8/31/20 Sweep The Leg, Johnny? (part 1 of 2)

     We love an underdog, Cobra Kai proved it to me.  Last night (Saturday), we finally sat down and watched the first season of Cobra Kai, which picks up on the life of Johnny Lawrence, the blonde haired bully from the Karate Kid movies.  He is not living his best life, as the new generation would say, he is some sort of handyman doing the absolute minimum to get through a life he was not ready to live, given what seemed like the high life in the movie series.  Within minutes, we keep hoping something good happens to him as he walks from one shitty situation to another.  How much torment can one human endure, and I know I am basically still looking at first world problems, but he lives alone, seems to have a bit of an alcohol problem, has a dead end job, still drives the (still cool to me) Firebird he had back in the day, and has a kid with a whore and the kid is around sixteen and they do not have a good relationship.

    We see he never recovered from the loss in the Karate Tournament, not because he got beat, but as he says, his Sensei Kreese cast him out and labeled him a loser.  He admits in this series that he was like a father to him, that is why he was so devoted to the Cobra Kai philosophy.  Through the fog that is his current life and want to remain in anonymity, a young kid just happens to come into his life needing the same father figure he lacked.  Of course, he just wants to be left alone, he doesn't want to disappoint anyone else, I figure.  

    To make matters worse, he still seems to live in the glow of Daniel, who beat him in the Karate tournament, took his girl in high school, then went on to live a successful life as the biggest car dealer in the valley, where they both still live.  It seems that every day Daniel is either interfering in his day by reminding him he exists in big billboards along his drive, in commercials while watching old 80's classics on an old tube TV, and then when a group of dizzy girls do a hit and run on his beloved Firebird, he is towed to Daniel's dealership for the repairs.

    One night he sees the young kid get bullied outside a store by a new crop of bullies which is where our confusion starts.  Johnny is now protecting the new kid with no skills, he beats up the bullies who seem too stupid to run off and continue coming at him even as he does a third round of kicking each of those kids evenly.  His step dad pops into the picture, we see their strained relationship and start to see that ole Johnny didn't have it all that great growing up either.  He lived in a big house, but his step dad never thought of him more than a nuisance and only kept him around because he liked his hot mom.

I guess this will have to go on into part 2.....

8/30/20 Our New Car Is Smarter Than Most People?

     I finally really drove Wife's car Friday.  We have had the Telluride since the start of the pandemic shutdown and for the first two months, we hardly even drove it since we were all grounded at home by the government.  Wife then started going back to work and she started racking up the miles, quickly as she was driving back and forth, first twice a week then four days a week.  Eventually, we decided to buy another smaller commuter car that we can essentially sacrifice to by driving it to death and hopefully, keeping the miles on the Telluride under control.

    I respect the new SUV as Wife's, so even when she leaves it home, I don't drive it to work, I still have my Excursion, which I love but wish it was newer, paint is starting to peel and some of the plastic components have seen better days, but still the motor and A/C are still doing their job.  The only time I do drive it is to take it to the car wash, but that doesn't really count.  I barely get it up to 45mph on 1st Street.

    Yesterday though, we all tagged along with her to Crystal City.  She came back up to Austin to take Boy to work with her, he has been helping with the release of the new computers and setting them up for the school year.  I figured it would be cool to join her and head down to my folks with Javalina for the day.  She drove in the morning, nowadays, she usually drives when we go out of town as I am always sleepy.  Since I had worked and come home late when she was already asleep,  it made sense that she was in better condition to drive.  I slept maybe three solid hours, but I did stay awake the whole way, it helped that we were blasting the Hamilton soundtrack.

    Driving back, I was already in the driver's seat, so I decided I would drive, at least to San Antonio, if not all the way.  Man!, the car does not really let you make mistakes without warning you.  Backing up at HEB this morning, it stopped the motion because there was a car coming behind me.  Making lane changes, it actually holds the steering from leaning you over if there is a car in the space.  Setting the cruise control at the speed limit, I noticed that if you are behind somebody, it slows the car down so you don't tailgate too close.  At one point, we were down to 55 because I got in the slow lane and a slow truck must have been going that slow (the a-hole), and before I knew it, we were down to that speed.  As soon as I got out of that lane the car started speeding up again to the speed limit.  When the speed limit officially changes on the road, the car somehow knows and the speed limit changes in the car too.  I still haven't figured everything out, but I think I like all this new technology.

8/29/20 Why Are People Jerks Online?

     It seems every couple years a new app comes out for our phones, which at this point I am starting to think the phones are getting smarter than most of the people using them.  We went from Facebook which is fine but seems permanent and for some reason the app of choice for the older folks.  Then we moved to Instagram, which was very picture driven, then Snapchat, which I think is used mostly by girls to sell pictures and videos of themselves as sexual objects.  Fine by me, but seems expensive when Pornhub and Youporn are free.  The latest app right now is TikTok and I am a huge fan.  This app lets people download or create minute long videos of them doing whatever their creative minds allow.  Of course, probably 80 percent of the videos are girls dancing to the same 4-5 songs and that is fine, but if you just keep scrolling up, you do find good content.  I don't get tired of the dancing jiggling girls, and the fact that bras seem to be on the way out is great, but I also like a lot of the comedy bits different people put out.  Then there are the animal videos, who knew tortoises could be so cool to look at?

    I got a little off topic, my point of contention is why are people jerks when they don't have to be?  I see what I would define as a perfect female, and to me that is a woman with a little meat on her bones and in the comments section within the first 10 comments there will always be a "fat" comment.  Why?  If I see someone I am not interested in, I just scroll past, why invest energy in being a negative asshole?  Most of the time, these people attacked then make "sad little videos" of them addressing the jerk's comments and how it hurts their feelings.  Don't give them the satisfaction, tell them to suck your "balls" and keep going.  I am really happy when someone gets negative comments and it doesn't bring them down.  I saw one where a lady with a glass eye got a comment that one of her eyes was "lazy".  She addressed it by sitting down and proclaiming that she hates laziness and if her eye was going to be lazy "it has got to go" and right at that moment, she flicked the glass eye out.  It was so awesome the way she basically said "fuck you" to the commenter.

    Really guys, if you prefer looking at more muscular women, as I read in another person's comment attacking the attacker "go look at dudes, you'll get all the muscles you want."  Women are supposed to be soft and huggable, I don't know where the idea that a woman is supposed to be as muscular as a man comes from.  But hey, if a super muscular woman does pop onscreen, I wouldn't say "ooh, gross!", there can be beauty there too, but either way, I see no point to putting out negative energy.  I make occasional comments, mostly on Facebook, even to people I have never met, but it is always with a positive spin.  People put content out to entertain us, like TV, if we don't like something, we live in the US, we are free to just watch something else.

8/28/20 Finally Tested My New Grill?

    It took a few extra days, but I finally tested my new grill and it did not disappoint.  For my birthday last week, my boys and Wife pooled their money together and bought me a new grill.  The one we use is still okay, it just seems that every weekend when we grill, we just can't seem to fit everything in, Wife and I both think we just need a bigger grill.  Since the boys were going to help me with this purchase and I have been curious about the pellet grills for awhile but not brave enough to pull the trigger on a grill that would cost more than $500, this just seemed like the perfect time to go for it.  Boy is always about the latest technology and pellets just seems more futuristic than pieces of wood or even charcoal or gas.

    The grill had actually been bought the weekend before my birthday on Sunday, but we had a bunch of grilled meat from Saturday night, so testing it had to wait until the following weekend.  Then my mom had her accident, which luckily was not as bad as it first appeared.  Saturday while we were coming back to Austin, DD did a test run and grilled some ribs which he did slowly over 3-4 hours and also smoked a brisket, taking a good 7-8 hours at 200 or 250 degrees.  This is the kind of BBQ I want to get good at, this is men's work, although with the pellets, one does not have to really tend to the fire, but I digress.  When we got home, DD had a pan of the ribs laid out and ready for us to try, they were really good, and then the brisket, which took another couple hours after we got here was also super smoky flavored.  I guess DD was really in a meat mood, he also bought me a tomahawk steak to try and grill.

    There was brisket and other stuff on Sunday that I almost didn't want to grill the steak, but I also couldn't imagine saving it.  The beauty of this new grill, is that it doesn't really need to be prepped.  I looked at Youtube real quick as to the best way to cook the steak, which doesn't sound like much, but it is around 3 pounds and over two inches thick.  The best idea seemed to require a slow cooking at 225 degrees for an hour or until the internal temp reached 120 degrees, then a quick sear at 450-500 degrees.  I would have no idea how to control the temperature before with charcoal, but with this grill, it has a knob with temperature readings, like an oven and a probe to stick in the meat.  I set the grill to 225 degrees, which is the lowest setting and stuck the meat probe in the middle of the steak.  It worked as the videos said.  After 45 minutes, the temp was 105, I went out and flipped it, out of habit and cooked it another 30 minutes, by then the temp was around 125 degrees internally.  I then "rested" the steak off the grill while the temp was increased to high for an outside sear.  Once the grill said about 480, I put the meat back on for another 3 minutes per side and wow.

    Wife was all "boo, you burnt it!"  When I opened the grill to flip it, there was a fire coming up and the steak was in trouble.  I flipped it, she was all "take it out, it's not going to work."  I still wanted the other side blackened a bit.  We also had thrown in some sausages just to make sure we would have enough meat and they got a little charred when the flames started.  Anyways, we took all the meat off at this point and let the meat "rest" again for another 5 minutes.  I then cut it into slices after removing the bone and all we could say was "wow!"  The outer part was charred a bit and looking almost black, but internally, the meat was all pink, I think they call this medium rare.  The taste was just great and Wife said we need to get more of those steaks for this weekend to do it again.  These tomahawk steaks are fairly new (I had never seen them before about 6 months ago) and they can be pricey, I saw $25 a steak at Sam's or something like that, but like I said, it is a big ole hunk of almost 3 pounds of ribeye steak.  It just works great on the grill.

