his close school friends and they would come over frequently and spend the night and that was no problem either.
    During one of the parties we had, and we used to do fun stuff and BBQ's all the time with Girlie's family or our family, so I can't say when exactly it was, but Boy was at least in junior high, so he was a good 12-13 years of age and getting into rap music and learning how to be "cooler".  He was goofing around with Girlie's cousin and he threw out the N-word just very casually, we did the "hey, what's the matter with you?"  He, in a bit of confusion said "what?  I'm black, I can say the word."  We started smiling and I asked him "how are you black?  We are both (Wife and I) beaners, Son."  He, very honestly said "but Grandpa Honey is black."  First off, that is not his name, but my mother in law has always referred to him as "Honey", so Grandpa Honey kind of stuck.  But anyways, he is a dark man, and maybe I thought it a time or two that he could have some black in him, but growing up in the small town we did, I had not heard of mixed people and all that, so I don't know, maybe going far enough back in his ancestry there was a possible black great great grandfather.  Wife now says there is a black great great somebody in there after her aunt did some of that ancestry exploring, but I am not sure what to believe there.  Wife also says that they have jewish blood in her family, so I don't know and I only stick with facts and what I see.  She has mentioned this ancestry thing/family tree some aunt created for them, but I have never seen it, so I don't want to rely on its validity unless I see it with my own eyes.
    For that matter, growing up, when we went to Sea World or Fiesta Texas or any of the other places we went, it always looked to me like Girlie could have been Wife's kid because they both are about the same skin tone and her mother is paler than most white people.  I don't think Boy understood too well, and why get after him for believing something like that.  We just made sure he didn't start using the N-word which he never has in front of us.  If anything, Boy could get away saying he was indian, he has the facial shape, and small frame of what I imagine a native American would have.

6/29/20 Who Gave Stupid People Wings?

    Dammit, the biggest problem today is the general public is fucking stupid.  It used to be we listened to authority and that more or less kept us in line.  Nowadays, we have mostly this new generation of young adults thinking they know a thing or two about a thing or two, borrowing from the Farmer's Insurance commercials, and y'all don't know shit.  This idea that socialism is a good idea and we should all share in the wealth so we can all be equally rich?  What about the other side, where we all share in the struggle to come up with an idea to make money?  You think for example, silicon valley was always there, that all the people that got rich, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Intel's Andrew Grove, even AMD's Jerry Sanders were given a secret recipe from God?  No, they worked their asses off to get something off the ground, they were pioneers and made something that never existed before.  A whole industry has grown up around their original ideas and we keep moving it forward, but they deserve the riches that comes along with creativity.  On a smaller scale, all those business owners that were vandalized and looted, glass fronts destroyed while y'all threw a tantrum, those were dreams and hard work and sweat that people invested to make exist.  What do you and your shitty skateboard add to society?  Learn to work hard and create a product people need, that is the simple mechanism of a capitalist system.  Idiots.
    This is the same with all of you anti-vaccine people, who made you fucking scientists?  Most of you barely finished high school, you don't know how a freezer makes water turn to ice and you want to spout the intricate details of what vaccinations do?  We have to trust our experts, by that I mean the Dr. Fauci's having to fight a population that he knows even when a vaccine is created one third of people won't take it, why?  Because one time in the 90's, a playboy playmate, Jenny McCarthy claimed vaccines made her kid autistic?  Sorry for her kid, but thanks to her and other celebrities saying similar nonsense, there were 1290 cases of measles in 2019, yet measles was eliminated in the US officially in 2000.  It has now made a come back thanks to these geniuses.  If we all get these vaccine shots, MMR, growing up and less than 1% of kids get sick, don't blame the vaccines.
   How about all you children screaming "defund the police", and then what?  You'll be safer?  Yes, there are bad cops, address them.  Make it so they can get fired without receiving their pensions, make it where the worst performing officers get released yearly, you don't throw out a whole system because of a few bad apples.  And as CHAZ/CHOP showed us, we can't police ourselves.  In the two weeks it existed, in the Xanadu land of Seattle, where it is all love, there were three shootings, imagine in a gang infested swamp like Chicago what would happen to the death count, they had 18 deaths and 47 shootings this past weekend, with a police presence?  Those brave men and women in blue need our support and funding, they do the dirty job you don't have the balls to.  The world isn't full of unicorns and guinea pigs waiting for hugs and cartoons, it is split between the haves and have nots and if you are lucky enough to be in the column of having a little bit through hard work and sacrifice, we need people to ensure the have nots don't just take through muscle and coercion.  As society keeps circling the drain and "parents" spit out kids they don't teach the simple rules of respect and discipline, we will have more and more trash that will have to be dealt with out on the streets and I would rather have more men in blue than less.

6/28/20 $600 HEB Grocery Run?

    I don't think we have ever run the bill up this high, even when we have gone to guy groceries for Thanksgiving.  I was a little shocked, if we can be honest here, and I have to say, this one is mostly on Wife and her fears over Covid-19.  Yes, in the early months, I was making large purchases buying a freezer because we didn't have enough space to store meats and stuff and also an extra gun, just to round out our arsenal, mostly after getting my blood going after talking to my mom.  This time, it was Wife, after talking to one of her sisters, she was informed that they had been shopping in San Antonio and could not find toilet paper in various HEB's, Wal-marts and even a Sam's.  I was trying to get through the weekly visit and maybe spend just $100 since about every time we go, we spend close to $300.
    Wife also spends every afternoon listening to what the governor has to say, and although he keeps saying he will not shut down the state again, she doesn't quite believe him, it doesn't match the message, of wanting to reduce cases in the state.  If there were to be a statewide isolation order, she wants to be one step ahead and have a stocked freezer so we don't have to worry about our meals.  It is also really nice shopping at the new HEB they just opened here at the corner of I-35 and Slaughter Lane in South Austin.
    We went shopping on Friday thinking it would be a little less crowded before 5:00pm, when people are supposed to be at work.  Wrong.  It was just as packed as a regular Saturday afternoon.  I will say the saving grace for this week was the $285 food card we got for having a kid at a "disadvantaged school" where he gets free lunch, for some reason, that was a qualifying feature to get this one time credit card Wife just so happened to have heard of.  Crockett HS is a poor school, so we qualified.
    The first thing I went after was the toilet paper which I was surprised to find in abundance.  Still, I grabbed two large packs of 18 mega rolls= 72 regular rolls.  We still had plenty of rolls at the house, this could probably last us until the end f the year.  We were doing good though, some sodas, some other supplies, Boy gave us a small list of things for him and Sweetie.  Then we got to the meat and I don't even know how but we went overboard.  Part of the problem is that I have my dehydrator and since I am off, I want to have meat to make jerky.  I bought enough meat to make two separate jerky sessions and then I got some salmon to try and make salmon jerky too.  We didn't grab any crazy Atkins brand foods this week, they are pricey, but last week we found some low carb ice cream and I got two tubs and Wife got two packages with fudge bars, so that helped to add it up.
    I was shocked when we were paying and everything was broken down and taken out of the basket.  It is a good thing we had that food card thing but I was still sure we had gone over what I keep in the bank, and wanted to hurry home to move over more money from our savings, but then Wife said her paycheck had gone in that morning, a little early, but in time to save our ass.  The good thing is that we are well stocked now, for Sunday, we are making some brisket and ribs out on the grill and now that Wife is home for the next two weeks, I am looking forward to just hanging out here.  I mean, it is our duty as good citizens to just stay home and help the cause to bring down the infection rate for the country.

6/27/20 New Tools?

    I ran a quick errand to Home Depot on Thursday, Boy is growing vegetables in the backyard and his tomato plants are getting big and heavy enough that he needs to support them with some structure.  He asked if I would go buy him some stakes which I said sure, because I am ultra bored of being home and I was going to go anyway.  We have to maintain our yard and we were out of line for our weed trimmer.  I prefer going to Lowe's nowadays, but our trimmer is a cheapie brand from Home Depot and Lowe's does not carry replacement line cartridges that are pre-filled.  This is mostly why I chose to go to Home Depot and also it is a little bit closer to home and I just charged the dryer to the Lowe's credit card, I don't want to get out of hand and charge more stuff and let it get out of hand because I do love getting me some tools.
    Sure enough, while getting the line for the trimmer, I noticed the little electric saws on extend-a-poles and I got it in my head that I needed one.  About a month ago, I cut about half of the dead palm leaves hanging down 1 of our palm trees.  These trees have really taken off and the are at least as tall as our two story house, so reaching all the way up is going to be a pain in the butt, but anyways, I could only cut the palm leaf from its branch at the skinny point where the lead opens up.  As the branch goes toward the trunk, they get very wide and my pole saw just wouldn't handle it.  I was using the back part of the pole saw that just lops off up to about an inch thick branch and even that left me sore the next day.
    Enter DD, our new tenant, who unlike Boy, loves doing manual labor, Wife and I were telling him about us wanting to clean up the trees while we were outside grilling and he offered to do it, but he was talking about getting spikes for his boots to climb the palm tree and it sounded more difficult than I care to get involved in.  I figure if I buy this electric saw, which extends 9 feet and then our roughly 7 feet reach already gets us to 16 feet off the ground without climbing a ladder and that should go a good ways to getting the job done.  DD did clean up our tree in the front of the house a couple years ago when he first lived with us and he was talking about doing it again.  He was talking about the tree in the front, now that it too was as tall as the house, we should cut all the branches below ten feet to reduce the weight of the tree, making it stronger in a wind storm.  I like that kind of thinking, he said he worked with someone who did that kind of work for awhile, so it sounded good.
    At least now I have the saw to do all this from the safety of the ground.  I chose the electric one because it was $99.  They had a battery powered one that was almost identical, but the battery and charger were to be bought separate.  First, I am unsure if battery power is enough to handle cutting tree branches, second, the tool itself was $120 and then the batteries they had were at least $59.  I would have paid almost twice more to be free of cords when I already have a 100ft cord and electric outlets in front and back of the house, so I went the cheap route.  If I knew I would be out cutting branches for other people and making money, I might have bought the battery powered version.  Another thing that bother me is that I have an old battery powered trimmer that was great, but I now have four old batteries and neither of them really holds much charge anymore, and I am not sure the technology has improved that much.
    As far as the saw goes, this is the second one I have bought.  I had another one when we lived in the other house.  I don't know if I lent it out or if it is in the garage hidden somewhere, but I could not find it and since we have been in this house since 2007, the other saw would be 15 years old or so.  So even if Wife wants to bust balls and say I don't need one, I have one at the house, I just ignore her sometimes and do what must be done.  What is $100?

