10/31/21 2021 Is All Downhill From Here?

     This year has flown by, between Biden and the democrats leading us to fear for our lives, Covid-19 refusing to go away, and living in Austin, where the cost of housing has skyrocketed, it seems like we spent the year inside hiding from the life we used to have.  Either way, there is no denying that once we get to Halloween, I think of the year as pretty much done.  We will enjoy the evening, good or bad, giving out candies to any and all who come by, then tomorrow will be Nov. 1st.  This starts an internal countdown to Thanksgiving.  There will be 3 weeks until Wife and I finally take a week off, it has been since March that she has not had a week off because of her new job.

    After we are off for a week, we have three more weeks and then we are looking at 2 weeks off, at least for Wife and Baby A.  I am still unsure how the time will play out for me, they always want us to be available, but I have managed to be off for two weeks during Christmas and New Year's now for the last couple of years.  Within that time, Baby A will be ending football season, next week is the last game of the season, he will have one week off and then the first wrestling tournament begins.  I am still pissed at the movies that show these kids doing all sorts of sports and having time to get into shenanigans, there is never enough time to do more than an occasional dinner when we are in the middle of a sports season.

    Wife and I were talking and we would like to fit in a trip to the Ren fest, if possible.  We also talked about possibly a weekend to Houston, but that might be reaching.  The three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break are already filled in with Wrestling tournaments that show matches Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  Being that Mijo is more excited about wrestling than football, we have to rise and support that enthusiasm, unless we want to be shitty parents.  I am just hoping he improves on the experience from last year, when he managed to win some matches without realizing he had won because he knew so little.

    Between now and Thanksgiving, I will also be having to take down all the Halloween decorations I worked to put up during September and replace it all with Christmas decor, just part of what we do.

    I don't know that I hated this year as much as I should.  I got Covid in January and survived it as did most of my family, later in the summer.  We did lose a friend of the family to it, and she was young, probably in her early 30's, so I don't deny that it isn't real, but I still don't think it is what the left wants us to believe.  The housing market went off the rails in the Spring, as even our house had crazy valuations, more than double what we bought it for, but I think it is coming down and I am hoping that within a year or two, when Boy has really saved some money to move out, there will be positive growth and he will be able to find a nice affordable home to move into.  I am still not in a rush to see him move out, so the housing market doing its stuff is okay with me, for now.  Everything in its own time, as they say.

10/30/21 This Season Needs To End?

     I don't think the boys had enough time to get over the loss last week, the team on the field seemed defeated before we even made it into the stadium.  Because traffic is shit here in town, it took us almost an hour to get to the stadium that was twelve miles away.  It is ridiculous to travel into the city and unfortunately, this stadium is somehow basically, downtown, on 15th and Lamar Blvd.  Anyways, we left the house at 6:40, this is as quick as Wife can get here from working in San Antonio, on a Friday afternoon.  I thought we were leaving with enough time, but I guess not.  When we got there, we then find the parking lot next to the stadium is full, and a sign saying to go park in the parking structure, which sounded bad, but it is technically on the same block, we just had to go find the entrance around the other side by getting on the road and driving around it.  By the time we walked down from the third floor, McCallum had already scored.  We walked our ways to our side of the stadium and by that time, they were on their way to scoring again.

    Because the kid that joined the team from up north who became the center three games ago, decided to miss the game, Baby A was tossed back into the role.  Maybe the kid's family had a real reason to go out of town, but some of the other kids were also saying he was homesick and wanted to go visit family.  Fine, but you have made a commitment to the team and the season isn't over.  Wait two more weeks and then do whatever, we haven't visited our families since the season started, there isn't time for it when football takes over all your extra free time.  I'm not trying to say football is more important than family, but you have made a commitment to a group of people and the season is finite, it lasts about twelve weeks, you have to sacrifice your time, that is what commitment means.

    Anyway, my son does a fair job at center, he did have 1-2 bad snaps.  One ended up in the running backs hands and was labeled a trick play by the announcer, which I was a little impressed that my son could aim sideways, but I asked him if they practiced that a lot and he said that one got away from him, it was luck that the running back was there.  The other bad snap ended up in the quarterbacks feet and he just fell on it.  This would upset me more if we hadn't seen the lackluster effort of the team as a whole.  The defense could not stop the running game, every play seemed to go for at least 9 yards or more.  I don't think they had a third down situation until the second half.  I can't say anything better for the offense as they could not get more than a first down or two and then had to punt, it was very disheartening to see our boys play like this.  The coach put so much weight into last week's game and them having to win those specific games and make it to the playoffs that I guess once they lost, there is no point to the season is the best guess I can muster for the effort I saw.  The final score was 56-0.

    Next week's game is not going to be any better, I am guessing, and the weather is looking from the forecasts like it's going to be a cold one, the start of the game will be in the 50's and dropping.  This game was in the upper 60's and I was miserable in a sweater.  A jacket would have really helped.

10/29/21 An All Around Shitty Day?

     I fucking hate windy days, they just suck the life right out of me.  I don't even spend that much time outside but nothing good comes from the wind blowing above 30mph.  Yesterday, I didn't even make it home from dropping off Baby A at school and I got a call from Boy.  Every time he calls I cringe because he never calls to tell me about a cool new TikTok video or some good news, no, it is always something else that happened.  Sure enough, he was in another fender bender.  I discussed this yesterday, but it was just the start of the crap.

    I then thought it would be a good idea to open the windows, I think because I made a stew the day before there was that smell in the house, which you really notice it when you walk back in after being gone for a little bit.  After opening a few windows, I went to turn off the A/C controller downstairs only to have the screen not want to react.  It is a touchscreen and usually it lights up with us just approaching it, I don't really know what was going on with it.  I unplugged it from the wall, and plugged it back in, and I pressed the one button on the side that I could see, and nothing.  I sat on the sofa, pissy and thinking I would have to call Fox yet again.  I decided to talk to my mom, I hadn't talked to her in over a week, but it was just more sad news, having my aunt hurt her leg and then spiral out of control because of onset dementia is really taking a toll on my mom.  It is especially hard because they have been so close all of their lives and their isn't much that can be done.  The only good thing to take from the call was to hear that my folks are supposed to come up next week to see Baby A's last football game, it has been awhile since we have seen them, football takes up so much of our free time.

    There were a couple of okay hours, I did plan on sleeping a couple hours, but between worrying about our insurance going up and then making the chili and cornbread, I never got a chance to get to bed until close to 1:00pm.  I slept maybe 40 minutes, then said screw it, I didn't expect much work, we have dwindled the list of work down to a trickle.  When I went outside to leave for work, I found the stupid portable basketball rim we have between the cars blown over by the wind and sitting against the roof of the Telluride and the window of the Excursion.  I was glad for the foam edge which probably saved the window from breaking, although it has a white mark, like a heavy rub that I'll need to buff out.  The Telluride, which we never even drive and we're trying to keep looking good and new, got a huge dent above the passenger front door where the rim hit and then slid a couple inches.  There must not have been foam on that side, it was metal to metal scraping.  

    In one day, two of our cars managed to get dents, so to me, that is always going to be a shitty day.  I guess I can be glad that Boy was not hurt, but it will still suck and we will have to go out of our way to get things fixed, if we do.

10/28/21 Boy Had Another Fender Bender?

     I don't want to say Boy is a bad driver but he is on car accident number three now.  This time he was leaving our community, there is a newish light to help people cross the street right next to our road that leads out and he said there was a kid crossing, so he thought he had the right of way.  According to him, as soon as the kid crossed the street, the lady gunned it through the stop and that is where they collided as he was driving out.  I am glad that everyone is alright, first and foremost, but dammit.  I don't know how many times the insurance will let you bump into other cars before they decide to drop you or start jacking up our rates.  I told him that any rise in our rates will be paid by him, at this point, he is 27, it is probably time for him to go out and get his own coverage anyway.

    It was Christmas Eve in 2020 that he crashed our little 2019 Ford Ecosport, which we only had for half a year.  That car was totaled and it sucked because I really liked it, it was loaded and was even an AWD vehicle.  We did replace it with the 2011 Ford Escape and that has also been a great car, but I am not letting him get comfortable with that one, he can stick to his Edge until he buys his own car.  His first accident was back in San Marcos on the Jeep we had gotten him.  I don't think that was his fault, some ditzy chick hit him in a weird way, one of them was coming out cutting across traffic and the other was driving in the middle turning lane or something, and they hit.  The Jeep was never a great vehicle, those wranglers look cool but they are a pain to drive.  The ride was harsh and noisy.  It doesn't help that my brother says the one he got for his daughter is so loud on the highway, with those big beefy 4x4 tires, that they can't even have a conversation.  I love the idea of a Wrangler for myself, it can be a convertible, it can be a 4x4, I could even choose a Gladiator and that would almost be like a truck, but I'm not driving something that isn't comfortable on the highway.

    I can't fault Boy entirely, I know accidents happen, but he needs to think about taking a defensive driving class or something.  He is always in some sort of rush, gets up at the last minute and rushes himself so that might have been part of the reason, but he would never admit that.  I am not going to get upset, he makes decent money now, so whatever increase in our insurance will be taken care of from him, there is no reason at this point for us to eat that cost.  I guess these are just parts of growing up.