8/27/20 Sometimes Plans Get Made For You?

     For about a week and a half, Wife was all "where do you want to go for your birthday, what do you want to do?  We discussed going out to eat and if it was a normal year and not 2020 I would have said "let's go have dinner at Estancia, the Brazilian restaurant I love so much."  Wife said we could still do that, but we had to call ahead and make reservations.  The thought of going and paying so much to eat someplace where we might get sick just worries me a bit.  I then suggested just grilling and swimming in the pool at the house.  "ok" she says, "but what kind of meat do you want (the boys did buy me a new grill which I haven't had a chance to test yet)?"  I know she means well, but the questions never stop.  We had kind of settled on those tomahawk steaks we've been seeing lately, like a ribeye with a huge bone, they look like a tomahawk axe, sort of.  They are also not as expensive as some of the other meats out there.  We went to Central Market and they had Wagyu steaks at $47.99 a pound, fuck that!

    Well, my mom falling two days before changed all of Wife's best laid plans in an instant.  It almost seemed like we were going to be able to just sit and home and wait for a message from the hospital for her to get released.  We went to San Antonio Thursday and sat out in the visitor center parking lot by the hospital, I mean what else could we do, and hung there for 2-3 hours before the nurse looking over her got back with us and said they didn't know when she would be let go home.  It all depended on her swelling and of they felt like she could breath safely on her own.  Friday morning, I get up early to write some of these blogs, I did have plenty of material, and then the doctor called me and said she would be good to go home.  

    I talked to my sister and told her I wasn't sure.  I said mom would love to see us, but then we increase the exposure and she is always worried we could be carrying Covid-19, her words like all the time.  My mom then called me and I asked her.  She said it would be nice if she saw us, so I said ok, now that I hear it from you.  We went and bought a cake for my birthday and headed to Crystal City.  The drive was great, I managed to drive the whole way, which for me to stay awake is like wow.  I have been sleeping a lot better since I started sleeping on the big chairs in our room for parts of the night.  I don't seem to have to get up to pee every two hours when I sleep on the chair which is probably letting me get more REM sleep.

    We got to my folk's home probably ten minutes ahead of my sister with my mom.  

8/26/20 Mom Upstaged Me On My Birthday?

     I kid, I am just happy she will be ok as I write this Friday morning, we got word she might even be released today.  I am not sure what the deal is, but we might end up going down to see her if so.  Anyway, I am now 49 years as of me sitting here writing this.  Mentally, I feel like I am still in my 20's, but my body has seen better days.  For the fact that I am a 400 pounder, I feel like I am doing pretty good, actually.  I have been losing weight, down 40 pounds in the last couple months, which is making me feel better overall.  I have started lifting weights again the last two weeks, which also makes me feel better.  There are just those nagging little complaints most people have.  I have bad knees that really started bothering me in the last year or two, and recently my lower back got tweaked and it is taking a long while for the annoying little pain to go away.  I like laying on my stomach to read on my phone and that just makes the lower back intensify in pain.  I can't really complain though, for what and where I am, it is mostly positive things going on in my life.

    My boys are both strong and healthy, moving forward and being decent humans.  They don't smoke or drink or have bad vices I have to worry about.  Even Boy, in his later 20's, hardly goes out, not that Covid-19 allows people to do whatever, still, he isn't a party guy.  Wife has a good job, I just wish she could find one closer to bring her home.  The shutdown in the spring had her home long enough to remind me of what it is like to have a partner around all the time and man, it is nice having someone to help carry the load on the daily.

    We really don't have much of a social life again because of the virus, but Girlie checks in once or twice a week, DD lives here right now and he certainly lives an interesting life.  I talk with my folks 1-3 times a week normally to stay updated, not that they are doing anything right now too.  Wife keeps tabs on her family as well.  It seems that 2020 is just a shit year we are all just trying to get through and hope for the better.  I am almost scared to come into 2021, finally get a vaccine only to find out we lost the malls, and half the retail options as more and more choose to just sell their wares online.  But hey, I guess we are a versatile species and for whatever thing we loose in one end, someone always invents something better in the other.

    Right now, I am just happy to be alive another year, hoping for a sense of normalcy sometime soon.  I have had a blessed life up to this point and if it is up to me, I want to keep this show going for as long as possible.  There is still so much to be excited for in the future: boys graduating, grandkids, a second home, seeing my boys buy their homes, buying boats (plural), buying land, Rolexes for every appendage (at least 5-6, if I count my neck too) :) , and other stuff I haven't even thought about.

8/25/20 My Bubble Did Not Fit In With A Box? (Part 5 of 5)

    After hearing that mom was going to be alright, the doctor said they would have an update in the morning.  We were still over in the visitor center and although we could see the hospital and if she were to be in one of the rooms with a window facing us and she could somehow wave at us, there was zero chance we would be able to go and be with her any closer than we were, so what else can you do?  I told my siblings we can either stand around here like mooks for another hour, go eat dinner together, or head back home.  My older brother said it didn't feel right to just leave, I said I know, but it's not like we can be with her.  My sister said she wasn't comfortable going to eat and they had just eaten on the road.  We probably hung outside for another hour just catching up and joking around.  Wife and Boy finally got there at this point.  Everybody hugged it out and we busted Boy's balls for awhile, I mean it's what we do for fun after all.

    We decided we would come back tomorrow on the chance that maybe one of us would be allowed in.  They started making fun that I wouldn't come, remember, I am the outsider from the big city, and I responded back that just for that, I would beat them there and I would go in so mom would know who is #1, just joking of course.  I know my sister has to be the one going in, if only one of us is allowed in.  We left, Boy took my little Ecosport with Javalina, and I jumped in with Wife.  The trip back home was quick, and it was kind of late.  We talked of stopping for food, but Wife was tired and before we knew it I called the boys that Mama said they could eat leftovers.  We are dieting, so she didn't eat and I just had a yogurt with fruit.  We had decided to get up at 9:00am to leave by 10:00am and we did, but the boys did not go.

    We got to the hospital again earlier than them and we went to sign in.  This time we talked to a young female Hispanic guard who I thought was just pretty.  Not in a perverted way, but her braided hair was so feminine and yet the army gear on her thick frame made her look like the best version of a female warrior I could think of.  Wife thought the same thing as we walked out of the building both complimenting her hair and thanking her.  She showed us a letter stating that as of that morning, no one could go visit anyone in the hospital unless it was for the NICU (babies) or for picking someone up if they were getting released so there was no point in wasting any more of their time.

    We went outside, I had called my brother inside the waiting area and he said they were there but he really needed to go to a bathroom.  I told him just get here and use the one here, it is super clean, but he took another half hour as he decided to go elsewhere.  They eventually got there and we just kind of sat in his truck for about 2-3 hours talking, my sister called three times over the course of two hours up to the number before we got the nurse working in mom's room for an update.  She told us they were getting ready to remove the breathing tube and she had been able to answer questions even though she was sedated.  We wanted to do more, but really, all we did was sit in the parking lot for a few hours and then headed home.

8/24/20 My Bubble Did Not Fit In With A box? (part 4 of 5)

     Javalina and I sat around for awhile, I used the bathroom there which was very clean, then I called my brother, they were about five minutes away by now.  We went out to wait for them, I explained where to pull in instead of going to the guard station.  They pulled in and my sister jumped off and hugged me, tearing up as she saw me.  Of course, I love my mom and dad, but I live three hours away, my sister is the baby and she is like connected at the hip with my mom, when they come to visit, my sister calls her every hour or so.  I like to joke that my mom still wipes my sister's butt when things are in a better state, they are that close, I mean she built her house behind my parent's, even my brothers are there daily with her, the middle brother lives next door, and my younger brother lives at home with my folks.  Something happening to my mom would totally destroy her, so of course she was barely hanging on when she arrived.

    We all talked for a bit, I gave them my update I had gotten, that she had arrived and she was in the operating room.  After a while, we went back inside, same procedure, you have to call to be let in.  The same guard noticing that the rest of my family had arrived called me over and he called again to the hospital.  He got us a number to call and that she had been moved to a room and to call the number, the doctor was there to give us an update.  I offered the number to my sister, but she said for me to call that she wouldn't be able to keep it together and talk coherently.  I was trying to pass the buck as I felt the same way, I don't want to hear bad news, but I am the older one.  I called, a nurse answered and we got the doctor right away.  She said they had to intubate her because she had a lot of swelling, this would make sure she could continue getting oxygen, even if her swelling choked off her ability to breath.  We asked if there were any broken bones or if she would need surgery.  She said no, but there was a hematoma to worry about, it might need to get drained if it didn't go down on its own within a couple days.  This made me feel better.

    I think we all breathed a sigh of relief although things can still go to shit, there is Covid-19 lurking in every corner now, something unforeseen, but at least the initial fear slowly subsided.  The doctor took as  much information as my sister could muster.  She had an extensive list of medicines my mom takes, I didn't even realize she took so many things.  She mentions Enbrel or something like that, for her arthritis, and maybe another medicine every now and then, but my sister had a list of like 10 different meds.  I kind of joked, shit mom is a junky, but most of them did say took at this point, or maybe took once.  I don't know how my sister even had this list, but the doctor thanked her.  The most worrisome part was when the doc asked if she has fallen before and the falls do start to add up and sound suspicious.  I mean she fell off the back of their pick-up after trusting a plastic chair that gave way and broke as she used it as a step ladder, one of the fucking men in the house should have been unloading the stuff from the back of the truck, but... then twice she has tripped in her room which is admittedly crowded by the king sized bed which takes up too much space.  I think she tripped on blankets on the floor but fell once into the closet which clothes broke her fall and another time she fell into a pile of clothes on the floor.