6/26/20 Who Knows How To Play Rugby?

    This comes out of nowhere, I sent Javalina out to help me cut the grass in the afternoon.  I told him to give it a quick cut and I would follow along and trim the edges.  I had gone to Home Depot and finally found the right trimmer line for our very cheap trimmer.  While I was in the garage trying to figure out how to open the package, one of our neighbor guys stopped walking his dog and got Javalina's attention to the point that the mower shut off.  The man was older than me, I would say late 50's, but he was trying to get a feel for how old Javalina was and then I heard him say he was coaching a youth team and an adults team.  He made a surprised face when Javalina said he was only going to be a sophomore in high school, but he seemed excited anyways, specially when he asked if he had played football, and of course Javalina said yes.  By this time, I had walked out of the garage and was next to my boy and Wife just happened to arrive and she was hovering around, getting off her car.
    The guy is trying to recruit more kids to his teams to play rugby, which I said "I heard rugby, so I rushed out of the garage to hear what you have to say."  He introduced himself and mentioned his wife's name and pointed to the house they live in, which we already knew because he walks with two huge dogs that look like a pair of white lions with all their hair.  He said he would be sending us a flyer and that they play their season starting in January.  Javalina said he would very interested, which I followed that "yes I would love for my son to participate if he wants to, but only if this whole corona virus thing is gone or there is a vaccine by then."  He seemed confidant in saying "yes, I am sure that by January all that will be settled."
    So now, to figure out how rugby is played.  There are two teams and each has depending on the version 7 to 15 (traditional) players on a field, 3 to 8 forwards and 4 to 7 backs.  The goal is to move the ball past some goal lines but no forwards passing is allowed.  The ball looks like an oversized football and although there are no downs like in football, there are phases, and a phase goes until the ball carrier is tackled or knocked out of bounds.  There are six phases allowed before the ball must be kicked or given to the other team (I think).  There are also various ways to score, including running the ball into the goal (called a try) and forcibly touching it to the ground worth 5 points, kicking it through the goals after a try (called a conversion) and is worth 3 points, a penalty kick given to a team by a referee, and a drop kick which is also worth 3 points and can be done anytime while on the run, but the ball must bounce once on the ground before being kicked.  These point values might be for rugby union, which is the rugby with less than 15 players, less points are awarded in rugby league which is the one with 15 players I think.  All this is still kind of confusing, but given that we are trapped at home with our quarantine and it is currently raining hard (Friday morning), I will try to watch a couple games or tutorials and figure this game out.

6/25/20 Tellies First Oil Change?

    It took more than awhile, but Wife's SUV finally got near the marker for its first oil change and we managed to get it done today.  This was not as simple as it might sound.  She went to work in La Pryor, and because Sweetie is sick, probably with Corona, Wife has been driving back and forth instead of staying at my folks.  Like she said, "I don't want to be the reason your dad, who is the family's weakest link, dies", if she got him sick.  All week, she has been leaving the house at 5:00am and returning late in the evening, Monday at 6:00pm, Tuesday at 7:30pm, today she got here at 3:50pm, which was good.  She picked me up, I offered to take the vehicle myself, she could stay and rest at the house, but little Miss Bossy Boss needs to supervise everything.
    In the morning, we always try to walk her out, you never know if there is a weirdo out there, and as she looked at her dashboard while she was sitting in the SUV, she remembered that the miles are now up to 6,800 miles and she needs to schedule, hopefully, today.  I said to just wait until Friday, but she says every trip is 200 miles down and 200 miles back.  If we waited until Friday, she would be about 100 miles over the 7,500 miles and she doesn't want any excuses this time, if the engine fails.  This is why we even went to the dealership, the service technician when we were trying to save the Kia Soul kind of tried to blame Jiffy Lube, but I am sure I always stand by the vehicle and see the work being done.  So, Wife told me to call the guy.  Since she left at 5:00am, and I was up, I was able to get on the computer and they very quickly had a pop-up menu where I was able to schedule the oil change for today.  It was very easy and for the time, it had little squares with fifteen minute differences to choose from.  My first choice was 5:00pm, but I noticed in the fine print this would mean leaving the vehicle overnight for work the next day, I then went back and chose 4:45pm, which is cutting it close, but it did not have the fine print of having to leave the car overnight.  I then called Wife to tell her to get her butt in gear at 1:30pm, the latest.
    My sleep is horrid right now, I went to sleep with Wife at 9:00pm, woke 11:00pm, was up until 2:00am, went and laid down, woke at 4:30am, Wife was getting ready for work, I stayed up to walk her out, then I was up until 7:30am, went to bed and sort of slept until 1:00pm.  At this point, I decided it was enough sleep and got up.  I called Wife and she picked up but I couldn't make out anything, which I figured she was on the road already.  The first 40 miles, she drives through a dead patch where she gets no reception on her phone.  She then called by 1:40 or so that she was on I-35 and coming.
    The oil and filter change was quick enough and although it seemed a little pricey at $39.95 online, the guy said he was going to give us a discount and only charged us $22.50, or something like that.  That sounds great, considering it is the dealership and they should be the experts on their vehicles.  This is why I have always taken my Excursion to Ford, not that I get many discounts.  Here's hoping the extra effort on our part leads to a longer life of This Telluride that Wife likes so much.

6/24/20 This Might Not Be A Test?

    We knew we would see it eventually make it into the house and apparently, it came sooner than I  thought.  Sweetie came down sick on Monday morning, sick enough that she is going to get tested for corona Tuesday (writing this Tuesday morning).  I don't blame her for getting sick, with the huge increase in Austin cases, it was only a matter of time.  I can only hope that we all come out safe if it is our turn to be exposed.  I personally would have liked to have waited a few more months, just in case better medicines are around the corner.  If it turns to that, at least right now, there are still plenty of hospital beds as the governor states at his daily briefings, if we get that sick and there have been at least two new medicinal routes to go, Remdisivir and Dextramethasone, both of which have been shown in studies to help improve survival rates.
    I don't want to be all doom and gloom, but Boy slept with her all weekend, so if anyone of us has it, I don't see how he doesn't.  The rest of us might be a crapshoot, but we are here in the house fulltime and just breathing the same air and eating the same foods, so I figure we will all have it if she has it.  The scary part is that we don't know how any of us will react to the virus, the worst outcome being death.  If we all fall in the 95-97% of people that seem unaffected, then let's get this infection over with.
    As shitty as things seem, if we are all exposed and we come out the other side unscathed, we will be baptized and ready to exist in the new world, the virus probably won't kill us.  We can start planning little trips without fear of getting exposed to the virus out on a whim.  It has sucked being locked indoors trying to avoid the world and the danger.  I miss the mall, I miss being out and about, and I do miss the occasional dining experiences that are different.
    It has been so bad, that since February, we have only seen my folks once and my in-laws once.  That is not normal for us, as we usually see them usually every 4-6 weeks.  We also haven't allowed much company, like Girlie has not been over to visit or hang out since February as well.  She does seem to live in a different world, as we see on her Snapchat and stuff, that she gets around with her family, to casinos, to gatherings with her friends.  That is all fine, but we were trying to be safe, so we told her not to come by.  DD is another one, just this passed weekend, I was lecturing him that we love having him at the house, but we just can't let you stay if you are going to continue going to dances and other social events all the time.  He agreed that he was about over all the silly stuff he does.  I think he would like to get back with his ex, so I told him to just focus on him.
    I talked to my bosses and after a conversation with EHS (environmental, Health, and Safety), the protocol is to stay quarantined if there is a chance of being positive.  I can return to work if she is negative or if I have been in quarantine for two weeks.  I was going to be off next week and the week after that, when Wife gets her time off.  I don't know if this week counts as vacation or more of a cautionary time away.  Either way, for now, I still feel fine, and I hope I feel this way in a month too.

6/23/20 Father's Day Turned Out Better Than I Hoped?