10/27/21 Can You Shake A Loser Mentality?

     I don't want to be mean but Wife finally had enough of one of Baby A's friend's constant negative attitude and she kind of let him have it.  I thought it was funny, not sure I would have done it that way, but I would have addressed it at some point.  The kid was in our car because Wife was giving him a ride home.  This is one of Mijo's close friends and we give him a ride every now and then and he has come over to the house for sleepovers, so he is not a stranger to us.  He has a constant downward look at life which our son always mentions that it is an annoying feature about him.  He is a lineman like Baby A and is also a big guy, but he has no confidence.  If anything, our son has too much of it.  During the summer, he was constantly impressed by how much our boy would lift in the gym.  When Mijo would yell at him to get him pumped up and get him to do more than he was comfortable doing, he surprised himself and could usually do it, but even after lifting say on a squat, he would then say "I got lucky, I won't be able to do that next time..."  With that kind of self worth, it is hard to succeed, always looking for something negative to prove that you don't deserve more.

    In the car, he was going on about how they are going to lose to this week's competition.  This is another team they could beat, other teams they have beat have beat them, so they are not a great team.  Last week was a very close loss that left them drained and feeling bad, but like any other thing, we must move on and face the next challenge.  Wife does not like to hear that sort of BS and she told him to stop thinking that way and talked to him like we do our boys.  Our boys believe they are great because we have always told them that they are, we don't make excuses and we try our best, that is all we can do, out in the world.

    Does the score matter at the end of the day?  We would all like to go undefeated and be the absolute best but the reality is we go out there and we win and lose as a team.  If you went out and gave it everything you had, if you prepared as best you could, if you didn't cheat and try to hurt other people, then you have nothing to be ashamed about, you gave it your best.  I think that is the lesson to learn from football.  It isn't the score, it's learning to work with others, trusting others to have your back, being selfless and sacrificing for the good of the whole.  Those are the important lessons to take away from team sports.  It is about the same thing in any endeavor that requires a group of people working together, you have to let go and trust that others will take care of their responsibilities, and sometimes, when things work just right, you end up getting a win as the cherry on top.

10/26/21 Challenged Somewhat By A Ditzy Chick?

     I thought it was kind of funny when I was talking to some of the gals at the gender reveal party and I let on that I now consider myself a conservative because of the bullshit of the past year.  This set them off  and one of them quickly wanted to put me in my place, but you really need to be equipped to argue, one or two words aren't going to do it.  She came up and got about six inches from my face, to make sure I was listening to her, I guess and asked me a philosophical question "Have you ever known what it's like to be a woman?  I smiled and said "yeah, a couple of years ago, I was a chick, now I am all man."  I looked at her as sarcastically as that sounded, which got her by surprise and brought her back to reality.  She just did a "oooh" and stepped back.  I was ready to get into it, if she wanted to, as I have been told, I argue for sport, so it doesn't bother me, but Wife did want me to behave since we were guests at someone else's home.

    I know the argument was from a feminine perspective, knowing the chick, but because I am married to a real feminist and my mom probably identified as such back in the day, I know their struggle and how far woman has come.  There might still be challenges, but they are nowhere what they were 40-50 years ago.  If you work hard, anyone can succeed, man or woman.  Like it or not, Wife is more successful than me, she had gone farther, gotten more school, and is still on a path that could attain her even higher goals.  What is different from her to any whining feminist arguing for equality?  Wife has shut up and done the work, she has slowly sacrificed, and taken the opportunity, along with the sacrifices that entailed, and she is finally starting to see the rewards that come from doing so.  As she climbs higher, she becomes more entrenched in her job, and we understand that, it is part of what she has gotten into.  The point of this is to say I don't need to hear how hard women have it.  No offense to the chick trying to explain things to me, but shut up, work hard, and look for opportunities to make yourself valuable to those that pay.  Crying and whining about life not being fair will not get you a promotion, working harder than the next chick or dude that wants that job will.

    I actually like this young lady, so I won't get mean, but coming at me when we have been strong and reliable, still married, supportive, loving of our two children and their friends, and always been generous with what we have should make anyone that knows us want to grow up and be like Big Mando, I am fucking awesome.  The proof is in the pudding, you might like your labels, but who is winning at life? 

10/25/21 Love Today's Online Ordering Services?

     Wrestling is fixing to start up for Baby A at school and we are excited for his second season.  I decided to order him some stuff online and I am only holding up on getting more stuff because he is not flashy and we have a hard time getting him to wear new things.  I love though that I can get online and order official looking merchandise with school logos and other things specific to wrestling, for example.  I found a website, www.prepsportswear.com and was able to order him a hoodie with the Crockett Cougars name and the Cougar logo.  I think that is very cool and I wish that existed back when we were in school.  I am tempted at the moment to go ahead and order all his friends that are talking about joining the wrestling team identical hoodies, but they are pricey and then they could still back out, so Wife said to wait for that.

    I also got on Amazon and was able to find a few wrestling specific shirts which I always find humorous and fun to wear, such as 

    We are excited for the season, last year was an introduction to the sport which we didn't even fully understand, but our boy says he loves it more than football, and this season he is going to be joined by at least 4-5 of his friends that come over to the house, or at least that is what they are saying right now.  It is a very demanding sport and is not very forgiving, so I will be pleasantly surprised of all the boys who say they are going to join ultimately join him on the team.  Last season was very surreal as the team consisted of 2-3 boys and 2-3 girls, but this year they may field a more complete team.  There should be up to 14 weight classes and then there can be a JV and a varsity member for each, so there should be around 30 boys and girls running around with the team, that would be a lot more energy, but we will see what happens.

10/24/21 Mesmerized By The Women on The Island With Bear Grylls?

     I had heard about this show on other Youtube videos so I was curious about the dynamic and how it would work out to leave some women and men on an island and have them fend for themselves.  The results I really believe were doctored a little, but it can't be denied that the men fared much better.

    The premise of the show is that two groups of men and women were dropped off on uninhabited islands with minimal provisions and it would be up to them to survive one way or another for six weeks.  Bear Grylls is an adventurer who has had numerous shows involving surviving out in the wilderness.  I started watching the episode in which the women were dropped off on the rough side of an island, there was no beach and they had to swim in and get on the island in a heavily wooded area.  The island is a few square miles in size and it seems everyone had a goal of getting to the other side where they might find a beach and water source, or that is what transpired, but the women sure did it the hard way.  They spent the first day celebrating and talking about how tough they were only to have it get dark on them and they had no preparation for the night.  They never got a fire started and immediately started suffering for it.  They then sent a team out to find water and a beach and they were gone for 3-4 days, lost in the woods, running around in circles.  The women that were left behind eventually decided to go after them since they were not in any better position there in the woods and eventually they all reunited, like 4-5 days later.

    At one point, they were out of water but surprisingly, they found coconuts which they were able to drink from, they also made an emergency call and they were given some fire starting material, they could have literally dies without fire to boil their water to make it safe to drink.  They were also starving through most of the show, but along the way they found, probably put in by the production crew, some little pigs, but instead of eating them, they were treating them as pets and giving them the few morsels of food they could find.  It took them getting desperate and almost dying to finally give and kill the pigs to eat.  They did not attempt to fish until sometime in the last week of the show, which if you're on an island, should be something going on all the time.

    I thought it was interesting that the women made it to the final week, I watched almost all the episodes, I couldn't stop, but I got tired at the end, but the women slept on the sand all the way through, never made any type of real shelter and kept relying on the ponchos they had to protect them from the weather.

    The men on the other hand, although still suffering and struggling, built a shelter structure, found the beach within a day, and ate an alligator, and fish on a lot of the days as at least one of the guys was a good fisherman and then they figured out how to use some netting to capture fish on a larger scale.

    People complain about all the litter we make, but if we were to ever end up on an uninhabited island, I would be happy for all the empty plastic bottles that seem to just wash ashore and are always good for different things.  They used them to store clean water, and they even used them to construct a floating raft, which I thought was creative.  I didn't even know this was a series, I thought it would be one short movie or show, but I ended up watching about ten episodes in one sitting, it was entertaining.  The best comment I read on Youtube was that someone thought the women were doing a parody of a survival show because they were so bad at it, it almost seemed intentional.

10/23/21 Out In The Country?

     We went to a gender reveal party on Saturday, which was a first for us, and I can say it was okay.  DD is now married and living his life away from us but still comes and visits regularly with the new wife.  They got pregnant a month or so after getting married in a spur of the moment trip to Vegas, but hey, sometimes it can work out, what does anyone know?  Anyways, this is not about that, this is about them celebrating their new coming baby.  The gender reveal party is a new thing, we didn't even knew this was a thing when we had wither of our boys, but it seems in today's climate, everyone tries to outdo each other in presenting the sex of the baby, not sure why since in today's climate it is also acceptable to change your identity twenty times a day.