    One would maybe think she has trouble with her balance, but I think she really needs Adderall for her ADHD or whatever keeps her constantly going.  She cannot sit still and that is part of what upsets me when trying to have a conversation with her when I call.  It's always "oh, look, the dog is doing this or the grandson just did that..."  I am always on the other end of the line trying to snap my fingers like "Hey! Focus! I am trying to tell you some story about my kids, I give two shits about the dog right now."  My sister says the same, like when they try to sit and watch a movie, my mom won't sit still, she'll find something better to do.  I think a good start to helping the situation is if they just really declutter the house.  Get rid of stuff to open up the spaces.  I like my other brother's point when they suggest throwing this or that... "no, but that belonged to my great aunt and she used to drink her cocoa from that cup..." or "no, I can't throw that rusted old bed frame in the backyard, it belonged to my great grandfather."  Not making fun of my mom, but everything becomes special when you attach sentimental feelings to it and pretty soon, you are just a hoarder.

8/23/20 My Bubble Did Not Fit In With A Box? (part 3 of 5)

     We finally got there, Javalina and I were the first there, Austin is one hour from SA, Crystal City is two hours away and Wife called that she was going to run first back to Crystal City to get her bag of clothes and stuff, then get going, so that added another 30-40 minutes to her travels.  It is a bit confusing showing up for the first time at an Army facility like that.  There is a guarded entry, like going in to a park like Disney or Fiesta except the guards and police officers all have guns and the entrances have those spikes that will ruin your tires if you act the fool and go in the wrong way.  I just followed the line of cars but quickly noticed everyone had ID or something they were showing to get in.  When I got to the guard he asked what business I had and I tried saying my mom was getting flown in by helicopter and all I know is that she is supposed to be here somewhere.  He was cool and the police officer next to him said to move me over to the side and explain to me where to go while he kept the traffic moving.  He said to go the building behind us and go in there so we can get a visitor pass before going in.  I was able to turn back quite easily, thanks to the Ecosport's size, the Excursion might have required some back and forth.

    The building seemed like it was going to be cold and indifferent, there was just a number on the door to call for help.  I almost doubted anyone was going to be helpful, but a Hispanic man in fatigues came out and he was just great.  He spoke our language, professional with an occasional mijo in there to make you feel at ease,  he was as nice as a person in his position could be, I appreciated that, it was actually very stressful, being there and not knowing anything.  We signed our names on a list, then he called us to his station, got my mom's name and called the hospital for us.  I was a little scared to get an update, it can always be "the helicopter had trouble and went down, or we tried everything we could, but there was internal bleeding, or the worst thoughts just come to the back of your mind while trying to keep it together, and my siblings weren't even there yet, so that sucked.

    Everyone there, so far, has been top notch, I can't say enough nice things.  He hung up the phone and told me that she had arrived and was in the operating room, there was no update but to just wait awhile, the guard said to just wait in there where it was nice and cool, and he would call for us later.  That was very nice of him because it was 101-103 outside and by the way, he said nobody was allowed to go in at this point, she was in the operating room, so especially not at that point, maybe when she stabilized and went to a room one of us in the party might be let in.  This is not because it is an Army base, but because of Covid-19 and the risks with letting in just random people.  I told him I understood, I have heard as much in the news about not being able to see people when they go in to hospitals, so it didn't surprise me.  The guard said he had experienced all types of people some loose their minds when you tell them they can't get onsite and they have to be detained, and you know what that means.  Just seeing all these fit soldiers in their uniforms, there is no way a sane person would challenge them.  All of them look healthy enough to flip me on my slow fat ass with a quick round house, I mean they all had bullet proof vests and the big police belts with all sorts of tools at their waists.  As scared as I was for my mom, I was also left with a positive imprint of what the Army means.  There is so much class and professionalism coming from these people.

8/22/20 My Bubble Did Not Fit In With A Box? (part 2 of 5)

     My first call was actually to Wife, she is my rock and always seems to know the right thing to say, even if she is not fast enough for my feelings at times.  She told me quietly, she was in her office, that she would get Boy and get on the road, unless I wanted her to wait for more of an update.  I know I called her point blank and she didn't even know what hospital or where to go and she was processing what I had just said, but of course I am emotional and upset and only managed to yell "fuck, stay and work if that is more important, goddammit!!"  I then immediately took it back and said something like I don't know where she is going, but I will let you know as soon as I hear.  I know Wife is just like me, we hate leaving work and abandoning our path, but when we have to, she does not hesitate to do the right thing, specially for me.

    By this time, I was already home picking up Javalina and getting a cord to charge my phone in the car as I figured this was going to be a long night.  We got going, stopping for gas and a drink before jumping on I-35, fucking traffic sucks on that highway most of the time, but specially during rush hour.  My brother called and told me mom was headed to BAMC, like I am a lifelong ARMY dude and understand acronyms, then said Brooke Army Medical Center.  He was trying to read me the directions to which I cut him off and said "Dude, my car and phone have navigation, I can figure it out."  See you there in a couple hours.  five minutes later, I had the same conversation with my sister, even though they both drove to SA together.  It is a raw helpless feeling when you don't know anything.

    It didn't help hearing my brother describe the situation, if anybody is a glass is half empty, it is this guy.  He tells me "I was going to take a picture of mom, but it didn't even look like her, I just couldn't."  Well that didn't make me feel any better, but deep down I thought "this guy always makes shit sound worse, but maybe..."  on the drive I had a pretty good conversation with Javalina, what else can you do, keep your mind going so you don't break down and cry, at times like this, we have to be strong for the others.  I got him going on the comedy of George Carlin which we had heard on Youtube while I was making lunch for us.  I told him he is one of the top 3 comedians of all time, you need to know his stuff, then he went on to shit on the conservative party which I only recently proclaimed to now be a part of.  I explained how the democratic party had imploded in the last few years, they had swung to far to the left and all this socialist agenda is just bullshit.  The conservative party was shitty too, relying on the bible for their message and that used to turn me off.  Trump, for his faults, rarely espouses the bible, which is the way it should be.

    Conversing and hearing Javalina's take on things helped the time pass by real quickly, as I have said, I have been having trouble getting sleepy at weird times, but I was fine the whole way.  Just as I was fixing to say "look up the hospital on your phone's navigation, I saw a sign that said next exit.  I jumped over a few lanes and exited.  This facility is huge and I mean biggest complex I have ever stared at, probably.  Like I said, the Army does not fuck around, damn that is a smooth running machine, it makes me proud to see those men and women walking around knowing they protect us.

8/21/20 My Bubble Did Not Fit In With A Box? (part 1 of 5)

     Life has a way of getting in the way of the best laid plans.  I had been contemplating Wednesday in the afternoon, after talking with my mom.  Oooh, I love my mom, but she can be a challenge to understand.  I called her around 11:00am, Wife is back at work and for this week and next, Boy is going with her to volunteer and help get their computers for the student population going.  Well, that is where everything started.  Boy told Wife to tell me to ask grandma if she would make her burgers for dinner on Tuesday.  Simple request, but I guess Boy is uncomfortable demanding anything directly from Grandma, even though she would bend over backwards for her first grandson.  Anyways, I called her and asked, simple, no problem, my mom will make whatever for dinner, she said consider it done, but then she tears into me how she was all upset because her baby (Boy, she calls all her grandkids hers, which I like) did not go see her Monday.  I retort back "well, it was you that said you were uncomfortable with us visiting randomly when we have seen other people here in Austin and we could be carriers of Covid-19 and all that.  Wife was simply doing as she said."  Then my mom was all "don't use my words against me."  He's my first grandbaby and if he is in town, I want to see him and hug him..."  I was like "grrrr!"

    Anyways, we go back and forth all the time, that is fine, it is part of the fun to argue with her like that.  I then sat here and thought well, we are in like a perfect situation, all we do is go to work, come back home, go to work, come back home, then once a week we go get groceries and this routine is working, I don't think we are exposing ourselves too much "compared to her telling me that we live in the big city, so we have a much higher chance of getting infected..."  I mean what can one do, other than be careful.  I then showered and got ready for work, and was on my way out the door by 3:45pm.  This is super early for me, but it is a short week, this was my last night of the week and as I like to say, the earlier I start, the earlier I can get my fat ass home and start the weekend, and this is my birthday weekend, so I got plans, as small as they are (because of Covid-19, of course).  I was on my way to work, jamming to the Blend on XM radio, I love those old mellow classics.

    This is about when the shit hit the ceiling, my brother in law called on my sister's phone, I was like "what up?"  he usually calls me when he is on a long drive to kill the boredom, and he can be funny and always has jokes about the family.  But he was serious and said that my mom had fallen in the house and hit her face pretty hard on the edge of the bed on the wooden frame.  All you can respond to that is "what???!!"  Yeah, she tripped on a box going around the corner into her room and somehow didn't catch herself and hit her face, well they decided to fly her to San Antonio because her face has swelled up a lot, and my sister wanted me to know that her and my two brothers were driving to SA.  All I could muster was a "fuck, I'll call in and head that way.  Thanks."