    I wasn't expecting much for Father's Day, usually we get together with one or the other side of our families and enjoy the weekend that way.  This year, again, we are here quarantining alone.  I would say the Father's Day experience was a whole weekend vibe type of thing.  Friday, we cleaned the kitchen pantry and drawers below the counters.  Saturday, we kind of dragged ass all day because we were all still tired from Friday.  I did get up early, went to Academy, Lowe's, and HEB.  I had gotten a little obsessed with the idea of getting a dehydrator and then buying meat to make my own beef jerky.  What is better than homemade?
    Saturday was spent making jerky, I see why it is so expensive.  The meat is pricey at almost $8/lb or so.  There is a lot of time to prep between cutting the meat thinly, making the marinade, marinating the meat and then waiting for it to get absorbed.  Filling up the trays, then the drying time, the first time, with about 3.5 pounds, it took almost 4 hours to get really nice and dry.  At least once I set the trays up I went and took a long nap.  I came down two hours later, rotated the trays, apparently all the comments sections seemed to suggest that the dehydrators don't dry evenly.  They are better with the meat closest to the fan, so the trays benefit from getting rotated.
    With DD now occupying the guest room downstairs, we felt like the only place to watch TV is in our room, so we went back upstairs and Wife watched crappy chick flick movies while I slept until 10:00pm.  This is when the night got cool.  We went back downstairs, I think we ate some Double Dave's Pizza, we are doing Atkins, and they have crusts made with cauliflower.  It really worked out as it was real tasty and the crust almost seemed like the real deal.  Javalina was with us and we had ordered him a regular meat lover's pizza which he about devoured.  We started watching Flash Gordon after Wife mentioned she had it recorded now for like 2 months.  We like watching movies with Javalina because he makes the funniest comments.
    We stayed up until 5:00am and watched three movies.  I thought I would have fallen asleep, but I was able to hang in there.  Watching them on the projector was also good with all the action so large.  We saw Flash Gordon, Mamma Mia 2, and Rocketman.  It was great seeing the cheesiness of Mamma Mia and having Javalina comment at every turn.
    We got up Sunday at noon-ish and without even taking a shower, Wife forced me to go to HEB to buy stuff to grill.  I didn't want to go, just because, but we were going to grill and we needed meat and stuff for the week.  The day was great after that.  I cleaned the grill and got the fire going, Wife took care of the grilling.  In the meantime, I prepped another 5 pounds of jerky, it was intended to be sent to my folks and family to taste.  The rest of the afternoon was just spent waiting on the meat from the grill, eating and hanging out with the family.  Even Ditto has been more open and talking with us like a member of the family.  Late at night, he was showing me his newest obsession, cameras.  He bought an old fashion medium format film camera and he was showing me how manual it is.  I like when he has stuff to tinker with, it is what he does best, figuring how things work.

6/22/20 Dryer Died A Second Time?

    A few weeks ago, I mentioned I repaired our expensive ass dryer by following instructions on a Youtube video.  This worked great for about 3 weeks but yesterday again it made a popping sound and started giving me the same F40 error.  At this point I could try to re-fix it but I know it isn't going to last very long.  I decided it would just be better to go and get a new machine.  We had spent the better part of the day cleaning up the kitchen (this all happened Friday), but after a quick shower, we headed to Lowe's around 7:30pm.
    Before going, I was thinking out loud about what am I going to do with the old dryer, I am starting to look like Sanford and Son in the garage with the old washer still sitting there and now a dryer, along with our old treadmill and all the other junk.  DD said if we wanted, he could call his mom, they collect stuff like that and dispose of it someplace where they get a little money for the metal.  I told him, yes, get her to come and haul the shit away.  Shoot, they were there in like 30 minutes, with a small trailer, loaded up the washer and dryer.  Wife then suggested the old treadmill should go too, although I believe it technically still worked the last time I turned it on, this might have been ten years ago and we have another $1500 treadmill in our room that also hasn't been used in 6 months, at least.  The space in the garage did open up after getting rid of those three large bulky items.
    Then we went to Lowe's and shopped around for basically the cheapest machine we could get.  We saw one for $430 and that sounded about right.  When we finally got a guy to help us, I explained that I was done with the priciest, most sophisticated machine, I just want something cheap that will get the job done.  When I pointed at our choice, he suggested a Maytag unit that he said was just a little more, but the internals are way more robust and it is just a better machine for $480.  I said that was fine, rushed home to plug it in and then I remembered that for whatever stupid reason, dryers don't come with a wire to plug into the wall.  As I looked at my phone, it was 8:57pm, and Lowe's closes at 9:00pm.  I was all GRRR! because although the sales guy was great and he offered to check us out right where he was, I also felt rushed out of the store.
    I brought the machine home and put it in the washroom, and left it alone.  I then got up early (well, 9:30am) and went to Lowe's for the wire, Academy for my dehydrator, and HEB for some fresh meat.  I got back and as I was getting the stuff off, DD was sitting there bored, he was up early because he was supposed to work but nobody else showed up.  He offered to run the wire on the dryer, then he put the little legs on it and even hooked up the exhaust which I always fight with because I am so fat to get behind the machine.
    This machine was less than half of what the last dryer cost, with its fancy steam option and digital display.  I hope to get many good years from this unit or I might just have to run a line in the backyard and hang everything out for the sun to dry.

6/21/20 Best Gift Ever?

    Maybe best gift ever is a little much, but I think I finally got a great gift that is both practical and good for me.  Boy had been asking me what I wanted for Father's day and up until Thursday I wasn't really sure, but I do know that I am not Wife with her "don't get me anything BS."  I like stuff, I just wasn't sure about what to ask for or get.
    Then it dawned on me, I love eating beef jerky, but I don't like buying it because it is too expensive.  The only time I do buy it is when we go on vacation or I am on Atkins dieting because it is almost like candy and it has low carbs.  Last week, we went to get our normal run of groceries for the week and I got 3 bags of beef jerky at like $10 a half pound bag.  I felt this a necessity to stay away from sweets but also such a crazy expense.  The bag content sucks too because there will be 2-3 perfect pieces, just huge and delicious and the rest is just tidbits and jerky dust.  So yes, I got a food dehydrator and with the help of YouTube, I actually already have my first batch going (writing this Saturday afternoon and the jerky needs about 1 more hour).
    When we first got married, I remember buying a cheapie dehydrator that was all plastic parts and round stackable plates that went together but never seemed to work.  Back then, you were on your own, and there are tips you can quickly pick up watching others go through the process.  I remember trying to do dry fruit pieces, like apple chips, but the stupid thing wouldn't dry them.  I never figured out if it was because our machine was faulty or we loaded too much fruit in it and just needed more time, but I kind of stayed away from the idea, until now.
    I started with the idea of wanting a dehydrator, then I looked at 2-3 videos showing the best machines, I liked how the LEM machine looked and was put together, almost like a toaster oven with either 5 or 10 sheets to put meat on.  I would have gotten the 10 tray one, but that is a commitment of a lot of meat, I thought.  The 5 tray unit was $149.99, maybe a little pricey, but I really think this will help me long term.  I then also looked at a couple videos where the people prepped the meat and then loaded the meat onto the trays.  One lady explained about getting lean meat and she suggested she used London broil, so I looked for that and also got a small rump roast looking hunk of meat that did not have any fat on it.  Another video suggested to put the meat in the freezer prior to cutting it, it is easier to cut when it is hard from almost being frozen.  This worked out perfectly, I let it sit in the freezer while I got back home and did other stuff.  I then sliced both packs of meat into what I thought was going to be nice thick slices of jerky only to have Wife and DD suggest I go thicker for even thicker pieces.  The 3.5 pounds more or less yielded enough meat for 3 and a half trays.  I didn't want to have meat left over, so this was perfect for a first try.  Again, I went to several videos that gave me recipe ideas for the marinade.  All seem to suggest the important part is the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce in a 2:1 mix and all the other stuff is for flavor.
    I managed to do all that while Wife made breakfast.  It was suggested to find a place to put the machine, like the garage because it gets noisy and smelly.  Wife said the smell can't be worse than when we make turkey on Thanksgiving, just plug it in.  It has been running for about 3 of the 4 hours recommended, I even opened it up a while ago and rotated the trays 180 degrees and got excited that the pieces already look dark and jerky like.  I had to pick up a few pieces and taste test.  It certainly tasted like dried meat, Wife said no honey or sweet stuff because of our diet, but I can tell it is missing a little honey, to me.  Other than that, I think I am onto something awesome.

6/20/20 Shamed Or Inspired By Our Nephew?

    I don't know whether it was shame or inspiration, but when Wife got up we were discussing her family since she had talked to her sister and we got on the younger sister's younger boy, let's call him Baby A.  Apparently, he has become the little entrepreneur, making thousands of dollars cutting grass, shrubs, trees and doing anything that can be done.  He even likes getting into projects inside and was the main push in getting the floors done from carpet to wood at me in-laws.  Wife started saying he was busting balls and how he even tells my mother-in-law that she needs to keep the kitchen cleaner or he will take over.  I then looked around and said "man, we need him around here"  jokingly to Wife.  This got Wife all inspired and got her going saying we were going to spend the day cleaning the kitchen.
    We have a huge pantry and we pretty much took everything out.  Turns out, we have like 5 blenders, there was a 4 bread toaster, and an oven toaster, while we have another toaster oven on the counter.  The main reason for moving everything out is Boy considers himself a master chef and has kitchen appliances such as an air fryer, an ice cream machine, 2 different coffee machines even as I have a coffee machine that can make a pot or by the Kierig cup.  He also has a huge blender/mixer thing and any other thing you can imagine.
    We probably started at 1:00pm and worked at it until 6:00pm.  It is one of those things I didn't want to start but I was glad to be done afterwards.  While I was dealing with the pantry, Wife and the boys also tackled the lower kitchen cabinets which had so much stuff.  We found like five or six different cameras, including my underwater 35mm one, a Pokémon one, a first generation Sony digital camera, a Polaroid type, and others.  I even found my $200 Sennheiser headphones I had just been wondering about where they had gone.
    The trash can might be full and we still have another couple bags of trash, but now we have space to hide everything, including the sodas that we had gotten used to keeping up and in the middle of our sightlines, the cereal boxes can also be put away instead of blocking the counter where I keep my coffeemaker.
    Wife says now she wouldn't be embarrassed of having Baby A come visit.  BTW, I like to call him Midsized A.  I have a hard time calling someone Baby anything when I have to look up to see his face and his dad is already called A, so I call him midsized A.