    The party was down in Dale, which is where Boy's best friend's family moved to and I remember driving out there one other time for a party at their house, it just seemed to go on and on to get there.  Apparently, we were within four miles of that house, but this time we drove out there and seemed to get there in like twenty minutes.  Maybe the difference was that we got on the toll road, I am not sure, but the drive felt real quick.  Baby A commented that he didn't like the feel of Dale, it reminded him too much of the creepy movies we have been watching, specifically the small town on the way to Crystal Lake, in the Friday the 13th movies.  There were also abandoned old houses and churches to give it an even creepier Halloween vibe.  It was an okay drive overall.  The creepiest thing was a couple of cows staring at us from about fifty yards away in the next yard over as we hung out in the backyard.  It seems everyone keeps cows out there, DD's Wife said it was for tax purposes, I guess everyone is filing for agricultural exemptions out there.

    I liked the house having the big backyard, I would say it was close to two acres, but the back part of the property curved down and felt like it should be a creek full of water, which I was told it has filled in the past.  We were fed brisket and sausages, a common meal I like to make on the weekends, which Baby A was quick to point out their brisket was better than mine, something Baby A never misses a chance to poke at me for, because he is a little shit.  The brisket was very good, I can admit, maybe the pellet grill is not the best tool, but I still maintain it is damn convenient, so I will keep doing what I do.  

    As far as the outcome, it was kind of confusing, one second I was eating, the next I stepped inside to get more tea, Boy stepped in to get a cupcake, and DD's wife got a little upset because she pulled the thing to reveal a blue puff of smoke with no warning and almost no one even saw it.  I think she need to say something like "here we go" or announce it was fixing to be revealed in the next few minutes.  Oh well, the baby will be a boy, I finally heard.  We congratulated the couple and both sets of grandparents, which was nice to see all of them getting along together, and after another hour or so of catching up with DD's family, we left.  It was a nice lazy Saturday afternoon.  We were worried about the possible traffic out that way as there was supposed to be a race at the new race track, but I guess we got home before all those people got out in traffic.

10/22/21 What Is Worse?

     Last night was another wild ride for the Cougars, but this time fell short by less than a touchdown, losing 44-40.  I don't know which is worse, losing by 60-70 points like they did in the beginning of the season or losing these tight games in which it goes down to the last minute before we know the outcome?  I do know that our boy was totally drained, mentally and physically after the game, and it was difficult on the ride home having to hear him rather emotionally "I don't understand this, we gave it all we had, we have been working hard all summer, we do everything we're supposed to do..." All I could muster was saying "we know, we were there with you, we know you have given it your 100% but football is a team sport and you have to remember the other team is also doing the same thing, they also want to win... sometimes it just happens this way."  

    We reminded him that winning or losing does not define who you are.  The fact that you get out on the field and compete makes you the quality person you are, you care and the score may not show it, but you are a better person for the sacrifices you do for the team.  You are a different person now than you would have been had you not played football.  Remember back to before you committed to being an athlete, it may feel easier to avoid competing because you wouldn't lose but then you wouldn't be this confidant strong person who walks with purpose and stands tall because people know you constantly work harder and give more than you have to.  It was a hard drive home, but eventually he accepted it and I think he felt better.  We ended the night by picking up Whataburger and again, didn't get to bed until a little after midnight.

    The game was a roller coaster of lead changes, both teams were moving the ball with ease, returning volleys of touchdowns, but both were having trouble with their extra point conversions in the beginning.  The Cougars missed their first extra point kick, then Travis failed a 2 point run, then Crockett failed on a 2 point conversion, then the Rebels.  Before the half, though, the Rebels did convert a 2 point conversion, so they went into the half up 20-18.  They came out of the half, got the ball and scored again and then again.  It looked bad going into the end of the 3rd, but then Crockett scored again, making the difference on only a TD.  The Crockett QB was sacked in the endzone and that gave the Rebels another 2 points, but with 9 minutes to go in the 4th, the game was still within reach as they were down 38-32.  They both managed to score again, the Rebels got to 44, but Crockett ran out of time, scoring up to 40, finally converting a 2 point conversion but their final on-sides kick was recovered by the Rebels and the Cougars could do nothing but watch time expire on their evening.  It was a heart wrenching performance, but they fought until the last seconds.

10/21/21 No More Toys For Christmas?

     Times like this, I am a little jealous maybe not the right word, but in our quest to be good productive citizens, I think we have overlooked the baby making process in our family.  I don't think we have had a new kid since my brother had his son and he is 8-9 years old and about the same on Wife's side.  One of my biggest fears a few years ago was Boy getting his girlfriend pregnant at a time when they weren't quite ready and he was still going to school.  I guess that fear has subsided now that he is about to finish college and has a good job.  He is still not married and I don't think they are even talking about it, but I am starting to think it's about that time.

    I know it sounds stupid, but we need a kid around for the holidays.  Christmas time isn't as much fun without the bright eyed wonder of an innocent kid who believes in the magic of Santa and all that goes with that.  I really enjoyed the idea of shopping and delivering for my boys, trying to surprise them on Christmas morning.  At this point, I was even asking Wife if we are even going to buy any toys this holiday.  I don't think any of our nephews are at an age where they play with "toys".  Like Wife said, she has only seen them playing with phones and Ipads and stuff, so the idea of a bag of marbles isn't going to go over well.

    So that leads to the next thought of "what kind of gifts do we get people?  Are we even going to bother exchanging gifts, we really haven't gone all out but that is part of the problem, when kids get older, it's not really fun.  Maybe a nice gift card to Best Buy, that is the holiday spirit in full bloom.  I have thought about maybe a nice handgun for Baby A since I consider myself a prepper now and that is one of the basics, a person should be able to protect themselves.  I mentioned the idea to him and he is not Boy, he could give a shit about guns.  Boy would gladly take another gun, pistol or rifle.  I might do that still, it is still early in the holiday season, I mean the stores just barely knocked down the Halloween stuff and started replacing it with Christmas trees and all the extras, so we got time.

    This time of year gets a little crazy with the shorter days starting, football season getting close to ending, once Halloween passes, it seems like a death march to the end of the year.  It becomes like "alright, two more weeks to Thanksgiving break, then another 2 weeks and we get two weeks off for Christmas break and New Year's.  I am really looking forward to slowing down here for a bit.  Wife has been non stop since April when she took the new job, I don't think she has missed more than a half day for one of the football games that was going to be out of town.  She really needs some time off.

10/20/21 To Be Young?

     I got in late last night, but Boy came down to get his lunch ready and as I usually do, I asked him about his day.  He said he got contacted by an old coworker who wanted him to apply for a job with his company.  He had mentioned this company before, they are making electric bikes and possibly other mobile devices.  On the surface, I wouldn't think leaving his "grown up job" with the giant semiconductor company in the area is a very smart thing, specially that he just got a promotion and is now an exempt engineer working in what I assumed is a good to great matching job for him.  He is considering the idea of leaving, he said he sent his friend his resume, they have two jobs for engineer and one for a higher level engineer that he thinks he could do.  The temptation is great, and the fact that they are offering a higher pay than his current position is certainly going to make it interesting, but should he?

    As much as I like the stability of where he is, I am looking at things from the eyes of a 50 year old who wants a job that will not go away.  He is 27 and very much trying to make moves to further his career.  I have told him that if he wants to throw caution to the wind, this is the time to do it.  He is still living at home, so if he ends up losing his job, he won't have to worry about his mortgage payment or car payment as his SUV is currently paid for.  If I look at it from his vantage point, it does seem exciting to be "wanted" by another company and he says he would be doing more of what he finds interesting and he is more passionate about, something about working with circuit boards and stuff.  Right now he says he spends his days assembling wire harnesses for large systems that need to be wired and all that is done in house, but he says it is rather boring.

    I would have thought he would be enjoying his current job more since his close friend from high school is now working in the same department with him, but they are both nonchalant about their endeavors.  I guess for me, I wouldn't be stirring the boat too much and I would just be happy to have the job he has, but he seems to think he should strike while the iron is hot.  If it does mean another $15,000 raise, I say go for it, I mean he can always re-apply with his current company if it doesn't work out, maybe.  That is part of the journey, we don't know what tomorrow brings, but they do say "fortune favors the bold."  Maybe these are the moves that will lead him to a more successful path than I have had.  I wish Mijo the best of luck.  With the current house prices, he needs to be getting paid a lot more money than I make.

10/19/21 How Did "Defund The Police" Work Out?

     I find it absurd that we had to actually do the exercise of "defunding the police" to see what the net result would be.  Every major city that had the loudest supporters for this strategy is suffering from its effects.  Chicago is on pace to lose 1000 police officers this year, some of it is of course from the Covid mandates forcing them to get the vaccine that does not guarantee protection, but a lot is from the constant battle of what looks like a third world country atmosphere where the criminals proudly rule the streets.  Austin tried to impress its northern liberal cities by cutting 150 million dollars, something 1/3 of its funding only to see the highest number of assaults, homicides, and all the other things criminals shine at doing.  What I don't understand is why do they need a ballot initiative to increase taxes for the 150 million dollars they want to return to them, we didn't get a refund at the start of the year, that money was already in their (governments) hand.  With "defund the police" we also got the added bonus here in Austin of being told that police will no longer respond to non-life threatening situations, like if your house is burgled.  