FUCK!!!! What can you do?  I pulled into a gas station, I had been on I-35 driving to work, and started making my calls.  I called my coworkers, then I called Javalina to shower quickly, none of that hour playing with your balls or whatever you do in there, and be ready in about ten minutes when I get home for you.  Forget all that nonsense of staying in my routine and not exposing myself to a different population, we were headed to an Army hospital, Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.  Dammit, it is scary when you don't know how bad things are and you just have to sit there and wait for the experts, God, I love that we have experts and modern day doctors, any faith I might have, it is in these people that sacrifice their lives to understanding the human body and basically perform magic to bring people back from the brink.  If they can piece together a soldier that steps on a landmine, they can surely handle my mom tripping on a fucking box and hitting her face on a piece of wood.

8/20/20 Pro Sports Just Got Real?

     What do these idiots think, ah shit, I forget, they're athletes, they don't?  I find it hard enough to watch millionaires playing kids games on TV without any loyalty to the teams that make them rich nowadays.  Fucking Lebron has been all over the NBA, like a high dollar whore, playing for the highest bidder, so it is hard to be proud of "your team" when players aren't.  I used to follow the Spurs, and players like Robinson and Duncan were Spurs, period.  You could count on your superstar being there good and bad.  This league is not what I grew up watching, and this big cry baby can't seem to take a hit on the court.  Shit, back in the day, I remember a Pistons player, Laimbeer, playing with a mask because he had broken bones in his face, Robinson would be laid on the floor stretching his back right before coming back on the floor, now Lebron flails like a modern day soccer player, fuck that.

    So there is all that lameness going on, then the NBA decides to listen to BLM.  This BS of putting "woke" slogans on jerseys, little messages on the floors and fields, football players are going to have decals on their helmets.  Have fun with that.  Remember, the soy boys marching and fighting (and by looking at the riots, it is mostly white people out there) were never fans of pro sports.  I believe pro sports are entertainment for conservatives.  Who has the money to buy $200-$500 tickets for games?  It ain't the unemployables stinking it up out there in Portland and Seattle.  It is the quiet conservative people watching this shit disgustingly from their 70 inch TVs at home.  My lawyer brother will buy expensive tickets for baseball games in Houston and Dallas, my poor friends here in town will scam their way into Longhorn games by "volunteering" and cleaning up.  Who do you think provides the money for those fat contracts y'all get to enjoy?  It ain't the poor screaming for free health care and free college, those socialists can't afford basic services, you think they are planning family trips to pro games?

    The best thing for Pro sports is for them jocks to put on their big boy undies and just play ball and focus on hookers or whatever entertains you on the side.  Nobody cares about your politics, not even the BLM people.  Look at the people trying to side with them, the mayor of Portland, the mayor of Chicago, the idiot mayor in Seattle.  All those a-holes got bit by the monster they encouraged and created.  Those cities are now in shambles and for what?  If people tune out completely from pro sports, who is going to pay you millions of dollars in the future?  Shit, nobody is watching right now and we are all supposed to be home semi-quarantining.  How many people would watch if there was no virus and people could go out and see friends and go to the movies and out to restaurants.  You currently have no competition and can't score more than 1.5 million viewers a game?  Maybe Netflix is more powerful than I know and they are taking your viewers.  Idiots!

8/19/20 Wife Put Boy To Work?

     Boy had been doing awesome all the way to December of last year.  He had a job offer where he was going to be making over 70 grand a year and although he was still taking classes, the company was fine with it, so there was no need to rush.  Then the new year started and everything just imploded, first with his company going under, then Covid-19 to slow the economy and the world down.  It would seem that he is having a hard time, but it isn't just him, a large percentage of the population is having a hard time getting hired and staying employed.

    He mentions to me all the time that he is applying for any and everything he thinks he can qualify for.  It is a little hard, in my opinion, because he is still a handful of classes short for his degree.  He almost got hired by a Toshiba subsidiary which does failure analysis but after the engineers that interviewed him liked him and brought up salary, HR came around and brought up the fact that he did not have a degree and also questioned his dyslexia, which seemed highly inappropriate, but whatever.

    Wife's boss asked her if Boy was doing anything and after finding out he was just home, he asked her if he wanted to work for a week or two, maybe three or even more if things work out.  Wife mentioned it to him and a salary was discussed, but since it is only for two weeks, he has chosen to work them as a volunteer.  The way unemployment works is kind of shitty.  If he works, his benefits stop, which he is currently covered until October.  When he stops working, he then has to re-apply and he has a friend who has been waiting over a month to get back on the benefits after working for a couple weeks.  It just doesn't seem set up to allow for short work periods like this.  

    Like Wife, I would rather he work here, but I guess right now, work where the opportunity presents itself.  I am not sure what he can get out of this, but it has to be better than sitting around the house everyday making runs to Goodwill to kill time.  I do like that at least he can go with Wife and help her get the stuff she bought off the car and into the new apartment where she is at.  It is also good that she took her bed and one of the twin sized futons (chair that folds out into a bed) so he can sleep in the living room.  Having him there will also help so he can get the TV set up and connected to the wi-fi connection from her cousins main house.  They are taking a signal enhancer and it is better he goes to set that stuff up.

8/18/20 Completing My Grill?

     I never do as they recommend when putting things together.  The instructions always say, to lay everything out and make sure you have all the pieces.  It has never mattered, until today, kind of.  I cut the box as the instructions said at the corners and took off.  It was a little rough at first, Boy was making tamales for his trip next week and Javalina sleeps until around 3:00pm.  It was probably 10:00am when I started putting it together.  Good thing DD came out of the room just then and offered to help me.  We put it together much faster than I could alone as he doesn't have old man knees and can work down low.  It all went great until the very last part which is a little handle to operate the open and close mechanism to change the grill from smoke to sear.  It basically turns a disk inside with holes and when it is on smoke, the holes are misaligned, so the fire stays below, but when turned to sear, the holes line up and the fire can get to the upper part of the grill and almost makes the grill center start glowing red.

    I didn't want to accept this, as I frantically went through the mess of styrofoam and torn cardboard, but could not find the part.  Sweetie was there and said "well, if the pieces aren't there, generally, you put things back in the box and return it to the store for another one."  She was half joking because it took a good hour and at more than 250 pounds, I am not taking it back for a dinky little handle.  I started thinking of how I could get around this.  I found a joint knife which you use to smear spackle on a wall and I thought I could cut it and drill some holes to make it work.  Just as I was starting to align it and deciding if the Dremel will cut it cleanly, Wife came down, got all mad because the part was missing, insisted I call the 800 number and get it sent to me for free.  I called the number, but they are closed Sunday.  I then went on the company website and they have a section for parts.  I had to go through a bunch of random parts and there aren't images for most of them, but eventually I found the part.  I told Wife that if it was an expensive part, I would call and get it sent to me or threaten to return the whole thing, but if it was like $10, I would just order it.  It listed for only $4.99, so I ordered it immediately.  I felt better when it asked for the model number of my grill and it said the part matched the grill.  I did have to add another $4.99 for Fed Ex shipping, but it was still under $10.

    I can wait a couple of days to get the part, we won't be grilling until next weekend, when it is my birthday and we are supposed to try some nice steaks on there, DD wants to try some ribs, plus we do have a big Texas sized brisket in the freezer which could be fun to try.  I saw some guy on Youtube using the same grill cook a brisket over 9 hours (video was 12 minutes) and it looked like the real deal, so I am excited about the possibilities.  My point though was I think it is pretty cool with the internet to go and look for and order parts like I was able to do.  If anything breaks down the line, I can order new parts for it, and at over $600, this grill needs to provide many years of service.

8/17/20 Too Hot For A Sunday?

     I usually wake up early on the weekends, but I hadn't the last two days.  Today (Sunday), I said screw it and got out of bed at 7:30am.  It helped that we wore ourselves out Saturday running around to the different places looking for a grill and phones and other stuff, Wife and I were in our rooms by 11:00pm and probably asleep by midnight, our bellies full of too much BBQ meat.  Part of the reason I got up so early is that Boy actually went ahead and pulled the plug and went and got the grill I had said would be good.  I was shocked and pleased and by the gesture, I guess Mijo is becoming a man of action.  This thing weighed over 250 pounds in the box and I asked him who loaded it for them.  I mean the grill weighs more than Boy and Sweetie combined, but they said they got it in the back of his Edge by themselves.

    Last night, I had brought it inside and left the box in the middle of the living room, tempted to open it, but just too exhausted to get going.  Instead, I took it easy, we ate our BBQ and jumped in the pool for about an hour, it is a lot nicer at night without the sun beating you up.  But after my cup of coffee I tore into the box and it was packed tight and heavy.  I was just thinking it was going to suck as I put on the first screws down on the bottom, my knees are bad, so it seemed easier to lay on my stomach, but this meant it would take forever.  Just then DD came out of the room, took the dog out to pee and told me he would help me in a second.  It made it so much easier, I read the instructions and guided and helped lift this and that, but he did all the work.  After finishing, well, it was actually missing a handle, more on that later, I realized I had everything but pellets.  Wife came down just then and I already knew we were going to go to Target to get things for her new "apartment", so we headed out.

    We went to Academy and I loaded up with four big bags of pellets to try different "flavors", such as apple wood, and mesquite wood and some others.  We then went to Target and Wife spent about an hour (felt like three because I wasn't getting anything for me) getting things like a new mini coffee maker, a new hairdryer, iron, new make-up, some storage things and little rugs to put by the bed and stuff like that.  Of course it is 107 or hotter and that just drains you.  We got back and I organized our back patio to fit the new grill about where the old one was and moving the old one kind of in a 45 degree angle next to it.  Finally,  was able to fire it up and for about 5 minutes, nothing seemed to be happening.  It is a pellet grill with a hopper on the side, and there is an auger that turns and feeds pellets to the middle of the bottom area of the grill where they are burned.  I guess it just takes awhile for the pellets to move along, but eventually it started smoking and smelling.  I tried the apple pellets and Man!, it smelled like mild clean smoke, not as strong as our normal mesquite infused charcoal.  The instructions said to "burn-in" the grill to clean it of the oils and stuff used for shipping and assembly.  The whole grill got hot, over 400 degrees according to the readout for 30 minutes, then I turned it off.