6/19/20 Ouroboros?

    I know I have been obsessing about the events going on lately, but I can't stop watching youtube videos of Live PD and others that show real life situations.  I do not understand why Live PD is getting removed, it is awesome and shows real life unfiltered reality.  If you are against being on the show, don't do stupid shit that gets the cops called on you.  Most of the time, it is the same thing, people driving badly, people getting called on for fighting, or cops responding to aid in an emergency and finding people giving signs of being high or on drugs.
    Regardless, the latest video that kind of shocked me an stayed in my thoughts was a video of an elderly man, who went by the alias Ricardo Spain and was knocked out once by Mike Tyson.  This is from a video from Active Self Protection, they post videos daily about what was done and/or could have been done better in a given attack.  But back to Mr. Spain who is riding the city bus and getting harassed by 2-4 teens.  The elderly man is minding his own business standing by the back doors, I assume he was getting off quickly so why get comfortable sitting down.  It is also possible he knew the group of kids harassing him, and thus wanted to stay on his feet and alert.  After some back and forth (there is no audio) but clearly one of the boys comes up to Mr. Spain and gets in his face, almost makes the two fists like "come on, let's fight."  While getting in his face, the kid does poke and prod the elder and the old man reacts by taking out a handgun which makes the kid realize "I better cut my shit out."
    I don't know where these types of kids are raised, and I am not saying it because they are black, but if someone pulls a gun on me, I am going to want distance and I will surely let him know he is the man and in charge.  This little gang all got agitated, even a girl in the group got up to get in his face about the gun.  What is the disconnect there, I mean a gun gets waved around and your reaction is to go to it, that is why I labeled this Ouroboros, a snake that eats itself.  This is what keeps the poor black community down.  First of all, respect a gun, cops don't carry them for decoration, when you attack them or fight them, it is an option for them.
    In the video, the girl kicks him as he gets off at his stop and one of the cooler kids first lifts his pants above his ass then kind of charges the old man.  He pulls the gun out a 2nd time, which kind of sends him back in the bus.  It should have ended there, they get in the bus and go on their way, but no.  This idiot proceeds to get off the bus with another one of his buddies and they start walking behind the old man.  Why?  He has a gun, you want to play with it?  As the bus pulls away and takes its cameras with it, we hear a cap and the story is that the cool tall kid who had finally managed to pull his pants above his waist got shot and he ran to a nearby house to call 911 and he died of his gunshot wound.
    Some would say sad, he was just a kid, he was going to be somebody.  Others would say nope, he seemed attracted to the taste of fast moving lead.  I find it very hard to feel sorry for idiots like this.  They work in groups, they terrorize people, take what is not theirs... I am just glad the elderly man was not hurt during this and maybe the rest of the gang learned a thing or two about a thing or two.

6/18/20 When Do The Adults Take Control?

    This might all be the culmination of a few generations of too many households with no men to give the younger generation a view of what being a man is, but right now it almost feels like we are in a freefall.  This bullshit happening in the streets might have started for a good cause, I do believe and agree that black people get treated improperly more often than other races, but rioting and just going out and screaming in the streets does nothing.  When this started, my first reaction was to turn to Boy and Sweetie and I got firm and direct saying that under no circumstances do I want you two idiots out there in downtown.  Both of you weigh 110 and 150 pounds, believe me, if the crowd turns or things go badly, both of you will end up getting stomped on.  They might have not liked it, nobody past 15 years of age likes being told you can't do this or that, but I don't give a shit.  I wouldn't be a good parent if I didn't speak my mind and instead of assuming they know what I am thinking, they hear exactly what I believe.
    All I see on the streets is young people, I know it has to do with corona and too many businesses being closed so there is nothing better to do, but damn, go home and jerk off or take a shower and a nap.  People are losing their minds over this Rayshard Brooks shooting in Atlanta now, but why did he react the way he did?  I saw the video with my own eyes, yes, he was pleasant and overly nice with the cops until he wasn't in the last minute of the thirty minute encounter.  The officers were both professional and respectful until he took one of their weapons.  I tried seeing it through different eyes and saw the events as Trevor Noah saw them, a black comedian who is the host of the Daily Show.  He wanted to extend the "he was so nice" and then excuse the last minute with "well, he was drunk, you've been drunk, I've been drunk...."  Uhh, no sir, I have never been drunk and then drove to put people around me in danger.  "If I drink, I do it at home.  If I drink at a restaurant, like once a year, my wife will drive.  Basically, you are saying that if he then fell asleep while driving, you would be ok with the defense of "well, he was drunk."  I hope MADD dumps a massive shit on your desk because that is the reasoning of a 10 year old, you know better than that.  He was drunk because he chose to be drunk and then he chose to drive off.
    But back to my take, he (Rayshard was only 27, Boy is 26) should have had a dad telling him continuously not to do stupid shit, he had a whole list of bad actions in his past too, which again, a strong parent might have changed that.  I talk to my mom (my dad is always in the background) almost daily and we discuss these events going on and we all are wondering where the other side is?  Everyone I know who works and has been working is not in support of the rioting and bad behavior.  My mom thinks it is hard to push back because if you are against the protesting, it will seem like you are racist, and that is probably right, but the people that make changes (adults that vote) aren't ever going to support change when they see this behavior in the streets.  Idiots taking over Seattle, the rioting, the looting, where do you get buy-in from the conservative side?  I hate saying I am a conservative now, but I would never be found carrying on out on the streets, sorry, but I do have work to get back to.

6/17/20 Taking Chances With People Who Have No Chill?

    We are about two weeks into the BLM movement and although gains have been made, look at CHAZ in Seattle for proof, some things just don't seem to resonate with people the same way.  I don't understand if it is upbringing, people just being stupid or on drugs, but as much as I believe there are a few bad cops, there are also a lot of stupid people who like to "poke the bear."
    There has been a big story in Atlanta following yet another death of a black man at the hands of a police officer.  This is not a great time for this to have happened, what with people already looking to scream and react.  Sure enough, the Wendy's, just for being the location of the tragedy, was burned down.  What did the Wendy's do to suffer like that?  The people who riot like this aren't being very smart, who do you hurt when you do this?  It's bad enough that in the middle of Covid-19 millions of people are unemployed.  Losing a business like a Wendy's just causes another maybe 20-30 people to lose their jobs, when you factor in all the different shifts and levels of employees.  It will be even sadder if these businesses don't come back, why would the owners rebuild?  I wouldn't want to be where my fellow neighbors appreciate me by burning down my business to the ground.
    But back to Rayshard Brooks.  I am not an expert, but I saw the 30 minute video and that officer was not malicious in any way that I could tell.  When he pulled up, and he did because someone from Wendy's called that Mr. Brooks was asleep in the line to order food, he didn't just show up to harass a black man.  He was very patient knocking on his door window, then gently opened the door and woke him with a nudge.  Brooks was completely out of it, maybe on drugs, or maybe he had got off an 18 hour shift at the plant.  Either way, the officer told him if he was tired to move his car and park in a parking spot so he would at least get out of the way of the customers.  The cop got in his car and turned it on, that tells me he was going to leave.  Brooks then jumped the little concrete stop with the front wheels of the car, causing the cop to stop his car and go check on him.  He must have told him at least six times to sit and wait in the car, but he kept coming out for no real productive reason.  The first officer called for a sobriety expert to give Brooks a DUI test.  I didn't see it, but 2nd hand comments said he blew a .18, and anything over .08 is considered grounds for a DUI.
    Up until this point, Rayshard had been the definition of cool and calm, when he was awake.  As soon as they told him to put his hands behind his back, he turned into a caged animal.  He fought both cops, the three were on the floor for a few seconds and somehow, the guy under arrest popped out of the melee with a tazer gun.  He attempted to run off, but in the video he clearly points the gun behind him and shoots.  What is a cop to do?
    First off, never ever ever never ever take a police officer's weapon.  Even if you are stronger, there are a lot more cops than there are you.  That is the equivalent to striking a beehive, cops will lose their shit, that is their weapon and I don't care who you are, that is completely idiotic.  We can play games like children and say "well, he was just trying to get away.  Maybe he accidentally grabbed the weapon in the scuffle (scuffling with cops is also on the list of stupid things to do), drop it immediately to show it was an accident and don't point it at them.  He didn't mean the cops any harm (how could you know this?).  Maybe he succeeds and incapacitates the officer and in his adrenaline rush, comes back gets his real gun and shoots at the other officer and kills a hungry patron trying to get a Wendy's Frosty.  The cop did what he had to do in the moment, it could be said that it was an unnecessary death, and it was, how much is a DUI?  Mr. Brooks could have acted like a man, admitted he fucked up by driving drunk (which is also wrong, he could have crashed into another innocent driver and hurt him) and just let himself be arrested, it is $600-$1000 for a DUI fine, peanuts for the cost of his life.
    It is stupid that the officer was immediately terminated, he seemed to have a calm approach to his job and other than the shooting, he seemed like a good cop.  His first reaction was to give the guy a break and let him sleep whatever off.