    I saw a story yesterday in which a fine New York citizen caused a fender bender, three city workers, the story mockingly called them social workers (that has been the joke, that they could do the job of the officers) approached the car only to have them get beat up with no provocation on their part by the gentleman that caused the car accident.  He then just casually got back in his dented car, flip flops and all, and took off.  We see time and again stories out of California and stores are closing because of this, but since they outright say they are not prosecuting anything under $900, thieves are walking into drug stores, filling up literal trash bags and walking out, nobody is standing up and stopping them.

    I like how New York is trying to brag that overall crime is down, but violent offenses are up.  It's easy to say that crime is down when it is no longer getting reported because there are no cops to do the reports.  Stories out of Seattle are still as ridiculous as ever.  After defunding the police there, now the city council is blaming the police chief for crime increasing and the police force not taking care of business.  The idiot mayor, Durkin, has taken a lot of these police officers that were laid off and hired them as personal security.  Nice for the officers to still have a job and great for her highness to still be protected 24/7, but what about the people of that city?  Well, they did vote for this after all.  They were out on the street in full force chanting "Defund The Police!"  I guess the motto be careful for what you wish for still applies.

10/18/21 Weatherman Needs To Shut Up?

     I was confused last night when I saw a weatherman snap back at a Tik Tok video I had seen a couple weeks ago about a lady warning about another polar vortex situation and to expect another freeze like we had at the start of the year.  He was being a little smug and came across as kind of an asshole laughing at her suggestion we would have another freeze like we did, that she was mostly just trying to cause mass hysteria and scare us.  It seemed a little out of line for him to insinuate us preparing for something that might not happen is a waste of our time.  My takeaway was "why does he laugh at us for wanting to be prepared for an emergency event", it almost seemed like he is bothered that if we do have another freeze, we have ruined it by getting propane heaters and generators to avoid the suffering.

    I personally told Wife I did not want to be in a position where we are at the mercy of the weather and we must then be totally reliant on the government to provide all of our basic necessities, like electricity.  By March, a couple weeks after the freeze, we bought a generator, then when they mentioned to prepare for rolling blackouts, we bought a small air conditioner so we could at least cool one room in the house.  Now that the colder weather is starting, I started preparing by buying a few small propane heaters that are safe to use indoors, along with candles, lanterns, and I started buying 5 gallon water jugs and just storing them in a closet, along with the freezer that we bought at the start of Covid which we keep stocked with meat and stuff.

    Growing up, we have always been warned to have some emergency provisions, I still remember my grandma making a big deal about having water stored in the house when we were changing over from 1999 to 2000, it was a scary time for some.  A lot of people were also scared in 2012, when the Mayan calendar ended which signified they knew the world was ending.  Based in science or not, as the weatherman suggests, how does it hurt to have some emergency supplies?

    Worse case scenario, she could very well be wrong (the Tik Tok lady), but so what, we are better prepared for and when an emergency does arise.  Is it bad to have a generator sitting around your house?  Is it bad to have any other number of supplies if the need arises?  We probably have a 2-3 month supply of toilet paper, who cares, we will continue to use it slowly to wipe our asses, it will get used, we just won't have to be panicking because we are down to our last roll anymore as used to happen quite a bit before we thought stuff might run out.  Same with bars of soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorants, these are all things we can buy that can sit on a shelf at home for a long time.

    If anything, this weatherman struck me as yet another person in power trying to shame us into complying to their whim, we managed to get a little control over something we can't control and he is trying to convince us they (big government) know better and we shouldn't worry.  Waiting for your warning two weeks before the freeze arrives means only a handful of people were able to buy generators, there are only so many on hand at any given time, Idiot.  Waiting for you to warn us leads to stores getting ransacked and the regular person not being able to get food at the last minute.  This is just an instance where, "Fine!"  You may be right, but who cares.  What if you're wrong, yet again?  Then what do you say to the people that decided not to buy that propane heater and their baby freezes to death?  I remember my Mom telling me my Dad (in his 70s) was lethargic and not even wanting to get out of bed or move when they were on their 4th-5th day without power during the freeze, where were your words of wisdom then?

10/17/21 Baby A Finally Had A Proper Boy's Weekend?

    I kind of miss how Boy always had friends over and they would hang out here all weekend, pretty much every weekend it seemed.  Baby A has been so different, he might have a friend or two over but it is always for one might, either Friday or Saturday and maybe only once every two months or so.  He has never spent the night at any of his friends, not that Boy did much of that either.

    I don't know why, but this was the weekend for him to finally break down that wall.  He has been at it all weekend, starting Friday after school, he stayed on campus for a bit, and walked over to the Dairy Queen located across the street to hang a bit and gather the crew to go watch the girls play volleyball at the Ann Richards School.  My job was to go pick them up and deliver them to the game since I am available at that time.  I picked them up and took like 5 boys over, they all were able to leave their backpacks in the Excursion and go enjoy the girls in their little shorts, I mean who really wants to watch actual volleyball?  They had a good time, Wife got home and we went and picked them up around 9:00pm.  At that hour, the only thing we could think of was to pick up some pizzas, which we did, after we dropped off one of the boys who did not spend the night.

    I like the mix, it's Mijo, two football players on the team, a band kid, and one of his original friends from like 2nd or 3rd grade that has always come over.  After we got home, we put the pizzas out for them and we went to our bedroom.  They spread out in the living room, and ate while watching scary movies, then at 1:00am he came in the bedroom asking if the hot tub could be used.  I told him, it needs about 2-3 hours to heat up and I would have had to clean it, so no.  He had told me in the morning they were going to jump in the pool, so I had cleaned, shocked and got the pump running even if I thought they would chicken out since we got a cold front.  They were out there for awhile, must be nice to be young, you couldn't pay me to go fool around the cool water with the cold front arrived, I was vary nice and warm in bed.

    They then slept until almost noon, and we eventually made pancakes for them, followed by more scary movies, I think they were also playing on the PS4 and Mijo even set up the wrestling mats in the living room, so they did wrestle a bit.  A couple extra boys showed up Saturday, and all of these guys have said they are joining the wrestling team, so it might be a lot more fun having so many more boys on the wrestling team this year.  Wrestling is set to start in about a month, as soon as football finishes.

    Saturday night, we got them tickets to the House of Torment but their times weren't until 10:00pm.  We dropped them off, but the line was crazy long and was not in the best place.  The curbs were full for what seemed like a mile in either direction and the line to get in was about as long.  We dropped them off at maybe 9:30pm and they were not done until after midnight.  They said it was ok, all of them trying to be cool, but then they talked all the way home about the different ways they all got scared.  It was fun to hear them having a blast.  We had fed them Bill Miller tenders before we went out there, but after we got home, we figured they might be hungry, they are boys, so we threw a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven and they attacked them, with chips and sodas.

10/16/21 Joe Rogan Vs. Dr. Sanjay Gupta?

     I am a fan of Rogan and listen to his podcast clips a lot on Youtube.  I don't really listen to the whole show, they just go on too long, same with Adam Carolla, I love his content, but I don't always have time anymore to bog myself down with a 2 hour show.  This past week, Rogan had Dr. Gupta, who is the big medical guy on CNN over for a discussion and I thought what came of it was very interesting.  They discussed everything dealing with Rogan getting Covid19 a couple weeks ago and recovering extremely fast, something that did not sit well with the CNN people.

    I find it a bit disturbing that even in the face of proof that something they find hard to support, CNN still undermines and tries to downplay other options of surviving Covid19.  Rogan is a big anti-vaxxer guy as those on the side of caution for the yet to be FDA approved vaccines have now been dubbed.  Instead, when Rogan got Covid19, he went the route of taking medicines that aren't approved but through some trials and word of mouth, seem to work.  One of the big ones and one I have been on full support after seeing several studies by other doctors on Youtube, notably Dr. John Campbell, is Ivermectin.  He took other medicines, but the net result is what matters, isn't it?  He was better within days, and said he was back in the gym working out within six days.  He tested negative for Covid19 five days later, so he managed to get it out of his system entirely, or to none detect limits.  CNN had a ton of fun at his expense as all the talking heads had a horse medicine joke to use.  It is a fact that Ivermectin is a human medicine used for parasites but also one used for diseases in horse and other livestock.

    It was freaking awesome to see Rogan corner Gupta and ask him "why didn't you clear it up that Ivermectin is also used by humans?"  Dr. Gupta looked like a 3rd grade who forgot his homework and had nothing remotely intelligent to say to Rogan other than agree with him.  He was then on CNN the next day back to agreeing with the other mental midgets on CNN, it was a bit disgusting to see someone turn complete 180 degrees in agreement.  Then he did what all good liberals do and play the victim that he feared Rogan would attack him in the studio, like this man-child who calls himself a doctor has never had a discussion with people who disagree with him, WTF!!!

    My point here is why take a stance and stick to it?  Fine, CNN believes the vaccine protects you, Rogan believes what he did is good for him.  Why can't we live in a world where both are good solutions?  If you are vaccinated for measles, do you worry about people who don't get a measles vaccine?  No, you just say good luck to you, my ass is protected.  How come with Covid19, you want to be protected by having your neighbor take the same vaccine you took?  If it doesn't protect you, why will it protect him?  And worse, we don't know what the after effects of taking an experimental vaccine will do to the human body in a couple years, hope nothing too traumatic.