    While that was going on, Wife heated up some leftover meat with eggs which we ate for lunch, then jumped in the pool while the sun was still out, maybe it was 4-5pm.  I literally started falling asleep in the water, between the heat and getting up too early and being tired from yesterday, we just went upstairs and I fell asleep in my wet clothes sitting on the ottoman waiting for Wife to finish in the bathroom.  I awoke at 8:00pm, all stiff, everything hurt, Wife helped me up, I showered and basically came down to see what I could do after sitting with her until 9:15pm.  She went to bed, I got a couple loads going in the wash, took out the trash the boys insisted didn't fit in the trash can, then put away the dishes to clean the kitchen a bit.  These +100 degree days need to end, like now, seriously, they freaking suck.

8/16/20 Just Like Old Times?

    I was a little shocked today as Boy joined Wife and I as we ran around to a couple stores.  I had already gotten the oil changed and stopped at HEB since we were planning on grilling and I wanted some jalapeno bombers and more sodas and stuff for the week.  When I got home, Boy was discussing with Wife the idea of a gift for me.  They had pretty much decided they were going to get me a new grill, mostly because we are constantly complaining that we cook too much food for our current grill.  Javalina is the one being weird, he does not like leaving the house and keeps blaming Covid-19 for that.
    We left and headed straight to the big new HEB as they sell big grills at the one in Kyle.  The one here at Southpark Meadows does not.  We were looking at HEB because Sweetie works there and gets a store discount.  Boy is really coming through, saying he wants to cough up $200 for a good grill.  Technically, we still have a decent grill in the backyard, so Wife and he were kind of settling on a pellet grills, which burn pellets from a feeder system on the side.  I have been curious to see how good these grills are, but I have only heard good things, other than they make you lazy.  I can certainly live with that.
    After not finding exactly what I was envisioning what I was thinking, I kind of lost interest in a grill, but we do need a phone, and Sprint/T-Mobil was across the street from the HEB in Kyle.  We went over there, but they had no phones on hand.  Boy talked us into considering Verizon, he split from us about two years ago, but again, they had no phones to actually sell.  This Covid-19 has become a real buzzkill.  At this point, I got a bit pissy because Wife and I had planned on going to look at the Scarab boats in Lakeway and it did not seem we were going to get there.  We went to Lowe's to see the grills and again, I didn't see anything I would buy.  I really want one of those super heavy grills that will last a lifetime, but the heavy gauge metal grills at HEB were over $1300, just too much for a birthday gift, even if we were paying the bulk.
    Once I got loud and got Wife's attention, she said "fine!"  We stopped for drinks at Sonic and headed to Lakeway.  The boat store was a complete disappointment, they had 0 boats to show.  The guy working said everything has been bought, they just aren't making enough boats to keep up with demand.  I asked about the specific brand of boats and the guy said the Dallas location really specialized in that brand.  He offered to call and see if they had any of the boats I wanted to see and he came back saying they were in the same shape, completely sold out.
    Boy was actually being cool and patient with us, it was really nice having him with us and conversing with him.  On our way back, there was a Goodwill there in Lakeway and I stopped since I had kind of mentioned it to entice him to come along.  This boy really loves these stores.  I was literally shocked at the prices.  There were some cute living room chairs in pastel colors, new they would be $300-$400 at a minimum, but they were only $29.99.  We then found another pair of equally cute living room chairs for $19.99.  There was a decent table with four chairs for $59.99.  Wow, is all I could keep thinking.  The furniture was not all cheap stuff, Boy got a mirror with storage for jewelry, like the top to a make-up table for $20, and it was an Ethan Allen piece.  He also found a hydroponics kit that he says would sell new for over $300.  It was a complete set-up in a box and selling for $25.
    I only wish I had taken the Excursion to really load up.  Wife could use a pair of those chairs for the little apartment she will be staying at, as well as that dining table.  She did get a pair of decent looking aluminum stools for the kitchen for $10 each.  We only got this because we were in the Ecosport and I was worried about fitting more stuff in it.

8/15/20 47.99?

   
    We just bought our newest used car two weeks ago and already it needed an oil change.  I thought that was a bit shitty of Ford to release it that way, but oh well.  The car, a Ford Ecosport, has been awesome.  Wife has been driving it back and forth and I had it the last couple of days, she drove her badass Telluride on Thursday, and I really like how it handles.  It is like driving a little toy car or a dune buggy zipping around turns much faster than I ever could in the big Excursion.  Saying Wife can put miles on a car is saying it mildly.  We bought the car two weekends ago and it only had 31,400 miles or so.  Today, I looked at the odometer and it is already at 34,500 miles or so.  As much as this sucks, at least those miles were not put on the Ka Telluride, which was much more expensive and is our real family car, if that defines anything nowadays.
    Apparently, cars are doing something different on their oil changes.  I am not sure if this is because of the newer synthetic blends and they don't break down as fast, or if the engines are just more resilient and we really care about the environment, so we keep our oil longer.  Either way, instead of oil changes every 3,000 miles, some cars are stretching that to 7,500 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. 
    I went to Ford this morning as soon as I woke up, that being around 9:30am.  By the time I got there and in line, it was 10:30am.  The guy said it would be about an hour.  I've done this before, I figured I would walk around the lot and look at the new cars, then the old ones with no one to tell me it is too hot and/or I am bored.  Man, it was really hot and I could barely stand it.  It doesn't help that all the Expeditions are close to $70,000, the lifted cool F-150s are even more than that, and I couldn't even find the F-250s.  Those are about the vehicles I think I might end up buying for myself, eventually.  I was a little disappointed to see that there was no coffee available for the customers, although it was almost too hot for it.  By the time I made my way around from new to used, I noticed my car was already up on the rack, so I got closer, it only took 30 minutes.
    Last time I was there for an oil change I seemed to be rushing them when I quickly went and asked for the ticket to pay right after the oil change, so I decided to be good and just wait in the lobby with the other humans.  When the service guy came, he had the ticket in hand and I noticed $47.99 at the bottom.  I did not like that, but he was talking about "we could have recommended this and that, but nothing else was scheduled for your car, so it is just the oil change this time."  I asked "and that is $47.99, seems like a bit much, y'all have coupons all the time for oil changes for $19.99 and stuff."  He tried playing it off like "yeah, sometimes we have coupon days but you need to bring the coupon in, anyway, when you get our service review if you could give us 5 stars across the board, it really helps us."  I don't like to argue over a couple of bucks, so I had given him the card and he had run it, so I was really just voicing my dissatisfaction with the price, I told him "you think y'all deserve 5 stars with an almost $50 oil change?"  Suddenly, he changed his song, he slowed down and said he was going to refund my money.  I told him don't worry about it, you already ran it, I just wanted to say you all are charging way too much.  He surprised me by asking me what would be fair.  I said "uh, maybe $25-$27.99."   He then took off like $17 and change to make it that amount.
    It took an extra 5 minutes, which I don't ever like being that guy, but come on, it is a tiny engine, there is no way it should be that much, especially when they constantly shit on Jiffy Lube and really suggest that we should do all our services in house.  So yeah, I felt stupid waiting for a dinky $17, but I left feeling that $27.99 was a fair charge for the oil change.

8/14/20 You Da Man, Mr. President?

     It has taken awhile, but I slowly came around on this guy.  Trump is like the Dark Knight, maybe not the hero we want but the hero we deserve.  He embodies us and pretty much represents us in the best way possible.  Early in his presidency, he called the countries of Africa shithole nations and the world lost its mind, but really what was wrong about what he said?  We have all thought this, I mean why hasn't Africa got its shit together, everyone says it's the birthplace of humanity?  Where are the cars or computers or anything modern developed by the African countries?  I don't think the President was that far off the mark when he said what he said.  Any one of us would like to go there for a safari, but hardly any of us would like to go there to live permanently.

    I don't think any liberal has one good thing to say about Trump, but he seems to be the first republican president in a long time that hasn't managed to get us into a war with anyone.  Has everybody forgotten that usually when we get a new republican president, we get a new war?  How refreshing was it to hear this president telling the rest of the world to take care of your own, and we will take care of ours?  I know that since WWII, we have been the de facto world police, but what do we get out of this?  I don't think the world appreciates what we do and even as we manage to feed the poor and dying, they just turn around and denounce us not as heroes, but as imperialists and nation builders.  I think it is high time that they can all suck it.  I love that we are in a time, technically, when we are not at war with the outside world.

    Now, internally, I don't think it can last much longer, these idiots in Portland and Seattle and other liberal bastions, let them eat cake.  Defund your police, turn over those once beautiful successful cities to the socialists so the idiots in charge can see the mess looming just within grasp.  I know it will fail miserably, there is no way those societies can survive without law and order.  Once all the adults (you know, the ones that pay for shit) move out, what will be left?  Companies are slowly moving away from liberal nirvanas as the realization starts to come into focus.  It will be awesome when Trump finally comes through and cleans these shithole cities like a fat man taking a good laxative and all this ANTIFA and BLM and any other groups with initials just disappear.