6/16/20 Capital Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ?

    A new nation has emerged in that liberal equivalent to Austin up in the Northwest corridor of the country, namely Seattle.  My brother was telling me about it over the weekend but it sounded like the wet dreams of so many right wingers that I couldn't take him too seriously.  As fate would have it, it was the other end of the spectrum that took their toys and cut out a portion of the country for themselves.  After the riots and looting proved to be so beneficial for all, a group continued (I believe others are still rioting, hey it's the summer, unemployables have even less to do than normal, plus Trump gave them some money to spend on Molotov cocktails and skateboards (newest weapon of choice I see on TV)).
    It would have to be a liberal city with liberal leaders, the mayor told the police force to just move out and let them have it.  Why she did is beyond me, but apparently she (of course it would be a she) didn't want to see bloodshed.  I say attacking the police openly is past protesting and reason enough to open fire especially as they threatened to burn down the police station.  And don't be dense, more than 700 police officers have been hurt since May27 due to the George Floyd hoopla, these protestors are out for blood in parts of the country.
    As Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson both mentioned, it is way past funny that these same people who have been crying about a border wall when it comes out of Trump's mouth set up border walls as their first action plan.  The second thing on their action items list AFTER RIOTING TO REMOVE THE POLICE FORCE, was establish their own police force, complete with guns, install laugh track here.  Hmm, third item on the action list?  Well, they need money and there are some successful businesses in the CHAZ area, so they are being forced to pay a little fee to keep existing, I believe the police chief calls that extortion.  Hmm?  Things are just going right as planned.
    It gets better, they want to live like communists, well their food stores were ransacked by the homeless which has been encouraged to set up camp there.  Why is that a surprise to anyone?  It almost feels like it's Lord Of The Flies, they will end up eating people.  What else can they do, they've put out a plea to bring food, but they would prefer vegan options, meat substitutes and soy.  Why would anyone come to their rescue, they don't identify as Americans anymore.  I say shut the power off, close their water source since those utilities are for Americans and see what happens.
    I guess the hippies can grow their little gardens and it rains so much, they can catch rainwater to drink.  What I don't get is that all this started with Black Lives Matter and at least here in CHAZ it looks to be mostly white soy boys running around pretending to play grown up games.  I give it two more weeks before it implodes amongst themselves.  We should just turn our backs on that whole sector, not because they won, but because they will prove what happens without those men (and women) in blue.

6/15/20 Yet Another Diet Attempt?

    I know, talking about dieting all the time from a fat boy gets old and lame, but it has been resonating in my head for awhile.  It is usually topic one with my folks when I call, well, maybe they'll ask about the boys first, but hardly a conversation goes by without mention of my weight.  I get it, I know I'm way too heavy, shoot, I can't look at jetskis and/or motorcycles without first glancing at their weight limits.  Wife uses it as her reason to say no to a lot of stuff I want.  "No, you can't buy a jetski, you're too heavy plus if you fall off, how are you going to get back on?"
    I have had luck with Atkins and back in college I lost like 90 pounds or more just by becoming active and eating like I was poor, which I kind of was.  My biggest problem right now has been my knees which seem to take turns hurting.  I almost want to think the medicine my mom gave me this weekend is starting to help as I woke up with my knee pain down to a 3-4, if it has been up at a 6-7 the last few weeks.  Not being mobile is key, I think.  Javalina is itching to go jogging and I could bike alongside him, but even riding a bike was hurting my knee a couple weeks ago when I tried.
    So after getting the usual talks at my folk's home this last time we visited, I talked with Wife about starting a diet.  We are clear of a lot of debt now, we could start spending more money to eat better/different.  She agreed, but we didn't really hash it out.  Yesterday, we were going for our weekly grocery store run and Sweetie lent us her HEB store card.  She said it would give us a 20% discount and that is all I heard.  We walked in through the "pharmacy" entrance and within a row or two, we were in the middle of all these Atkins choices for meal replacements and snacks.  This tend to get pricey quick, but I figured with her discount and that we have more disposable income, we should do it.  Wife grabbed a few things she can carry in her purse to keep from starving the days she goes to work, and I grabbed a few things to munch on when I get like I need something to eat.
    Turns out, Sweetie's card only discounts HEB brand things, we still saved $30, so it was ok, but I was alittle shocked when the total for our things was like $280.  That is ok, Wife got meals she can prep without carbs, and both tortillas and bread that are low carb/keto options.  I got some diet sodas ( I know people say they are bad, but they help me when I need something for my sweet tooth and they are technically no calorie), and Crystal Light drinks as well.
    I didn't want to go out like a bitch trying to lose 5 pounds and still die by corona as it caught me and brought me down like a hog in his prime, but Wife and everybody else says I'll be alright if I wear my mask.  So, I am doing this because I plan to be around post corona, driving a jet ski that I pull behind my boat that I tow with my F250 to my weekend lake house on the coast, or something like that.

6/14/20 What Dog Matches Us?

    It is weird how it is said that dogs and their owners tend to match each other in personality and temperament.  We had a discussion or two about getting a dog about a month ago, we just couldn't figure which breed would be best for us.  Me, not knowing any better, kind of lean towards the dachshunds.  My folks have now had two and they were both kind of cool and even though they had a strong bark, they were both kind of mellow in that they wouldn't come bite you.  The fact that they were small also helped because I don't want to worry about 50-100 pounds of dog getting out of control.  Boy then started suggesting weird dogs like the Belgium malinois, which was used in the John Wick movies, well trained almost killer dogs, I quickly said "hell no."
    Wife, of course, had to suggest a keeshond, which they had one that was given to them full grown.  Beautiful dog, but the a-hole never liked me.  Every time I went to visit, it had to be put in a bedroom and of course they thought it was hilarious when it came at me barking and snarling, I say "fuck that dog."  The same can be said about chihuahuas.  They are tiny, but they got no chill, from my experiences.  My mom had a chihuahua and although she thought it was "cute", that piece of shit bit into every grandkid.  Sure, my mom and sister loved that dog, but I was glad when it passed away, it was always barking and making the energy in the house just a little tense.
    We kind of ran out of dogs, so the conversation went dry, although Boy was still saying weird dogs like chows, or german shepherds, which are both way too much dog for me.  I like to joke about a bulldog if it is going to be Javalina's dog, both are built like fireplugs, short, thick and muscular, but then bulldogs drool way too much.  Wife joked of a hound dog because they sleep all day like me, great joke.
    Then this week, DD called and he needed a place to live, I love the boy, but I also knew he had gotten an aggressive type of dog.  Of course, over the phone he was like "no, it's a mix of pitbull and other dogs, almost a mutt."  Fast forward to him showing up and this bag of muscle jumps off next to him, all jawline and full of energy.  Geesh!  I wouldn't have opened the door for anyone else seeing the dog, but so far, the dog has been cool.  We have had him here with us like 4 days and I have yet to hear him bark and he hasn't pissed or pooped in the house.  Bil Burr, a comedian, has a funny bit about his GF getting them a pitbull and how he felt exactly like I do, scared at first, but coming around.  Now, he loves walking the dog and how his side of the street just clears up, people will cross the street to avoid getting close to the dog.
    Maybe this is the best way for us to own a dog, by letting the people that stay with us bring their dogs for a short time.  We all really liked Morro, Girlie's dog, except for the shedding, now we are coming around to DD's dog, he really is a beautiful example of the breed, and I am wanting to believe that he is as cool as he says it is.

6/13/20 Pain In My Knee?

    I know the  main problem with my knee is being a 400 pounder, it is not some mystery.  That being said, I was fine maybe 5-6 months ago before corona started, then at some point I dropped down on my knees like I had done 1000 times as a kid, but this time I came back up hobbling on my right knee.  Figuring it was some sort of bruise, I decided to wait it out and the pain would go away on its own.  While this was going on, I started depending on my left leg to help me out, specially when getting up off a chair, or in general when getting up to a standing/walking position.
    I don't know when my right leg healed, but the pain transferred and now my left knee is in constant pain.  It is a weird pain that seems to hurt more when I tuck my legs under me when sitting on a chair, for example.  I used to get comfortable in bed by taking my left foot and tucking it under the knee of my right leg and doing both those things causes a lot of pain very quickly.  The pain seems to settle down if I try to make my leg straight.  I only worry about stretching the leg and not having my legs where they could catch me/ slow me down if the chair were to break under me.
    I was almost glad I too the last two days off from work this week as the idea of walking from the parking lot to the lab seemed like a formidable challenge I was not up to meeting.  It is bad enough walking with a mask to encounter a temperature scanner I am sure I will fail simply from huffing and puffing in the sun but I seem to get past that fine.
    Enter my mom, we went and saw her this weekend.  At some point she noticed I was hobbling favoring my right leg and she asked me what was wrong.  I told her, and she gave me a cream to try.  The gel is called diclofenac sodium gel 3% and I just apply it because she's my mom, mostly.  I was hoping to wake up like a magical ointment and be free of pain, but that did not happen.  I reapplied it the next day and have now applied it on maybe four times total.  I want to say that my leg still hurts, but maybe it is starting to feel better.  I am not sure if it is because I have been home and not really overusing my leg.
    The ironic thing is my mom is giving a little lecture about needing to lose weight and she doesn't want me to have a stroke, but when I looked at the side effects of this diclofenac stuff, the biggest risk factor is it could increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.  Hmm?  What to do, what to do?  On the one hand, it might be helping me, I am a fat mofo, but haven't been diagnosed with a weak heart.  On the other hand, should I just let nature take its course and eventually the pain will go away?  I mean my mom is pleading to do something so I won't have a heart attack, but she gives me a gel that might increase the risk of a heart attack.  I know she wants to help me, but maybe a light stroke will make me take life more seriously and then I'll get on a diet?  Hmm...  😉

6/12/20 Getting Sucked Into Small Town Times?