10/15/21 Advice From Other Preppers?

     I have been all proud of myself and being more vocal than normal about my new hobby/passion, not sure what it should be labeled at this point, lifestyle?  This idea of being a doomsday prepper and having supplies at the ready in case we do come upon some emergency.  My thought is not to brag about it, but I want people I care about and that are in my life to be prepared.  I have mentioned it to coworkers, family and the few friends I still talk to, but even at some stores, I have caught myself talking about buying things for if it ever gets bad out there, mostly while looking at guns and considering what would be best for home defense.

    Well, after seeing a couple more videos, I have pretty much been told to shut up.  It actually does make sense, to some degree.  Their idea is that you don't want the neighborhood to know that you are fully stocked because in the event of society breaking down, they will know you have things stocked and although people are lazy and don't buy things to prepare, they will do whatever it takes once their loved ones need something to survive.  It is a very shitty human trait, they won't prepare, but when they need something, they will consider taking your stuff, to make their life better.  The preppers on Youtube suggest it is better to be a "grey man", don't do anything to stick out and make you a target.  Instead, wear generic clothing, nothing fancy, just what will make you blend in and not make you get noticed.  this way, you don't put a target on yourself.

    I don't personally believe an emergency situation will be worse than another freeze, it might even last longer than last years, but I am not ready to accept that we will have a societal breakdown and we will resort to violence upon our neighbors.  My preparations are to simply survive a 1-2 week "stuck at home" situation, either because of a freeze or because our idiot president thinks it will help Covid19.  

    At this point, I have most of the basics covered, I would want a couple more gallons of lamp oil to run my hurricane lamps, and maybe buying a couple 20 pound tanks of propane and storing them somewhere in the backyard or garage, if it is allowed, not sure.  I need a couple more 5 gallon containers of water, for good measure, but we have Lifestraws, we could technically suck water from the creek and drink it or probably from the pool with them.

    I will keep pestering my family members though, like I have said, we are not poor and the modest cost of these basic supplies should not be the reason you weren't ready this time around should another freeze arise.  Maybe it doesn't happen, but how foolish will you look if you are caught another week without power and you have to tell people "I didn't learn anything from the first time this happened, now my kids are freezing, mostly because I am an idiot."  I saw those Mr. Heater units at Home Depot and Academy yesterday, they are easily available right now, and cost $79.  Amazon has some for $95, but it gets delivered to your door.

10/14/21 Wiring For My Back-up Generator?

     We bought a generator back in the summer sometime and it is now paid for, but I have not finished preparing for its usage as I would want it.  The idea when we bought it is that we would run multiple cords to it as it sat in our patio in the back.  My thought, if the summer rolling blackouts did come was to keep the fridge and freezers running and then if we could, also run the portable A/C to keep us comfortable.  To me, that sounds like a lot of wires running all over the floor.  We did buy a handful of heavy gauge wires, if the need arose.

    Another way to wire it would be to connect it to the power box somehow, but with the solar panels, hot, pool, and the normal crap, I honestly don't have any more empty slots to add more circuits.  I saw a couple videos on the idea of "backfeeding" the house and I think that is how I am going to do this.  We have a 240volt supply our back for the hot tub heater and I know for sure that in an emergency we would not be thinking about firing up the hot tub, so it stands to reason if I could borrow the power lines, it makes sense.

    Of course, I could get an electrician to come and wire a new connection, but that would mean it would be over close to the power box, and there is no way I would leave my generator out there on the side of the house, exposed for some a-hole to simply drive by, see it and decide he needs it more than us.  To run yet another set of lines to the backyard would be expensive.  When I wired the power for the pool pumps and stuff, Fox charged us $2500 or so, I don't want to pay something like that again.

    I had been thinking of the best way to do this and yesterday I saw a connector over by where they sell the generators at Lowe's and I bought it.  I was thinking it would be complicated to make a Y connection with the wires to feed either the heater or be fed by the generator, but after looking through Youtube videos it looks to be pretty easy.  I just take the wires coming to the heater, make a splice inside the new generator connection box with a pigtail, that is when you add a short ~8-10 inch third line to a connection and then use this to power (or in this case, take power there in the generator connection box) and then send the new set of wires out to feed the heater.  I know, if I ever do "backfeed" power to the house, I must FIRST AND FOREMOST make sure I have turned off the main power breaker, so the house is not backfeeding power to the incoming power lines.  This could be dangerous to the line workers trying to bring power back up.

    The last hurdle to getting this done is figuring how to open the heater and removing the wires that Fox installed, but I'll try to do this weekend, now that it shouldn't be so hot.

10/13/21 Toilet Paper Tablets?

     Wow, I didn't even know these existed.  In my search and viewing of videos to give me ideas for survival stuff if and when we have our next power outage or disaster event, I came upon a video showing toilet paper tablets.  They look like big Alka Seltzer tablets about an inch in diameter and maybe an inch thick.  I am not sure we would need them for the house, but they make so much sense, I will still probably order a box.  The box on Amazon goes for about $35 for a box of 500, which seems cheap to me.  It is essentially a wipe that has been pressure pressed into the shape of a chubby coin and a little water loosens it and releases it into a big square cloth.

    It doesn't seem to make much sense when one is at home, but for a bugout bag, or camping, these would come in handy.  The guy showing them in the video says he uses a match tube (tube where one would normally carry matches) and he can fit as many as 8-9.  If we step back from the idea of it just being toilet paper, having a paper wad like this can be helpful in many situations.  It could be kindling to start a fire, it could be used as a layer of filtering to get drinking water, somebody suggested it could be packed in a nose to stop bleeding.  Because they take up so little space, they just seem like a good idea.

    I can't say they would be my primary paper source here at the house, but how about if they are carried in an empty mini M&M tube (somebody in the comments suggested 16-17 would fit at once) and kept in the car?  You never know when you have an emergency and have to pull over to "go" or even if a liquid is spilt in the car.  The more I think about the possible uses, the more I feel like I need a box of these.  I just went ahead and ordered a box of 300 for $22.99.  They come packaged in 30 tubes which are all sealed and waterproof.

10/12/21 How Long Does It Take To Become A Responsible Adult?

     I constantly have the discussion with Wife about some of these youngsters we know and how she frets and fumes when she sees them making bad decisions.  I agree with her, but I also understand that it takes time to get to the point of being mature enough to make the right decisions.  We constantly notice on her  Snapchat or Girlie tells me that she is going on yet another trip and we are always wondering "where does the money come from?"  This weekend for example, she is flying to California for some bachelorette thing, some friend of hers is getting married.  It all sounds great, but she was unemployed for about a month, just started a new job, is taking a full load of classes, and has told me she is behind on most of her bills.  Still, she finds a way and it has nothing to do with me, I am not supporting that lifestyle, I don't even agree she should be traveling, she should be focused on her classes and internships, she is down to a handful of classes to finish and graduate.  That should be her only priority.

    As much as that bothers Wife, and it bothers her because we have known her since she was like 3-4 and we do honestly care for her and want to see her succeed.  I then tell Wife it is not much different than Boy, who yet again was off to Dallas this past weekend because another friend of his bought a house and they were having a house warming party.  Again, great!  I don't have a problem with Mijo doing whatever they do on the weekends, but he should be saving his money for the more important goal of trying to buy a house.  He has a two week trip planned for Japan in March.  I think it is stupid to be doing this, it is going to cost him several thousand dollars, even if the plane tickets were only $250.  But again, he is in his 20's and he is allowed to make his own decisions.  The only thing I did bring up to him is "Don't tell us moving out is a priority if this is what you are doing.  This will most certainly slow your plans of buying a house another 6-12 months."  I am not in a rush for him to move out, but he likes to mention it once in a while, that he wants his own place.

    Shit, we can look at ourselves and we are no better.  We managed to get ourselves well over $100,000 in debt from the time we got married until about 4-5 years ago when we decided we needed to make some changes.  We are finally set up to go in the right direction and even have surplus money to put away in our savings, but none of our journey has been easy.  We all want to do the fun stuff, we all want to be free, we want to travel, I miss going to Disney every summer like we did for about 7-8 years, but that trip cost us close to $5000 every year.  I want new trucks and boats, but stuff like that will certainly not help put money in our savings.  The only reason I haven't just gone out and gotten a new truck is because I can finally take a breath and think above my wants.  It is hard because my ego says I am a man and I should be driving a new truck, but to what end?  A younger me would have said "Wife shouldn't be the only one with a new SUV, I want my new vehicle too."  With maturity, I can reason that the Telluride is ours and not just hers.  We are a team and working together is how we will get ahead.

10/11/21 Butane Stove?

     Like I said a couple days ago, I have gotten into prepping for the worst and that means we have had to buy some items so we can survive in the event we become disconnected from society, such as we lose power or our city water supply becomes contaminated.  I know these things sound far fetched, but this did happen last year during the freeze, so it is possible that it happens again.  We have been warned that because Texas is independent of the rest of the country in how it operated its power sources, we can more easily end up without power as we did during the ice storm.  This was a mixed a bag of situations for many.  My parents were without power for more than four days, and they were just too far away for us to help in any way.  We were fortunate in that we lost power for maybe 30 minutes total, I don't know how.  We heard even here in our community, houses on the other side were without power, but we were mostly good.  That is not to say that will always be the case.  On top of that, we did have to resort to boiling our water for a couple days, so that is something I have prepared for now.