And by the way, when he said "grabbing them by the p**sy", he thought he was talking man to man, that should have never gotten out.  That is in fact how men talk amongst each other, we just clean it up in front of the ladies.  There had to have been a beta male ratting out the men.  Fucking Billy Bush, acts like a man in the bus laughing it up with Trump talking about legs and shit, then turns on him saying Trump said this and that.  Please, any group of guys would admit to talking much worse if we were honest.  

This president shit talks like the best of us, takes stabs at people, we all do it, but usually in the privacy of our own homes.  He is in his 70's and a billionaire, why should he tiptoe around for anyone?  He speaks his mind like an old man, is easily distracted at boring meetings, like a teenage girl with her phone in hand, would rather be out golfing than in the office, like any normal dude, and he does the job for free, who would do that?

8/13/20 Monthly Diet Update?

     I am almost surprised we are all still going strong on our diets.  It helps that Covid-19 is keeping us mostly at home and there are so many more choices out there now, at the store.  I am happy to say I broke below 400 and am now weighing 393 as of a couple hours ago.  That means I have lost 39 pounds, mostly by cutting out carbs and sticking to the diet.  My joints are hurting less and I am now starting to add lifting weights again.  I have always enjoyed doing this, since I discovered weightlifting in college and it helps that Javalina is interested in them, so now I keep a bench in the family room.

    The worst (but secretly best) part of the day is getting to work where I have to walk about a half mile to get to my lab from the parking lot.  I am not sure if it is that long, but a coworker said she measured a mile going back and forth, but walking that distance with the sun up and the temperature over 100 degrees just sucks badly.  I used to limp and even stop, but now I can walk it normally and just complain about the heat, not so much the distance, so that is good.  I say best because that is about as much exercise as I get, I know I should be doing more and I will, I am just being slow to add things.

    As I said earlier, Wife has lost enough weight to start her period once again.  We had kind of been using her heavy weight as birth control, knowing that if she did not have a period monthly, she was not going to get preggers.  Now that she did have one last week, I have to rethink my priorities.  I have never been good with condoms and pulling out led to Boy, she said I need to consider the ole snip snip, I say "Let's try the back door."  Just kidding, but not really.  Either way, we are in our late 40's and shouldn't be trying to have more kids, not that I was trying with the two that I do have.

    This is about where we have fallen apart on our dieting.  Last time, I got down to about 390 and then the birthdays started and cake and I just gave up.  This year, at least we are not going to the in-laws for birthday cakes or having my parents come up and going out to eat all the time, so maybe we can keep it going longer.  My immediate goal was to get down to around 350, but knowing my brother is around 330, I want to get there, as a major goal.  I don't know, my birthday is next week and Wife is already trying to make plans.  My best thought to incorporate some cake is to go get a few cupcakes at Central Market so we can't overindulge.  Everyone just gets a cupcake and that is it.

    Anyways, it is almost 1:00pm on Thursday, I need to go lift weights since I am writing on here that I am doing that again.  We'll see how I am doing in another month.

8/12/20 Boat! Boat! Boat! Boat! Boat!

     I know the best thing to do is wait and finish getting our bills in order, but damn it, I want a boat so badly.  I am at the point where I don't even feel a need for a big boat anymore, I would be happy with something that just gets us out on the water and away from people.  Adding to my pressure, Javalina told me at Cabela's last week that he wanted to go fishing.  This kind of lights a fire under my ass, to get him out there before he loses interest, yet I know we are in Covid-19 times and anywhere we go to try to fish from shore is going to be full of other people trying to do the same.  I don't want to go and share the shoreline with some other contagious people who are out trying to have a little family fun time.

    I was doing the next best thing I could and looking at used boats, maybe I could find something cheaper.  I then remembered the small Seadoo Speedster boats that were almost like personal watercraft (PWC) but it was a small boat and maybe 4 people could fit.  The things were only 16ft long or so, which I like because it means it would fit in the garage for storage.  The only problem is that they are not being made anymore and the used ones are hard to find.  I remember they only cost $10,500 or so, yet people are trying to sell their used versions ten years later for more money than that.  I would be willing to pay $5,000 or $6,000 for a good used one, but I am not paying more than they cost new, that would be stupid.

    Then last night I was thinking and I remembered that Scarab had some jet boats at the boat show and I went to their website to see what they had.  They are now making a 16 foot boat with the same thought as the Seadoo Speedster, something small and a step above buying a couple of PWC.  According to their website, they are selling them starting at $21,995.  For a new boat, that sounds pretty good.  By the time I came up with this idea, I was more asleep than awake, all night I tried pulling up reviews of this fine little boat but would fall asleep before seeing any of the videos.  Wife finally told me to turn off the computer around 4:30am.  I got up at 8:00am this morning (Sunday) and looked at around 5 different reviews and all the guys seem to like the little boat.

    Honestly, I would prefer a center console fishing boat, but if it has to be about cost, this little boat might work.  Scarab was making long sexy cigarette boats in the 80's, those big flashy boats that were only good for going fast with hot chicks.  I would have liked one of those, but I don't have the money for that lifestyle.  This might be a decent compromise as the boats are still flashy and good looking, but even the biggest is only in the $60,000 range.

8/11/20 You Can't Cry During A Hurricane?

     I follow a bunch of different people from all sorts of different backgrounds on Youtube, some because they are interesting and some just because they are nice to look at.  There is one certain Houseboat girl I follow and she is fairly young and attractive and has been touting the carefree life of living aboard a very old beat up houseboat, nothing wrong with it, but it is tiny, maybe 20-25 feet long but she lives alone and makes it work.  At a certain point she even got a van, so now she can show us adventures on the water and even adventures on land as she goes overnighting on her van to different locales.

    In the latest video she had was getting through Hurricane Isaias and she apparently had many days advance notice that the tropical depression was coming.  We see her going to various stores trying to get more rope and fenders to secure her houseboat to the dock.  All the while I am seeing her use these super thin lines and thinking "well, those will snap as soon as the winds pick up" and she is somehow hanging the fenders from the rails on the top of her houseboat which with that much rope leeway are just going to be bouncing off the side of the houseboat and not protecting anything.  But once again, she has all this time and her efforts are more in worrying about tying stuff down so it doesn't get blown away, like her kayak which she keeps on the dock and her table and chairs which normally sit on her tiny patio outside, I do really like the houseboat for one person, a family would not fit.  She casually mentions that the battery is dead so she can't do anything about the motor, so it will just stay where it is, backed up against the dock, but she has all these little ropes to hold the boat in place.

    Then the winds start picking up and she is STILL IN THE HOUSEBOAT, IN A HURRICANE.  Not to worry, she bought her dog companion a chewing toy so he wouldn't be nervous.  "Stupid girl" is all I could think.  At first it is only raining, so she is being all cool and stuff, but later it starts getting real and at some point before shit hits the fan, she bolts to her van.  At least she is on solid ground now, I thought.  She calls a friend who very nicely offers her a solid structure to go and park her van under.  We see her viewpoint and now there is no sound of rain or noise bothering them, they seem well sheltered.  She asks if they can weather the storm inside and the friend's BF says no on account of the dog.  It is a husky and is a pretty good sized dog, so I kind of get it, but it still seems like a dick move.  She goes back to the van, but two hours later, she has a screaming fit with the BF and demands she be let in, which they do, for a few hours of the worst of the storm.

    She has now been crying and sorry for all the wrongs she has ever done and maybe rethinking her life decisions, but alas, it is a new day.  She heads back to the marina to check on her home.  Several of the docks simply gave way and are floating all over the protected bay way off in the distance.  Her dock was against the shore, so it was more solid and survived, other than the motor getting jammed under the dock.  She got 8-9 guys to stand on the back of her houseboat and that sank it enough to be able to get the motor out from under the dock.

    All this is understandable until the end when she says "one of my friends here has a big truck and he just offered to hook my trailer up and pull my houseboat out of the water."  This dumb girl had the ability to take her boat out of the water and protect it farther inland, but thought it would be a good idea to ride out a hurricane in a boat tied up against docks.  She only left her boat when the motion of the boat started making her realize she might be in danger.  On a side note, her friend should have helped her, but she does not have a right to demand to be taken in at the last minute with her dog.  She owes the friend and the BF big time, if he allergic to dogs, maybe pay for a housecleaner to come and clean up after the dog.  You and many in this country see dogs as family member, but not everybody holds those values and for a myriad of reasons.

8/10/20 Why Should We Look After Motorcyclists?

     Every time I hear this stupid PSA (Public Service Announcement) about watching out for motorcyclists on the road it pisses me off because they have very little regard for their own safety.  Pretty much any day you go out on the freeway, you will see some motorcycle pass you and go do stupid shit ahead of you trying to sway through traffic a good 30 miles per hour faster than everybody.  I am not talking about the older Harley types, they are usually too cool to put themselves in danger, but the younger people driving around with more horsepower than brain cells sure will test the ability of their ride not realizing they are the weakest link on that bike.

    It is not that all of a sudden I am a gun fanatic, but I believe it is the same theory, motorcycles don't kill people, stupid people driving like stupid assholes kill people.  I have had discussions with my favorite agitator at work, Monster Energy Drink who drives a bike daily in nice weather, and he always claims I don't know what I am talking about, that he never breaks the law on his bike.  He also defends those idiots that put "glasspack" mufflers which I think is what causes them to be annoyingly loud.  He told me the mufflers is to ensure we (the people in cars and trucks) see them and hopefully not run them over.  I maintain they are just another piece to add to their "look at me, I need attention" mentality.