    I know it isn't good for us, but we normally eat a lunch around 2-3pm and then a dinner around 9-11pm.  Most people would say that is too late, but since I work nights, that has always been our normal.  If we grill, we will end up eating even later than 11pm, at times.  I haven't figured that one out, I might turn on the grill no later than 6:00pm, but even then, the food won't all come out until after 10:00pm.
    We have been in Crystal City now for two days and the first one on Wednesday when we arrived, my mom ran off to get us chicken and we ate around 7:00pm.  I was kind of wanting some cookies or just something else to munch on later, but I guess between the burger and then the chicken, it kept me from looking for more food.
    Yesterday though, we ate a weird lunch of hot dogs suggested by one of the little knuckleheads.  It wasn't the greatest meal, but it was different, so it kind of worked.  Mom had also bought "pan dulce" which is so good with coffee and between the two kept me full for awhile.  The next few hours were met with napping and talking and more napping.  By the time I got up and Wife was headed home from work around 5:00pm, my mom was already getting ready to make burgers, which she does in a different way than Wife, so they are kind of a treat.  She takes the patty and bounces it once through flour and then cook them in oil.  Wife calls them chicken fried burgers, I just call them delicious.
    I ate two for dinner (although dinner was at like 6:00pm or maybe earlier) along with the whole family joining in.  As soon as we were done eating, I would have liked another nap, or just to lay down in a cold dark room, but everyone headed out by my brother's pool to watch the kids swim again.  It was alright, even if my brother decided to let me key up some of the music that I listen to and then he made fun of me the rest of the night for it.  I just accept that he is a small town simpleton, so it doesn't bother me.
    The kids got bored or wanted out of the pool a little earlier than the night before.  Wife and the boys disappeared for awhile but I stayed outside with my brother just talking.  By the time my stomach started cramping up and wanting to poop, my peeps were coming back out to go look for late night tacos.  Apparently, our local taco place in Carrizo Springs was closed for some reason.  She then came back and looked at a couple of places with no luck.  When she did find a taco hut open and stood in line for half an hour only to find out it was cash only, and who carries cash nowadays?  Wife came back after I had pooped and showered with nothing to show for her time gone, but at least my mom had made a handful of extra patties.  Javalina and I had a burger apiece and had to settle for that.  We were actually asleep early, well, before 2:00am, which I figured was good because Boy wants us on the road at 1:00pm STAT.  Right now, we have an hour and a half to go.

6/11/20 Sitting With Family?

    There is just something therapeutic about sitting with family.  The same people you might have the biggest fights and disagreements are the same ones who take you back to reset and remind you that you are not crazy, your ideas come from all the thought processes of those we call family.  Even on the drive home, Boy was telling how I am wrong about this and wrong about that, I just said you're right, I am just going to agree and be happy all of us are together.

    As soon as we got home, it felt like we belong, like we should be here more often, five months was way too long to go between visits.  No sooner did we arrive and my mom and sister ran off to get chicken from the Golden Chick, the only local fast food chicken place.  We had eaten a burger on the road from McDonald's, which I really wanted to bitch about as it cost over $40 for 3 burgers and a set of chicken nuggets with their respective fries and drinks.  I guess that is life, man, it seems like so much, at least the fries were hot and the burgers fresh, we had to wait a couple minutes.  I was hanging with the family talking and trying not to upset anyone, as I said, but as soon as I finished that burger, I was out.  Fast forward almost two hours and Wife was waking me as we made the turn into town.  We got off fairly easy, we all had a backpack or bag apiece and then I had my computer and I did bring my new shotgun to see if we can go somewhere to test it.

    We said hi, went to the bathroom, it is a 3 hour drive, and then we ate, all of us, mom, dad, sister, two brothers and their kids.  My sisters hubby was at a meeting and my brother's wife was out walking with friends.  Once we finished off the chicken, my brother asked the kids if they wanted to go swimming and even Javalina got excited.  The four youngest family members all jumped in and I swear I would have too but the pool is an above ground pool and the dinky ladder would not hold my 400 pound to get in and out, so I just sat and bathed myself in OFF, there were mosquitos trying to be annoying.

    We sat and discussed the stuff going on with the virus and the protests.  We all seem to be in agreement that we don't like seeing rioting and looting, it just hurts the store owners and a lot of them will not survive first having to be shut down because of the virus and then because of the mobs of looters.  It is kind of weird that we are all plugged into social media in one way or another.  My brother quickly showed me he likes Tik-Tok, which is my new favorite thing, my mom was complaining of FB, my other brother was trying to show us video of the guy that got crushed by a statue he and his buddies were trying to destroy.

    My sister was the lone one trying to be productive and get us to agree on taking a trip together.  We talked about going to Corpus for a few days, but we couldn't get it together to decide on a house.  We might still do it, but we will all probably stay in separate hotels, which I am fine with, for now.

6/10/20 Finally Going To Visit My Folks?

    It seems like forever, but we are finally heading out of town and going to see my parents.  It has been since about February which isn't that long for some families, but we usually see them every 4-6 weeks on average.  Our first plans were to go and stay with them during Spring Break since Wife and Javalina had different weeks off.  We figured we would hang out down there while Wife worked.  That is when the news of corona broke out, so my mom was super worried about my dad catching it, since he is kind of a Winnie, and she told us to postpone the visit.
    We then waited about a month and when we finally were getting ready to try again, I mentioned that Girlie had stopped by to get her mail and she said to wait another two weeks, then we had DD and his sister visit to cut everyone's hair and that added another two weeks, which we then visited my in-laws which caused yet another slow down of two weeks.  At this point, we could probably add another two weeks with DD moving in last night, but I think my mom is finally relaxing a bit and just saying F#*k it! and we'll see what happens.
    With the opening of Texas, as I was saying a couple days ago, it seems like being careful and safe are out the door in favor of getting back to life.  I am a little worried about the effects of the virus on us, specially me for being a fatass and Boy because he had Typhus (3years ago) and mono (2 years ago), so his immunity is somewhat compromised.  Of course, my dad is the one to worry about the most, he has now stopped smoking for maybe two years, but he smoked since he was 13, as he tells us.  Plus, he has diabetes, and he just doesn't do a great job of taking care of himself.  The only time he leaves the house willingly now (before corona became a thing) is to go to the little illegal casinos, so that says how much "exercise" he gets.
    I am just going to hope this visit goes well and that there are no surprises.  It is almost 4th of July and I planned on taking two weeks off at that point.  I would like to be able to go to the coast with ot without my folks for a few days.  I don't believe we went last year and it is a shame, I love being down there, even if we don't fish or do anything touristy.  My mom did talk about taking their RV down there and that would open the door for regular visits on their part, meaning, we could plan on visiting them on at least a few occasions.  We shall see if we can get past this first visit without getting labeled a carrier of disease.

6/9/20 DD Moved Back In?

    DD called me earlier today, and when I called back it was to ask if it was ok if he could stay with us for a while.  I told him of course, I have always liked this kid, he has been friends with Boy since around 7th grade when Boy played football in junior high.  Back then we became friends with his mom and DD and his 3 sisters would come over all the time to hang out, sometimes they would just spend the night as we grilled and swam and watched movies all night long.  This was a good 12 years ago now, so, yeah, we have known this young man a while.
    He was living with us over a year ago, maybe it was even almost two years ago.  He stayed with us for maybe six months and it was good.  He paid rent, and we got along and never had any disagreements.  He only moved out because he "fell in love" and the girl convinced him they were ready for him to commit.  I tried telling him to wait a little longer but no one can get in the way of love.
    It seems the young genius was convinced, by another friend, that he was actually polyamorous.  He then brought this up with his girlfriend and she was not that happy with his newfound discovery.  This pretty much led to him moving out.  I think they just moved in too quickly, and although even I thought I was polyamorous at that age, it does wear off.  Nowadays, I am happy if Wife feeds me a nice meal and then leaves me alone to burp, fart, and digest the rest of the night.
    The newest thing about him is that he got a dog while living with his GF and now he has to keep the dog.  Of all the dog types I would hope he didn't have, of course, that is what he owns, a mix of pitbull and lab, he said, but I am not sure.  The dog is intimidating looking with a great big jawline, but he is friendly and curious with an almost goofy super long tail.  This was the biggest point of contention, I would rather he not have a dog, but he already owns it.  After having Girlie's dog here, there is no point in acting like the carpets are delicate.  So far the dog has given no indications that he will be a problem and he says he lives him in the crate all day when he is at work.  Boy and Sweetie were all excited about having a dog around, so they can take him out during the day to go outside to the bathroom and to stretch his legs.
    We shall see how long he stays this time, but he really is a good fit for us.  Javalina loves to tangle with him, both have that raw energy where they enjoy working out and then boxing.  Boy and Sweetie get a dog to love and enjoy, she was already tripping over herself hugging and carrying the dog around the house.  Wife and I can feel like we helped one of the kids that has grown up around us.