    I just went on Amazon and ordered a small butane fuel stove, which I would recommend everyone to do.  I have been all proud of myself for buying a bunch of bags of charcoal and dozens of propane cylinders to run small heaters and a Blackstone griddle, but the reality is if it is freezing, I don't really want to be messing around outside.  I was listening to some doomsday preppers on Youtube and they did suggest getting a butane stove.  The big caveat is it must be rated to use indoors, they are not all the same.  I am also not sure why butane is preferred to propane, but when in Rome...

    Either way, we are still months away from a first potential freezing event, so now is when y'all should be preparing.  The stove I ordered was $60 from Chef Master and even comes with four 8oz butane cylinders.  The notes say the stove will run for up to 4 hours on one cylinder at the lowest setting.  I went ahead and ordered another four cylinders to have at least 8.  I don't know what is the right amount, but I figured if we have the space, I will just put them on the shelves with my little propane cylinders.  Better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it.  It is not an expensive item and could make life a lot easier if we find ourselves without power for an extended amount of time.

    Thinking things through, I have already bought a carbon monoxide detector, so if I ever start using these gas products in the house, I will have that to keep us protected from the unseen dangers of burning gasses in the house.

10/10/21 Pizza Stone Works Great?

     I am not usually blown away or impressed with things once I have them in my house, many times the hunt for the perfect item is more fulfilling than actually buying the thing and bringing it home.  This was not the case with the pizza stone.  A couple weeks ago Wife and Boy both mentioned I should invest in a pizza oven for the backyard and it got me thinking, why can't the grill do that?  It provides heat and the pizza would cook just as well.  After going back and forth for a bit, I looked online and another oven/grill would eat into the space we have in the backyard patio plus it would be another thing to maintain.  I then was looking at Youtube videos on the matter and noticed some people use their grill and just add in a "pizza stone".  I was intrigued, looked into how much they cost and figured that we could try this for the reasonable price of $30-$40 bucks.  I tried thinking about the pizzas we eat and usually they are the large or extra large, but I couldn't really find stones bigger than 12x15.  There are bigger ones but they go all of a sudden from under $50 to over $150.  I figured this would just be more of an experiment, so I ordered a set that comes with the cool little paddle used to carry the pizza on and off the oven, and the one I ordered even had the big pizza cutter that rocks back and forth from end to end.

    We actually received it last weekend but I never really got excited to open it because I started reading about cleaning it and using vinegar and all this little ticky tacky crap.  This weekend I decided I would just wipe it and the heat would kill anything on it, 400 degrees is pretty hot.  For Friday night, I bought some cheap technically flatbread pizzas at Walmart, I don't ever shop at Walmart, but they have had some of my doomsday stuff, so I am becoming more open minded about them.  I figured the pizzas were cheap and if they didn't work out, it wouldn't be a big loss.  Originally I was thinking of making my own dough and all that stuff.  Wife convinced me not to kill myself and just try it on some Papa Murphy's pizzas that are already prepared.  I thought this would be an even cheaper option.  We did talk about going out to eat, we were going to go to Carraba's Italian Restaurant, but the traffic congestion just sucks the energy out of me.  Baby A was also rundown from the Thursday night game, so we stayed in.  We made some spaghetti with shrimp inside, incase the pizzas didn't work out and then I grilled the pizzas.  I will admit it requires a learning curve.  The instructions said cook 13-15 minutes at 350.  The grill was at 400, and when I went to check on it about 8 minutes in, the bottom was completely charred and burned to the stone.  I used the Blackstone metal spatulas, which work perfectly for this, and scraped them off, without damaging the pizza.  I still found the pizza to be great, even burned like it was.  Baby A complained, but ate as much as I did.  I burned the other two pizzas less and less and even Wife enjoyed them to the point of suggesting we do it again on Saturday.

    I went got a couple of round pizzas Saturday morning, along with some more of the flatbread pizzas, this time from HEB.  I am still "burning" the bottoms too much, maybe I need to bring the temperature down, but about 4-5 minutes is working pretty good.  With the thicker pizzas I then put them on the top rack to give them more time for the cheese and stuff to melt and really heat up without burning the bread completely.  As good as these have been, I can only imagine they will get better with better quality pizzas, which I will be buying next time we do this.  I totally recommend buying one of these stones.  By stone, they mean a ceramic plate about a quarter inch thick.  I am sure a big brick or other thing that will absorb heat like that would work, but it places that heat right into the bread and does something different that the oven just doesn't do.

10/9/21 Buying Into The Doomsday Prepper Idea?

    I have found a new thing to focus my OCD on and that is preparing for another stretch of bad time.  I suddenly find my Youtube inundated with different "doomsday preppers", I guess I started seeing a few videos and now I am hooked on the idea.  This idea has become more relative and realistic since the Covid-19 crisis that saw our schools shutting down for the first time ever, keeping us at home for longer periods of time and then the freeze which was a first for many of us ever that did actually keep us locked in our homes for almost a full week.

    With these two big lifechanging events in our rearview we can't be dense and just say they were once in a lifetime occurrences.  Like I told my family, we are not poor, we can afford to buy some things in case SHTF (shit hits the fan) and not be caught waiting for the government to put things back in order.  My family, for example back home was without power for more than four days, the first time that happens is a big surprise and the fault of outside forces, but if it happens again, then I have to conclude it is partially your fault, you had time to prepare between incidents.  No one can predict what will happen tomorrow, but what if we have another freeze like we did in January?  Hopefully, people have done some preparations.

    I had mentioned earlier in the year that I bought a generator which is my back-up power to keep my freezers from becoming useless with all of our food, then bought an A/C to run off the generator, when talks of rolling blackouts started.  Although that never materialized, I want to say we would have been prepared.  Now that we are approaching "winter", not that it gets real cold here, we have been warned that we might get another cold snap, so I have now bought some portable heaters that can run off propane tanks and are approved for indoor use.  This, along with some candles, batteries, flashlights, lanterns that run on oil (approved for burning indoors) started my preparations.  I don't see why everyone shouldn't have these things in their house anyway.

    Yesterday, I went and cleaned out the smallest closet in the house and bought a rack that fit perfectly.  This will be where I stock food and other emergency supplies.  Until yesterday, we had two big packs of toilet paper, for example, just on the floor outside our bedroom, I went ahead and added two more of these 48 rolls per pack to the basket, so now we have close to 200 rolls of toilet paper, which should last awhile even if we stop buying it because stores run out.  I had been leaving the big cases of water bottles by the entrance, now I have a rack and can start actually stocking it as an emergency, not just so the boys can take some on the way out the door.  My newest idea is to start getting a water service going, like Culligan water, that drops off bottles of water at the house, so if our water from the tap becomes contaminated, as it did during the freeze, we have back-up water in the form of those 5 gallon bottles.  Water, food, and power are the big three to survive, and at this point I need to start focusing on stocking more food that will keep on the shelves for longer periods of time.  I bought some bins which I will fill with beans and rice, which all the preppers seem to recommend, I also like peanut butter and that keeps for a long time too.

    There is an unlimited amount of preparation one can make and I don't want to go crazy, I mean we can plan for a week or maybe even two, but if the government really collapses, then that is another game plan altogether, and being overly prepared in a big city might just make you a target, so there is that to worry about (this is where the guns might unfortunately come in handy).  In that case, Mom, make some space because we would be scampering down to the small city.  All the doomsday folks do seem to say over and over that the only way to survive long term is to have alliances with people you can trust, and I don't know how long that would work here.  The reality is you can tell people over and over and most won't even listen and buy an extra can of peanut butter for storage, so preparation is being done by too few people, in my opinion.

10/8/21 Waited A Year For This One?

     This was the team they fell 6 inches short of scoring a year ago for the win, and revenge was not as sweet as you would think, but a win's a win.  I hate to harp on it, but last year the Coogs had plenty of chances to pull out a win as time expired, including a 4th and about 6 inches as time expired and they could not get in the end zone.  In a way, the same thing happened to the other team, Northeast last night towards the end of the game.

    I guess I should back up, they had a Thursday game this week.  It was frustrating because Baby A had gone to bed Wednesday night with high hopes of demolishing this team, I got home from work as he was already in bed, so I poked my head in to ask him how his day was and he was already in bed but excited saying that they had seen game film from the other team and felt very confidant that they were going to win.  I said good but you still have to perform, nothing is ever given to you.  The morning was then fun in that he decided to get in the Homecoming spirit and took his varsity jacket to wear for spirit color day, the first time he officially wore his jacket that he got at the end of last year.  He had even asked us if he could miss his History class to go to the Pep Rally.  Because he takes college classes, he has not been able to attend any of the pep rallies but I told Wife "come on, we should let him go, he's still a kid and with these college classes, he is going through high school acting like a damned grown up all the time!"  Wife agreed and he went, only to find he did not like it because it was held outside and there was no microphone so they couldn't hear anything, but still, he was part of it.