    I was going to write about this a couple days ago after hearing yet another round of that annoying PSA about us drivers in cars to look out for bikers in our rearview, but why?  Shouldn't they be more vigilant, it is their lives, they should care more.  This is Texas and to my knowledge it is illegal to cut between traffic by driving on the dashed lines.  Wife (who spends a lot more time on the road) has said she has had a few close encounters where she was going to slide into another lane while traffic is moving slow only to see a motorcyclist coming between the cars and trucks slowly waiting on whatever has stopped traffic.  She even says she argued with a teacher or administrator one time about him doing that and getting mad that people weren't letting him get away with it and Wife told him it was because it was illegal here and he didn't believe it, he was from California.  Regardless, I was just reminded of the stupid PSA as I saw a video on Youtube of two motorcycles once again driving like assholes cutting through traffic and suddenly the bike in the back got too close to the lead bike and once they touched wheels, the biker in the back lost control and fell of a bridge portion of road something like 35feet.  Who do we blame here?  I think the dummy driving faster than he had to is the one to blame.

8/9/20 Jojo Rabbit? (HBO Max)

     after liking the previews awhile back, I had almost forgotten about this little movie, but Boy saw it earlier this week and suggested I see it, that is was my kind of movie.  I have to say that it was more than I expected, yes it had a lot of dark comedy, but there was a bit of sad story too which we had to ride along with.  Jojo is the little boy and in the first scene he is talking himself up as he is getting ready to join the Hitler Youth movement in Germany at the height of the WWII campaign.  He has an Adolf Hitler imaginary friend and he is pumping him up something fierce to be the best little German warrior he can be, even as Hitler tells him he is kind of scrawny and not very much, he should still make himself the most he can be.  He is so pumped up he comes out onto the street yelling and flapping his arm in a Heil Hitler manner to any and all he sees as he heads to the camp.

At the camp, we see hundreds of boys looking more like Boy Scouts than army infantry.  They are coached by Sam Rockwell in German regalia, asking to himself loudly "why am I here leading you and not out fighting like a real man?" We kind of figure he has been demoted because he is a little "light in the loafers".  He does not take his responsibility seriously and I don't get the feeling he is a big supporter of the German cause.  While at the campsite, the older teens have the class with Jojo and they ask the little boys, who are around 10, if they are killers.  They all scream yes, of course.  Jojo is chosen to prove it and they give him a rabbit to kill which he can't do.  He declines and the older boys make fun of him calling him Jojo Rabbit and he runs off.  His imaginary Hitler convinces him the rabbit is just as tough and cunning as the lion and the hawk, for it must survive in a world constantly trying to kill it.  Again, he gets all excited and heads straight to get himself discharged from the Hitler Youth Program by doing something bordering on stupid.

    The cast is pretty good with Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansen as his mom, Rebel Wilson adding comic relief as a coach at the camp, and other familiar faces.  I don't want to give up too much, but Jojo has a friend Yorki who makes it through the training camp and we see him going through the changes in uniform from kid to dressing like a soldier, first with a rifle on his back and then a mortar launcher, clumsily setting one off towards a local building when he dropped his launcher upon seeing his friend.  Towards the end, Yorki is looking like an old man, ending up in a wife beater and simply declaring he wants to go home and have a good cuddle from his mom.

    There is a certain sadness when you step away from the humor, the use of children at war is something done by the desperate and can't be a good thing.  The children don't understand what they are fighting for and will just try to please those they believe are like them.  Jojo is wiser beyond his years and his experiences help him see things more clearly than most adults around him.  Yorki stays with the cause and though we just laugh at his chubby antics, thinking about it, he has to have seen some horrible things fighting for his country as we can see the destruction of war hanging on what is left of his military fatigues.  Jojo experiences for a brief second or two the power of war as the Americans are making their last push into his village.  Jojo experiences loss too, but in the end, I think he has a good chance of growing up in a new world and being someone who matters as we see him growing and learning.

8/8/20 Running All Day Long, Krull Style?

    I love thinking of that cheesy movie Krull every time we have to run on a schedule, but for those who don't know the movie, there is a bad guy from another world who lives on a moving mountain/ship and he steals a King's beloved and through a little magic and sorcery, they figure out where on Earth the mountain will appear next.  They find a herd of wild Clydesdales and use them to run against time before the mountain moves yet again, which it does at the end of every day.  Once they get on the mountain/ship, they fight the alien and kill him (of course).  Anyways, we picked up the U-Haul trailer around 5:30pm on Thursday evening and had until Friday at 5:30pm to drop it off or risk paying another $18.95 and there is no way I was doing that.

    We got up at well, 8:00am for Wife, I got up closer to 9:00am and did my thing to get ready.  Javalina woke up at the same time before we called him and was already showered, I think he just stayed up all night, judging by his surly behavior and way he was snapping at us while offering him food at Buc-ee's.  Everything went fairly smoothly, I drove in the morning, getting us to Buc-ee's with no issues and filling it back up, even though it had been full when we left the house.  It barely took like four gallons or something small like that.  We got all sorts of stuff not on our diet, I did anyway, two tacos, sweetened almonds and pecans and a big coffee.  I ate all of it up as we drove and as soon as I finished everything around Batesville, 2.5 hours in, I got sleepy.  Wife then drove the last 20 minutes or so and we got to the new apartment.  It was really nicer than I could have imagined.  It had a nice living area, full kitchen, a full bathroom (Javalina said the walk in shower was bigger than the ones in our house), and then a good sized bedroom, with central air and Wife's cousin was in there busily trying to paint it and touch it up before we got there.  We talked for him for almost too long, but he is being very generous in letting Wife stay there for free, no questions asked.  He said he wanted more time to finish touching up the walls and putting everything back together, like the doors back on the hinges and covers back on the switches and outlets.  We got everything off and he assured us he would assemble the bed for her, so after trying to do it and him insisting we go and say hi to my folks, we did.

    We called my mom who said she would be outside and we could stay on the outside of the fence so no Covid-19 would be transferred from us to them (we are from the big city, so we must already have it).  As soon as we got off the car, she got mad at me for not hugging my mother quick enough at which point I hugged her and told her "don't blame for killing Dad." (in a half joking manner)  We stayed there for maybe 20-30 minutes, and then we got going again after realizing it was already 2:00pm.  We didn't even go inside to use the bathroom, so Wife suggested we stop at her office to go to the bathroom, which gave me a chance to finally see where she works.  She has a nice big office, and we took some snacks and got on our way.  

    Wife drove us back and only stopped to gas up because we were not going to make it all the way home with the gas we had left.  I honestly fell asleep on the highway and woke up just as Wife turned one entrance too early and almost got herself stuck pulling into an apartment complex with the trailer.  I woke and told her I would drive us out.  I determined I could make the turn, even if it was tight and got us into the U-Haul parking lot about ten minutes late, the phone said it was 5:43pm.  The guys all seemed busy and distracted there.  The guy in the front office said to back it up and someone would help me disconnect it.  I had already backed it up and by the time I walked back out another guy disconnected us.  I was waiting for the thumbs up to leave and a different guy came out to disconnect us I guess and he gave me a thumbs up, so we left, with my extra $18.95 in my pocket.  Whew!!

8/7/20 Getting Ready To Take Wife's Supplies To Crystal City?

     Today (Thursday) was a day of preparations.  I started early in the day waking up worried about which vehicle to take for the trip towing a trailer.  I decided the Telluride would be a better choice, considering Wife now has the Ecosport to run in back and forth.  I wasn't even sure if it had a connection for a trailer, but luckily, it did.  I looked up the towing capacity and that is 5000lbs for this vehicle.  We are only carrying a bed and some chairs, so the weight shouldn't be a problem.  The vehicle was dirty, so I took it in to H2O Wash and took care of that.  I then went home and waited until the right time, in the afternoon to go get the trailer.  I was kind of dozing off, even after having my cup of coffee.  I ate my yogurt and eventually my fruit.  At this point, I went upstairs to shower and I was thinking of a nap.  Javalina then reminded me I had to take him to his school between 2:00pm and 6:00pm, according to him to drop off some school books.  We did that and then headed to Cabela's to kill a little time, getting the U-Haul at 3:00 or 4:00 would have been too early.

    We looked around and Javalina convinced me to walk away from the guns if I am not really buying one and they don't have something I really want, I don't know what I really want.  We then looked around the jerky making equipment, I want to be able to make the sausage they mention, but Cabela's equipment is just too expensive, compared to Academy.  This then led us towards the fishing gear which got Javalina saying he wanted to go fishing and see if he likes it.  We then left closer to 5:00pm.  We got the U-Haul and took it home and started filling it with the things we planned on taking to Wife's new apartment.  First off, I stopped at Mattress Firm and bought a Queen box spring, we already had the mattress at home, and I added the base, so the bed would be off the floor.  By the time we got home, Wife was already there.  We loaded the matress, followed by a chair that was not being used anymore, it is a chair that opens up to a twin bed, like a futon, but Boy does not need it anymore, since Sweetie lives with him and boys don't come over to sleep anymore.

    After Wife found a small lamp to take and towels and stuff, we went to Lowe's to buy a lock to lock the back of the U-Haul.  I own a handful of locks, but I could not find any of them.  I thought we were just getting a lock, but Wife about filled the basket with a trash can and all sorts of cleaning supplies including a Swiffer mop and even light bulbs for a second little lamp.  We then headed home and made it an early night, we got chicken and saw a movie recommended by Boy, Jojo Rabbit, a movie I had heard about during the previews of something else and forgotten about.  It was silly and sad, set at the end of WWII and looking at a young German boy growing up in those times.

After the movie, we were up in bed before midnight, knowing we were planning on leaving around 8:00am, I didn't even complain, this was part of the reason I got up super early and made myself busy all day, so I would sleep easy all night.

8/6/20 Bought Another Year Of Washes For The Telluride?