6/8/20 Coming To Terms With Corona?

    I hate that there is no solution and nothing really different than four months ago in regards to the Corona virus.  There was a lot of hope behind a couple of medications but nothing solid came out of it and the one Trump was backing seemed to kill people more than it helped in some of the studies, hydroxychloroquine.  Remdesivir did seem to help in some of the early tests, it was designed to help with ebola, but indications are that it has to be administered early in the infection period to see its benefits.
    That being said, what is the man on the street (really the man that has done well in quarantine) supposed to do?  I am comfortable at home, we aren't out spending money on stupid stuff all the time and we have managed to catch up with a lot of our debts because we just aren't spending.  As we speak, most of the bans have been lifted and as I heard, even the waterparks are now open as of this weekend.  The beaches, of which I do miss, are also open now, and most shops and restaurants are open too.
    Is the plan to really just carry on and act as if nothing is looming over us?  While we (the US) struggle with a very real death count over 100k, Brazil has gone out of their minds and their death toll is past the 400k mark.  In parts of the world, the virus is still very much alive and the most important news to report on.  Here, it seems like we prefer hearing about unrest on the streets, fighting between officers, and just mayhem in general.  I love the stupidity behind the reporters now trying to mention the virus increasing in places "is it because of people out protesting?"  "Is it because of people gathering in masses of thousands to scream at authority figures?"  That communications degree is really helping you there, Scooby, you solved the mystery.
    I love watching Javalina get excited and pumped up for football, he is starting to get serious here at home lifting weights again.  Wife tells me her coaches over there are talking and planning like there will be a football season, but again, people are just sweeping the whole corona mess under the rug?  The only saving grace, I guess, is that here in Texas, the death toll is around 2.4%, of the 3500 people identified as infected here in Austin, only 95 had died, as of last time I looked.  The numbers are better than worldwide where up to 6% of people infected have passed away.
    I guess life isn't so bad with a facemask on if that is how it has to be for now.  I just don't want to find out after the fact that the facemask was just to make us feel better, it really didn't do much.  I talked to Girlie who seems to be all over the place and she tells me "we can't stop living, life must go on.  Just put your facemask on and be real good about cleaning your cars doors, steering wheel and other parts you touch.  You'll be fine."  I love the advice, but I still worry, nobody knows who will fall in that deadly 2.4% group, we see even overweight 75 year olds survive sometimes, so it seems like a mystery as to who the virus really wants to kill.

6/7/20 Police Are Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place?

    The one group I am feeling more sympathy for is the police forces who are having to sit and take shit from both sides because of the mess of a few bad apples.  We all know that just because one person on a team is bad that the whole team isn't necessarily bad, but we are playing like we are stupid against a great big force that deserves more respect than we are giving them.  Right now, as we sit comfortably in our air conditioned homes while the protests go on for an 8th or 9th day, cops are out there trying to keep the peace.  In their valiant effort, a few take a bad turn and after taking a bit too much abuse from random unemployables, they strike back.  We should be glad they strike back so hard, because 99% of the time, they are doing it for our protection.  The people getting shot should be thankful cops have beanbags and rubber bullets at their disposal, it could just all be lead and copper.
    Yes, bad things happen, but that is why I told Boy and Sweetie that I didn't want them out there.  It would break my heart to see my son take a rubber bullet to the temple just because he was out there trying to scream angrily.  Even Wife looked at me after hearing of the 70 year old man getting knocked down by the cops.  My dad is in his 70's, if that old fool tried standing in front of strong healthy men half his age to scream nonsense and insist that what he had to say mattered, I would expect his ass to get handed to him.  That old fart should be sitting in his rocking chair screaming at the TV, the rioters have turned it almost into a battle zone in places.
    We keep hearing of different police officers getting suspended or even fired for activities going on amongst the mayhem and I don't think it is fair.  We see bits and pieces in videos and then we draw conclusions from them.  There are only so many cops in a city, I am sure most of them are being used right now, probably getting paid OT, going on little sleep, having no time off to rest and reflect, at least enjoying some huge paychecks, but that isn't everything all the time.
    What if the police forces decide to go on strike themselves?  Who would stand between the rioters/looters and so many buildings?  Without someone out there to say no and fight for the common good, many buildings would just get burned down because these people don't care, they own nothing, they pay nothing, what do they care about city pride?  What does it matter to them that a building has stood for 200 years? "If it burns bright for 10 minutes, let's destroy it!" is their motto.
    Nobody is perfect but I think the cops are doing the best they can.  Here in Austin, we rarely even see cop cars, but I am glad they are out there.  This morning, we went to get tacos at 7:00am after staying up all night.  A cop car got behind me and followed me for about 5 blocks, even though there was another lane going the same direction.  I just kept the car at 35MPH and after awhile, the cop got bored and sped off.  I can assure you, if he had stopped me, I would have pulled over and said a bunch of yes Sir, and no Sir.  There wouldn't be any "I smell bacon".  As a person, they may not deserve instant respect, but as a representation of our protection, we should always give them the benefit of the doubt.
    I hate to add this at the end, but I always watch the Active Self Protection videos on YouTube, and there was another situation where cops pull up on a young black guy.  The cop suspected that there was a gun involved between the two people he saw walking, he called for back-up, as he goes around and comes back, the officer steps out of the car and yells hands up.  That is a very simple command, the young guy sticks his hands in his pocket, pulls the gun out of his pocket in a very fast motion apparently to show the cops he had a gun, but what would you do?  If you see a young guy on the street with a weapon, you yell hands up and suddenly he is armed, would you wait to see if he was going to shoot you or do you self protect?  The kid was not a bad guy, but his actions there were pretty naïve/stupid, never move fast with a gun in the presence of the police, you just won't win.

6/6/20 Two Faces Of Protest? (Part 2 of 2)

    Like I said, life is not just black or white, we have seen some good things on TV during the course of the protests.  If people could just keep it peaceful, their message would carry so much more clout.  It has been good to see the police forces out not just enforcing safety, but also siding with the protestors time and again.  I liked the chief of police for Minneapolis coming down into the masses to be with the people and condemning the actions of his officers that were responsible for killing Floyd.  He then took direct questions from the Floyd family on live TV and that was all good.  In cities all over the US, from top down, police chiefs to new recruits have come and joined in the peaceful protests, Chief Monahan, the highest ranking police officer in New York, took a knee with the protestors, which was also powerful as other protestors were throwing water bottles and people are yelling in microphones.  We should all know that police officers are people, and people from the neighborhood they serve.  Cops aren't bred on some special farm and then sent to different neighborhoods, no, they pretty much serve where they were born and grew up, I feel most officers are good people trying to do the best they can.

    Some of the other powerfully good things we have seen was a video where everyone was on their stomachs enacting the final moments of George Floyd's life and a young woman is on a microphone repeating his final words of "I can't breath" and "Mama".  This is tear jerking and even going back to see the actual video of him down on the ground, it doesn't make sense why four officers can't just pick him up and load him in the car.  Maybe as I had said a couple days ago, he was giving them a hard time and fought them to end up outside the car on the floor.  Kick his ass, and get him back in the car.  This was plain up murder, if he sat there catching his breath (the bad cop) for nine minutes, it is way excessive and hearing the words he is saying in a silent crowd was pretty chill inducing.

    How about the local gangs joining the police?  The Latin Kings in Chicago sent out a message to the cops not to worry about their neighborhoods, they would be out making sure no looters destroyed property.  I love this because looting and rioting is not what this is supposed to be about.  I love seeing the store owners standing in front of their businesses locked and loaded waiting for idiots to do idiot things.  The stupid say "you are just protecting stuff, people are more important."  What is stuff for some is how others feed their families and make a living.  If you burn down someone's store, how are they going to feed their families?  This naïve thinking always pisses me off. 

    We could also see amongst the crowds, people stopping people from acting a fool.  In one an idiot white kid smashes the storefront of a business and then a big black guy walks up and takes the skateboard from him.  The idiot kid looks back and just drops his shoulders, deflated, and skulks off.  Maybe the black man was defending his business or maybe it is a place he enjoys going to, but again, there is nothing to gain from destroying businesses if you live there and you depend on them for your services or goods.