    The game itself was sloppy in the first half, penalty after penalty the whole first half.  They could not get out of their own way, any positive play was negated by a holding call or an offsides call, it was downright annoying.  One way or another, they managed two beautiful bombs in the 2nd quarter that got them two touchdowns, so at the half, the score was 13-13, both teams missed their 2nd extra point attempt.  The other team did not look like much, they were down to less than 30 players on the sideline.  When their team was on the field, there were less than 20 other guys on the sideline.  Still, they played as strong as they could, and they did move the ball on a couple of occasions all the way into the end zone in the first half.

    The Coogs must have made some half time adjustments, they came out playing much better, it is also possible the other team just got tired because after the half, both their demeanors changed.  The Coogs went most of the 3rd quarter without a penalty and the Raiders couldn't stop committing stupid penalties that hurt them like jumping offsides and moving before the ball is snapped.  Our boys managed a beautiful drive in the 4th quarter, and managed to produce a score, even taking a couple chances on 4th down and going for it.  They went for it after the touchdown and even scored a 2pt conversion to make the score 21-13.  They then kicked the ball and the Raiders went to work with about 9 minutes.  They were very efficient or the Coogs were playing very conservative because they quickly moved the ball all the way inside the 20 yard line.  Then their problems started, with multiple false starts from the line, including a critical one on 4th and inches, they got a false start and were moved back 5 yards, making it 4th down and 6 instead from the 4 yard line back to the 9 yard line or so.  They went for a pass in the end zone and luckily, one of our boys intercepted the ball, so we got the ball back at the 20 yard line, with about 7:25 left.  This reminded me a little too much of last week when we looked at the time and then the other team scored 20 points in 6 minutes.  This time, the Coogs kept the ball on the ground and as Baby A said, they kept running off his side, and he kept opening the hole so the runner could get the yardage to keep making first downs, I love Mijo's cockiness sometimes.  It got a little nervous after a huge penalty that negated a long 11 yard run back with a holding call, so the ball went from the like 29 yard line back to the 50, but at this point there was only a minute and 20 seconds or so and it was 2nd down and the other team ran out of timeouts, so we were able to just run the clock out.

    It was awesome watching the boys finally celebrate like they did, dancing and hugging on the field.  Mijo said they sang on the bus the whole way back to campus.  He said he was most surprised that most of the kids don't know Queen.  Someone put "We Are The Champions" which everybody loves for the chorus but before the song gets there, people were like "what is this? and "turn this shit off!"  He even said the coaches taught them an old school chant and they were dancing to that, this boy never shows us his goofy side, and there he was doing a little dance, it was nice to see him happy.

    His shoulder is almost healed, I think, he said it doesn't hurt anymore, but he did manage to rip a third of a nail off, so the finger looks all raw and painful.  He said his finger must have got caught in a jersey during practice and he tried to fix it, but it got snagged on a player during the game and there was even blood on it, it looked like it hurt and he did say it was tender.  Mijo is certainly playing harder this year and the little injuries are piling on, he also had a little area near his palm where the skin was peeled off and he had a sort of raspberry burn where the skin looks tender.  I guess those are all part of the game.

10/7/21 We Need Longer Days?

     I hate the false lives people in movies lead.  Any movie dealing with kids playing football shows them on any given day hanging out with friends, working a side job, hanging out at the beach, or any other assorted extracurricular activity other than football.  That is just false, when you play football, you belong to the coaches and that life.  I don't feel we have had a break since the summer when Baby A started working out seriously for this season.  I am proud of what he has done and he has transformed himself into this strong animal that is a lot different than the baby faced 8th grader I saw in an old picture from just a few years ago.  But still, there is no real downtime for him on any given week and being that we are very involved in his life, that means we are at his beck and call, so we don't have much time for anything else.

    School goes on all day from 8:30am when I drop him off until 5:00pm.  From this point, they have practice until the sun goes down pretty much.  I got out of work early Monday or Tuesday and was thinking we could go have dinner but by the time we got to practice and they got out, it was already closer to 8:00pm.  All we managed was picking up some subs and going home to eat in front of the TV.  By the time we get home, and eat, it is already getting close to 9:00pm and Wife starts thinking about going to bed.  This is pretty much our routine all week long.  Games on Friday finish around 10:30pm but by the time they get back to school and drop off their gear, it is good if we are home before midnight.  This is okay, I guess when games are on Friday, but this week they play on Thursday, so it is going to be rough for Wife, she still has to get up around 5:00am to leave for work by 6:00am.  Next week is a bye week, meaning no game, and at least the coach has told them they will have a couple days off, so that's something to look forward to.  Most Saturdays though, are controlled by the morning game film study, which they do take seriously and goes for at least two hours from 10:00am to noon or so.

    We are past the halfway point of the season, so at least we know it is coming to an end soon, and with Mijo having gotten injured and still not 100%, I will be glad when it ends, but the wrestling season has already been posted and it starts in November 17.  Since the last football game on the schedule is November 5, there is only one full week off in between and it will probably be when they start intensive wrestling training.  Well, the wrestling season goes until February, maybe we can relax then, unless he goes out for track and field.  Busy busy busy, and we are along for the ride.

10/6/21 Is This Ridiculous Housing Market Cooling?

     I moved to Austin in 1991 for school, go Longhorns, and decided to stay here when I finished in 1994.  Wife then joined me and we started our life, from the bottom, with a Boy on the way, living on food stamps and the usual government help, we got started not knowing where we were headed, but optimistically.  Thirty years later, I think we have done alright, moving from our first house to this one in 2007, we have seen Austin go through many changes and I can't say I am happy about it all.

    When we were new here, it was all exciting and felt like an adventure every day.  I always thought of the malls as these magical places since we grew up in a small town and only got to go to a mall maybe twice a year, for school clothes and maybe some Christmas shopping.  Back then, there were at least 4 malls, each with its own flavor, now we are down to two, if you count Lakeline Mall in Cedar Park, but it is pretty much a clone of Barton, with all the same stores, so I count it as one mall.  The excitement to go out for a walk in the middle of the week kind of fizzled out from that activity, then because of the population expansion, going downtown turned into an exercise in determination, only to have to witness homelessness and beggars, something I don't care for.

    All this aside, in the past couple of years, we hear something like 150 new people are moving into the area which caused the housing market to explode and prices just about doubled in a year's time.  We bought our house for $340,000 in 2007.  According to Zillow, during the height, the valuation was above $800,000.  This sounded crazy, and did make me think it would be awesome to sell and keep half that money as profit, but then what?  Where would we live?  I am almost glad to see prices coming down to a more realistic value, now our house is saying the value is more between $690,00 and $720,000.  Still crazy expensive, but the number doesn't sound as scary.  We have been here almost 15 years.

    I saw some Youtube videos talking about Austin is fixing to have a market crash, the prices can't be sustained and people are pulling back.  I hope this is true in that I want Boy to able to afford a house close to us, if we are going to stay here.  I have been thinking maybe we should just leave entirely, but I do like my job and the question would still be "where do we go?"  I want to be by water, but just about all the lakes within 100 miles are now pricing their waterfront properties over a million bucks, so that sounds impossible.  The reality with both my boys anchored here, we are stuck here as well.  I don't think we are going to voluntarily move far away from them.  I need Austin to go back to what it was about twenty years ago, have about half the people move away so the highways aren't always so clogged.

10/5/21 Worry About You and Yours?

     We are all stuck on this beautiful planet, for now, and so we must make the best (or worst) of it while we can.  Some people prosper and some people shine, others falter and some just whine, but either way, time marches on and what you do and where you are define you.  I don't deny that some seem to have a much greater head start and thus life seems gifted for them.  We don't all get the same treatment and for some, life is a definite challenge.

    I think, for the most part, we here in the US start in the middle, we at least have food, clothing, shelter and opportunity.  We might not all be born rich and pampered but we do all have a chance to get there, and that should be what matters.    I see my family as a system or a tree moving up and things getting better with every generation.  I believe my parents had a better life than their parents, and I think we are lucky to be doing better than our parents.  My whole goal so far has been to have my boys set up and doing better than us.  Maybe there is a plateau, I am not sure, but Boy is at least where we are right now.  He will have his degree by the end of they year, and already has a promising job with a huge company where he will probably surpass me in pay and responsibilities in a short while.  I am excited to see him move up.

    I then see other people, like on TikTok completely failing at life by taking these stands that make no sense.  I saw this 27 year old girl (guy? trans?) whose mom has had enough and wants her out of the house because she doesn't work or do anything productive.  I say do what you want, if you want to identify as a bird, great, but figure out a means to support yourself before you start proclaiming out of the box stuff.  It is great to sit in your parent's house with your green hair and 20 piercings on your face, but the outside world isn't going to be as accommodating.  But if you can find a way to make that work, and some people do, then fine, go for it and live your best life.

    I see a lot of these social justice warrior types that can barely stand on their own feet, but somehow have the energy to stand up and fight for other people, why?  What do you gain out of going out on the street and supporting other people when you can't pay your light bill or rent?  My suggestion is stop the dreaming and focus on you.  Figure out how much you need to survive with a roof over your head and then find a way to get to that target.  If you still have energy to fight for other people after you've worked your 40-60 hours a week, then more power to you.