    In preparing Wife for another year of work in La Pryor, we have to take some furniture down there.  I understand my folk's hesitation to have Wife come into the house, specially with my dad being kind of weak, shit, he hasn't gone anywhere in months and still came down with shingles last week.  After looking and even considering buying an RV or a mobile home, we got lucky yet again.  The RV would have been fun for later usage, but the RV campgrounds are going for near $400 a month, plus the cost of the RV and paying over $700 a month does not sound satisfactory.

    It turns out a cousin of hers has a house with an empty room which is somehow attached to the house, but still kind of separate.  The only thing is there is no furniture, so we have to at least get a bed down there.  She has a bed at my mom's house, but of course, to my mom we are crawling with the Covid-19.  Lucky for us, I don't really like throwing away stuff, and last year we bought Boy a new mattress when Sweetie moved in, suddenly his mattress was too hard or something.  That boy weighs 100 pounds, after 5 years of use, it sti$30ll looked fairly new to me.  We kept it and it was being used as the headboard in DD's room downstairs.  His love life may miss having something soft to smash against, but that is his problem.  I told Wife we just need a box spring and a frame to get it off the ground.

    My first thought was to rent a U-haul truck, but those cost like $300, a trailer to tow only costs $20.  I thought we can tow it in the Excursion, but then I thought the Telluride is just sitting there not being used anymore.  I went out to look at the hitch situation and noticed it was just dirty and the inside was just as bad.  Even though it was 8:00am, the sun was already beating down and I just wasn't going to rally and wash it myself.  I remembered the H2O Wash place and looked it up.  The prices I don't think had changed since I took my truck I had in 2015.  I asked the receptionist who looked at me with doe eyes like she didn't understand anything I said.  She went and got a dude and he came all cool like "you wanted to talk to me?"  I said "not really, unless you're in charge."  There used to be a big titty lady running the place, she was fun to talk to, not this Vato.  I showed him the website and after double checking it was his store and this year, he said ok, how about we make it $550 (the online thing was $552.40 plus tax, I guess, so Cool Beans).

    I paid for the year, got my little contract thing and card and parked the car in line.  They used to have three rows of cars getting washed and dried but I guess because of Covid-19, there is only one line.  It took about 20-30 minutes and out it came on the other side.  They even clean the inside and wipe the glass and vacuum the inside.  With this deal and Wife driving the Ecosport daily, I can go wash her baby anytime so it is clean and ready to party on the weekends.

8/5/20 The Lady In Red?

    I somewhat feel bad for Wife, but she is actually being a normal female finally, so maybe not so much?  It's funny I just heard the song Lady In Red last night at work, and I was thinking back to the 80s, being in a school dance or something with a DJ and slow dancing with Wife to that slow cheesy song.  Back then, she was husky, today people would say thick, either way, she was all kinds of all right to me.  I have always liked my women with some meat on them bones, and Wife has always been more than a snack, she was a whole family pack.  It was all good, for about six years, then along came Boy.

    Wife put on the baby weight and after Boy was born, I would joke "is there still another one in there?"  Seeing it on paper, I see that I was being kind of a Dick, but she laughed too, so no harm no foul.  I've always been a fat fucker, so it's not like there was a reason to try and loose the weight to impress me, plus we both like eating out and often.  The weight has kind of crept up over the years, I had managed to lose about 80-90 pounds in college when I was starving and eating the bare minimum.

    Then I got the good job and was introduced to better restaurants like Outback and I just fell in love with the good life and overindulgence.  I guess Wife did too, but honestly, I don't know how Wife put on weight.  She doesn't really like sodas, and prefers to drink water all day long.  She doesn't like sweets, if there is a cake, I will eat 70 percent, the boys 20 percent and she might have a slice.  Same with Mexican pan dulce "sweetbreads", if I buy a bag to fill a bowl, I will eat 90 percent of the pieces, Boy might eat a piece and Javalina too, if it is fresh.  Even regular food, she will quickly give me some portion of her plate after I gulp mine down and look at her with sad eyes like "you gonna finish that?"

    For over a month now, maybe even going on two months, we have been doing a variation of Atkins or Keto or whatever you call eating a low carb menu.  We have both lost a good amount of weight, although I am currently on another plateau, I am happy to be below 400, when I started at 432.  I won't mention Wife's weight because that is not popular to do, but she was up in offensive lineman territory when we started and she has come down to maybe a heavy linebacker size.  This is good, for both of us, I feel better walking around and she says she does too.  The only problem is that she started her monthly thing, which because of her weight, she had not had to worry about it.  This has been our birth control since Javalina was born, I know it's not popular to say, but I have never liked using protection, it is a miracle we only have two kids.  If we continue our ways of eating like we are, we could keep losing weight and her monthly period is really going to be a thing to plan our lives around and shit.

8/4/20 Fixing A Flat Tire?

    I was too excited to take the car for a real test drive at night, once the sun went down.  We got home about 7:00pm, ate the brisket and sausage Wife had put in the oven early in the day and then jumped in the pool since I had gone through the trouble of cleaning and making it look nice for the boys Javalina had sleeping over.  We were in the pool for over an hour late at night, from around 10:30 to almost midnight or so.  We then came in, showered and Wife thought we were done, but I told her "nah, let's go run around."  She complained that she was going to go in her pajamas, and I said no problem.  We took off, noticed it has that Stop/Start technology which I don't really like as it feels like it won't come back on when I step on the gas.
    It handles well enough on the freeway and the lights are good enough although Wife liked having those super bright LED lights and these are just normal headlights, but they do the job.  I was attempting to show my first world problem of how far we park from our lab and where I have to walk through  but the stupid low tire pressure indicator came on telling me the rear passenger tire was low.  Wife instantly panicked and told me to head home.  She didn't even want me to get on the highway, so we had to come through every light from work to home, and that is a pain in the ass.
    This morning (Sunday), I got up and remembered I needed to take care of the tire, so I looked up which places were open.  The only place that seemed to be open that looked legit was Firestone and lucky for me, there is one five minutes from the house.  I went over and was surprised at how many people were there for Sunday services.  I was told it would be about two hours before they could get to me.  What choice do I have, I said "fine."
    They almost took the two hours and I could do nothing but sit and watch their TV programming.  At least it was semi interesting with a Ford truck restoration and then an episode of American Pickers.  I got there about 10:00am and my car went into the bay around 11:50am.  The guy almost took off the wrong tire to fix as I was looking at him and wondering "what are you doing?"  He then went and looked at the paperwork, figure his mistake and put the bolts back on.  He finally took off the "bad" tire but he didn't find anything wrong with it.  I saw him spray the soapy water on it, then he took it over to take the tire off the rim, he said he ran his fingers all the way on the inside and found nothing.  He gave the other three tires a check to see if they were leaking and found nothing wrong.  I was surprised there was no charge for the work, he still spent a good half hour taking the tire off and checking all the way, not that I am complaining.  But without a clear reason for the low tire pressure indicator going off, then what caused it?  I don't know, I just hope it isn't a lingering problem going forward.

8/3/20 Starting To Look Like A Car Dealership Outside?

    Maybe we jumped the gun a little early, but I was really itching to buy something.  Not really believing Wife would go along with buying a new RV or even a car, I was ready to go back and buy a couple of scooter/dirt bikes so Javalina could run around in the greenbelt behind the house.  He managed to save some money from the last time we went to Disney, it was up to $600 with what the Grandmas and people give him, then we also put some in and he was up to $1000.  In the morning, I was figuring how to bring it up to Wife so she wouldn't spaz out, but surprisingly, she asked me if we were going to go look at some cars.  I quickly shifted my attention and asked what she had in mind.
    She said as long as it wasn't a car, so pretty much an SUV.  I didn't want anything older than 2018, probably and less than 40,000 miles.  I looked at Autotrader and Maxwell Ford, mostly because I am partial to Fords, I have not had much trouble with the ones I have owned.  Wife might like Kia, but her last one did blow a motor, she still managed a last salvo of not minding if we ended up getting another Kia Soul.  By the way, this car is to lighten the load on her Telluride which she loves but even though she only put 800 miles on it the first two months she owned it, when we weren't going anywhere, she is now over 11,000 miles and moving fast, since she is driving daily to and from La Pryor, three hours each way.  The car could also be considered a car for Javalina to learn to drive on and finally as a back up if my Excursion goes down as it is about 16 years old now.
    For me, it was easy, I have liked the Ford Ecosport for some reason ever since I saw one about a year ago and noticed it was 4WD.  I looked at the Maxwell Ford site and told Wife we can either get a bare bones brand new one with cloth seats and the smaller engine for an advertised $15,088, or a 2019 fully loaded Titanium edition with sunroof, leather seats, power everything and a slightly larger engine with 31,000 miles for the same price.  I decided I liked the idea of the bigger engine, just to have a little more power to merge with traffic on the highway.  I do like leather seats and all the neat gizmos, like 4WD and even ambient lighting on the floor, door handles inside and cupholders.  We did a ten minute test drive, found nothing wrong and went inside to do the paperwork.
    My fantasy was to pay $200 a month or so with $1000 down.  We ended up at $296, with the $1000 down but that included a 60,000 mile extended warranty.  Overall, I am very happy with our purchase.  It is the first small vehicle I don't have to contort my head to climb in.  Even in the Kia Soul which was comfortable once I climbed in, required a bending of the neck to get in.  I probably wouldn't mind a couple more inches width wise, everything else seems good.  The seatbelt does not choke me or make me feel fat, the steering wheel moves up and down and telescopes a bit too.  My head doesn't touch the ceiling above and Javalina now has a car we won't mind him driving.  The Excursion was too much vehicle, and the Telluride was too nice, this will be perfect for him right now.