6/5/20 Two Faces Of Protest? (Part 1 of 2)

    It would be much easier to see things in black and white (not trying to be clever), but things are never that easy.  I do admit that I started very much a liberal and it has only been the last few years that I feel myself swinging the other way, not because I have any love for Trump, I still think he is a buffoon, but the left is mostly lost and pandering to the weak and those who won't do for themselves.  I have always believed in working hard and not relying on outside assistance, the left seems to want you to have something wrong so they can brand you and thereby own you by "feeling pain with you."
    I agree with everyone, what happened to George Floyd was wrong and a horrible way to die.  It has now come out that the four arresting officers are being charged with various degrees of murder and aiding and abetting murder, it seems like the right thing to do given the video footage.  This, of course, has been the break in the dam people have been waiting for, it doesn't help that millions are at home because of covid-19 fears and the masses were already wanting a reason to break their isolation rules (which has been for their own safety, not any form of punishment).  Man!  We just see so many people that are honestly well rested and with too much pent up energy, it is almost like it was set up to go off this way.
    The first few nights Wife and I were watching and MAYBE THE MEDIA MANIPULATES and only shows us the bad stuff, but it is there.  We see people coming up to the police lines and yelling at them, throwing water bottles and then escalating to all sorts of mayhem and dangerous activities, like rolling dumpsters at security gates.  At what point is a person sitting at home supposed to feel sympathy for the protesters when this is what we see?  To make matters worse, night comes and the looting starts, people en masse start heading to the nice stores and breaking windows to profit from people who have nothing to do with the protesting.  Again, as someone who works hard and buys everything honestly even if I am up to my ass in credit cards, why should I feel empathy for this behavior?  Everyone that I have talked to from family to coworkers are all disgusted by what we see on screen, the people protesting aren't helping their cause, they are kind of proving why the cops need to come down hard on the criminal element.  No, I am not saying it is only black people, plenty of idiot white people are seen busting windows with their skateboards or Hispanics participating by throwing stuff at the cops.
    One of the scenes that really pissed me off personally was the big red truck carrying gas or something in a tanker.  My dad and uncle were truck drivers and it is not an easy life.  They spend 90% of their time alone delivering all the shit we take for granted in our easy lives.  Just a couple weeks ago we were thanking them and flying stupid jet formations thanking them for their unwavering attitudes in continuing to work and deliver the goods we need to survive as most of America was locked down.  Fast forward to a bunch of idiots playing on the street and they got mad when they almost got run over.  I am fine with downtown getting plugged up and making traffic come to a stand still, but freeways are different and people shouldn't be allowed on them.  Freeways are laid down to get commerce (food, gas, clothing, goods) from point A to Point B in a fast fashion.  It is how we move in most of America.  Yes, the road had been closed off, but he accidentally ended up on it, I think I would have panicked too, if 5000 people were swarming me like ants coming to feed on a dead grasshopper.  Looking at it on TV was scary, I cannot imagine being the driver.

6/4/20 The Problem With High Self Esteem?

    I was listening to an interview with Adam Carolla and this is what I gleamed off of it.  I think the man is a genius and more people should listen to him.  He was talking about how we accidentally created a generation of kids with high self-esteem.  It may not have been accidental and more by design, as he mentioned, he thinks it might have even started in California, although he didn't mention the name of the person starting it.  The consequences are unexpected as the start of the process was initially to help kids feel better about themselves (after divorce, or from living a life of poverty, for eample), no one saw that we would be creating little self-entitled monsters who think their opinions matter.
    Growing up, Adam goes and I had very much the same feeling, walking down the street and if I walked up to strange man and he were to tell me stop and give me 20 (push-ups), I would probably stop and only ask if he preferred regular or hands in a diamond pattern.  This was because this was a man older and presumably wiser than me.  I would give him the respect that he deserved just for being older.  This later was relevant in the workplace.  He mentions a quickie story of his boss at a construction site telling him to go get his level from the truck.  Adam says he starts walking towards it and the boss yells run, and he takes off running, not even thinking that was unnecessary or even a little demeaning or whatever.  I was like that, my first real job with my uncle roofing during the summers of college.  I got a lot of "ooh, I would have already got that whole truck's worth of shingles up on the roof, don't tell me you're tired."  This, in 100 degree weather down in south Texas, what do you do when your uncles are busting your ass?
    Adam then brought it forward to today, if he was theoretically on a campus (he didn't go to college) and someone who he didn't agree with was coming to talk, he would just avoid it and go about his day.  Kids today are not about that.  How high is their self esteem that not only are they offended by someone wanting to talk on a campus they attend, they do not own it, and then to feel it is their right to stop the discussion that this person was going to conduct via demonstration or by acting the fool is beyond the understanding of most adults.
    I always think when I was at UT there might have been shit going on, I just wanted to get out of class, go home, eat a snack and then hang out either working out or playing basketball, or even swimming before doing homework all evening.  I didn't give two shits about what was going on at campus and I never in a million years thought it would be my job to put a stop to anything.  Campuses are where you go to share ideas and thoughts, if people who think differently than you can't express themselves on a campus, then where?

6/3/20 Stupid Article Or Grim News?

    For year it seems, we have been told that there are too many people on the planet.  We are consuming too many resources and this cannot be sustained.  Along comes this genius from Fort Worth who is saying we are essentially in trouble because humans are not reproducing as fast as we should and that the reality is that we are on a five year downward slope as far as birthrate.  From a big picture, I would think this is great, less humans equal less resources consumed, I don't get what the problem is.
    According to the story, the corona virus is scaring people into not reproducing, and that we haven't even recovered from the financial meltdown of 2008.  Not only is there a fear of the pandemic keeping people from reproducing for fear of the unknown for their unborn children, but there is so much increased unemployment that birth plans are getting put on hold.  I didn't think people really planned families, I just thought they got drunk and "what will be, will be."  Maybe for a small percentage of the population that thinks before reacting this story somehow makes sense, but both my kids were "surprises" for us in that we didn't sit and discuss "Wife, do you think this is a good year to harvest a baby?"  "Why yes Husband, but only if it is a Boy, I hear girls are going to be hot in 2022."
    I know it sounds insulting, but the poor and downtrodden don't think "is it a good time for a baby?"  They get bored, do what humans do when no one is looking, and then act surprised a few months later.  A difference is that the kids are home now and nothing knocks down one's libido like hearing your own kids bitch, moan, and complain.  That could be a reason this catastrophe doesn't lead to more children.  Still, with the news that elective medical procedures are harder to come by, even getting an abortion is more of a pain in the ass than usual, so there is no underlying reason births shouldn't be increasing.  Ooh, I had read that 30-40% of kids are fathered by other men, if so, with everyone home, it does make it harder for Sally to go banging the neighbor or for John to go rendezvous with his sidepiece and accidentally forget to pull out.  This might be a real reason for a population decline, if all the side relationships are kept on ice for so long.  Having the kids at home makes it almost impossible for a decent mom to sneak out or receive company, if even for a quickie.
    Maybe this lady (author of the story) is on to something.  This pandemic is different in that this is the first time kids are affected in that they have been quarantined to stay where the parents usually do their screwing, with or without their spouses.  Even in times of past wars, kids were instructed while in school to duck and cover if their playground was blasted with a nuke, you know, just hide under your desk.  Corona was so scary, everyone was just sent home and told to stay there.  I think the population boom starts in the following summer, after the kids start school in the fall, if they do.  Otherwise, maybe we are in for a shrinking of the American workforce.

6/2/20 Boy's GF Moved Out?

    I really think this self isolation is starting to get to people in weird ways.  First off, just earlier last week, Wife told me that DD was having trouble with his relationship.  I haven't heard it from his mouth, but the story we heard was that someone convinced him he was a polyamorous guy and one woman simply wasn't enough in his life.  This Knucklehead then went and tried bringing up the idea to his current GF that he lives with.  Well, she wasn't excited to hear this, and I guess things broke down from there.  I don't like seeing these young kids (in my eyes) having to go through the turmoil, but then again, I thought they rushed into moving in, yeah, it was easy to do and it did save a buck, but geez.
    Saturday, we were home all day, I mean what else are we going to do?  When I came out of the shower sometime late in the day, like 8:00pm, Boy told me Sweetie just left back to her mom's house.  I was a bit confused, I asked if they broke up, he said no.  I then asked if it was our fault and he hesitated and got goofy before rounding Wife and I up in the kitchen.  He said she just didn't feel like this was her place, and I think, ultimately, she got tired that we don't think like she does.
    She was in full support of all this bullshit going on downtown.  I don't think protesting will have any impact on anything.  Wife and I feel the same way.  We just see looters and troublemakers on TV, I mean who yells at cops to their faces?  Then the same idiots are surprised when they get rubber bullets shot at them or they get sprayed with smoke to where they can't breath?  Ten or twenty years ago, I would probably be on their side, fighting for the little man, "don't let whitey get you down."  Now that I have grown up though, I don't see things the same way.  I see myself constantly working, I never get weeks or months off to fart around, and yet, the poor and underprivileged always seem to have time and energy to get together for crap like this.
    I didn't outright say it, but it is a lot easier to focus on all that crap sitting in my house with neither my son or herself working while we foot the bill for the house, his car, the light (and they have a separate window A/C in their room if the central air wasn't cold enough), internet, while they both draw unemployment enough for fancy meals all the time.  I kept joking (you know, passive aggressively) that they could help pay a bill or two if they have so much energy as to complain about the world around them.
    Of course, me mentioning anything about money was so stressful, like "wow, he is at it again."  The only time I asked Boy for money was when he was going to start getting paid essentially the same as Wife and I, then the company went under.  The next time was when they got their stimulus checks, both of them got $1200 plus they are both getting unemployment and even then unemployment is kicking in like $300 more than normal.  Boy has no bills, I didn't see why he couldn't give me half that stimulus money.  I was being pressured by my family to buy more guns and we bought a freezer and all that meat we have stored now, and they get to sit on their money while having 15 hour video game marathons where we can hardly talk to our son to even take out the trash?  And somehow of course, we are the bad guys?  By the way, he kept his stimulus money after we saw he got a dentist bill, our way of helping him pay that off, not that we get credit for being good parents.
    Of course she is welcome back.  We didn't run her off, but nothing is going to really change.  I am not letting some random female kid run my house, she needs to understand how the real world works.  If Boy loves you, we love you.  That means we accept you and your thinking, but it does not mean we think you are right.