10/4/21 October Is Spooky Movie Time?

     I do not like scary movies, never really have, but since we are introducing Baby A to movies from our time and I don't want him to be a dunce when it comes to catchphrases and things people say, I am willing to sit through some personally uncomfortable movies so he gets his "education."  We did our usual grilling on the weekend thing and after taking him to his Saturday game review at 10am-noon, we just stayed home and took it real easy.  So easy in fact that we napped a good part of the day, but that's ok, for once in a while, we didn't have anything to do.

    I fired up the grill around 5:00pm, Wife wanted to try something different, so we grilled two whole chickens split in half and kind of smoked them for 2.5 hours or so.  We also added some steaks and sausages, so dinner was good.  While we ate, we watched the Goldbergs, a show in its ninth season which we do enjoy but the episodes are always sappy and leave you crying at the end.  This episode was about the passing of the grandfather, actor George Segal passed in real life, so they added the storyline into the show, man was it a tearjerker.

    Afterwards, I wanted something totally different, so I suggested a movie since it was still early.  Because it is October, the movie lists on most of the apps are loaded with scary movies so we had talked about seeing something from that genre.  Mijo had not seen any of the classics and as much as I didn't want to, we sat through and watched Nightmare on Elm Street.  Of the scary movies, this is the more campy one to me.  Freddie does kill a few teens, but he is almost goofy and comical, even in the first one, which I didn't think the movie meant to do it.  Robert Englund then spent the rest of his life in the role, enjoying the campiness, so it is not a movie that "scares" me afterwards.  The acting is bad all around, but it does show a very young Johnny Depp, probably as a teenager in real life.  The premise is of course a murderer that kills you in your dreams.  The murders do happen on Elm Street which is maybe how Freddie chose his victims, but he kills all over eventually, even in the local jail downtown, so I am not sure how or why that works.  Everyone does need to sleep eventually, so the idea is that everyone can meet the same fate, as Freddie can come find you in your dreams.

    Again, I love watching the movies with our son because he is so pragmatic, he sits there yelling at the screen when the teens start going down the stairs into basements in the dark, or finding stupid ways to make themselves easier victims.  He did jump in his seat once or twice, so it did at least startle him a little bit.  He said the movie was good, but it was the only one we watched.  I am thinking we will work our way up to Friday the 13th next time.  This did bring out Boy who brought us his collection of DVDs, he ordered a Blue Ray set that has about ten of these classic teen slashers, so I guess we did an okay job with him in that he appreciates the older movies.  It was funny that the younger child actually said "I don't want to watch a movie from a disk, they are all online."  How things have changed in such a short time.

10/3/21 Get Some Class, People?

     I love my son's team, they are not the best but they try hard and they aren't out there trying to hurt anybody.  Last night though, I was not impressed by the caliber of people sitting around me.  In one play, after it had started raining, Baby A, who plays center had a bad snap and the crowd reacted all around us, negatively.  He has only been playing center since the start of this season, he didn't know he could even adjust the ball when he comes up and lines up to it until after the first scrimmage.  The field was wet and that affects everything, specially when you're grabbing and throwing on the field.  He was also back after missing two games and was heavily wrapped around on his left shoulder, he is right handed, at least.  Considering all that, I thought it was great that he only had the one bad snap, and after four games, it is the only bad snap that the QB has not been able to handle.

    This was my biggest fear, other than Mijo getting hurt, him being directly responsible for a loss of the ball and he owned it.  Ughh, the feeling of not having control of the moment.  They lost the ball, the coach yelled at him on the sideline to go and practice some snaps, and the stupid parents yelling "come on center!"  and "Get it together #50".  We sit about as close to the center of the stands as possible, I always want to be between the 45 and 50 yard lines, we sit a few rows up and we both wear shirts indicating #50 is ours.  It only took a second or two then the knuckle draggers must have noticed the shirt on Wife has a big 50 on the back so it quickly silenced, but I was still pissed and felt responsible because that is what responsible people do.  

    It is times like these that make a person who they become.  For Mijo, he was tested and luckily, he didn't have any more bad snaps.  With the game on the line, the coaches having yelled at him, and him having had an injury, he could have shrunk from the moment and faked injury, he could have kept making more mistakes and causing another loss of the ball or worse, points on the board.  Instead, he held his head up high and played to the best of his ability.  I might have not relaxed until the final play when I was sure he wouldn't cause another fumble.  For him, he said the fumble got him out of his head.  Before it, he said he was in a thought triangle of make the block, make a good snap, and run the play (whether to pull or block the man in front), he had only practiced one day that week, so he was rusty, but like the excellent human he is, he rose to the occasion.  I walked off the field proud as hell of him, win or lose, he played like a person who won't let a setback derail him.

    I can only hope those parents can learn a thing or two from him.  Life is not measured by the mistakes that happen along the way, but in how we handle those mishaps.  Do I wish our boys could win every game?  Will me yelling "(random player's number) play better!!" change anything?  No.  These are kids, they may look like men, the coach may even want them in dress clothes and ties the day of games so they look and act like grownups, but they are still kids and this is something that should be fun for them.  It sucked to hear Mijo say he had more fun in the last game he played because he didn't make mistakes (bad snap) than this one even though they won this one.

10/2/21 By The Chin Of Their Chinny Chin Chin?

     This game was not supposed to be as close as it was.  Crockett finally won one 41-35, and up until 7:50 seconds in the 4th quarter, the game was under control.  The Coogs offense played as well as they could, putting up those 41 points in mostly flawless drives, with both passing efficiency and control of the running game.  They looked like a totally different team, and until the 4th quarter, the defense was matching them well enough.

    Their starting QB was injured in the 2nd quarter and for a second I thought, well, it should get easier now.  To add to that, it started misting that gradually turned to rain (on a side note, stupid weather forecasters had 80-100% chance of rain all week, but changed it to 5% chance of rain before game time so I didn't bother packing rain gear) by halftime and it just made sense the game would become a blowout.  Their back-up QB needs to be their starter, he is a tiny guy, for a QB, looked like he might barely weigh 100 pounds, but he could throw the ball.  He wasn't a fast runner, but he seemed to know what he was doing.  Before the half, he led them on a long drive with a couple of beautiful long passes, they scored with 3 minutes left, we got the ball back and scored in two plays, so they got the ball back with 2:40 seconds and they managed to score again before the half.  The really sucked after them not doing much the rest of the half, but we were up 21-14.

    After the half, it stopped raining hard but the field was wet, Baby A had one bad snap (I will share that bullshit in the next blog), the Coogs lost the ball, but gained it back on some really good defense, that lasted until the 4th quarter.  Our boys scored again and again, with ease.  By the start of the 4th quarter, the score was still 35-20.  It looked like it was safe to relax, but of course, one can't when competing.  On a beautiful run of 40 yards into the end zone, the runner decided it was a good idea to taunt the defenders, he got an unsportsmanlike penalty, the touchdown was taken back and the coaches pulled him from the game.  That was just stupid, play with some class, it might be your first win, no reason to be an ass.  After that score (they came back and scored a minute later) Wife did a "whew, 7:50 left, this was a good game, Mijo will be happy they won..." something like that, I told her the game ain't over, don't start celebrating.  Like clockwork, the wheels came off the bus.

    Within 20 seconds of the clock counting down, with a score of 41-20, the Vikings scored on a long bomb, they didn't get the extra kick, so they would still need to score 3 times or get a 2 point conversion.  They did a BS onside kick, it bounced around and they got the ball back.  They then took two minutes to drive the field and scored again, making the score 35-41.  It gets confusing in my head, but there were 2 back to back on-sides kicks and they lost both of them.  When there was less than a minute, they tried a third on-sides kick, but it only went like 6 yards and officially it needs to travel ten yards for the other team to claim it.  We got the ball back and they were finally able to close the game out.  It was very stressful, but I guess a win's a win.

10/1/21 One Problem After Another?

     I am not complaining, but man, when do I get some free time?  I didn't have anything planned this week, after the busy mess of last week with Covid-19 shots and all the other stuff that keeps us busy, but again, this week passed by in a flash and I barely had time to sit down, it seemed.  This morning I overslept because I thought I was on the weekend last night and styed up a little late looking at some pizza stones to cook pizzas on my pellet grill, I did order one, it should be here tomorrow, I ordered it after midnight or it might have arrived today.  Anyways, Wife called me at 6:45am and woke me.  I thought she was just being the usual pain in the ass that she is and was making sure I woke Baby A, but she told me that the car was giving her a low tire warning.  This got me quite concerned because by then she was too far for me to go and do anything about it, she was almost an hour away.  It was still before 7:00am and the best I could tell her was that Discount Tire opens at 8:00am.  I stayed by the phone and she called to say that the first Discount Tire she passed after the warning came on was in Selma, which is right outside San Antonio but because of low staff count, they wouldn't open until 10:00am.  She looked at the tires and kept on going, none of them were visibly flat.  She finally made it to Military Drive, by her work, where she gets off I-35 and that Discount Tire was fixing to open.  Turns out she just had low tires all around, maybe from the change in weather, but what a pain in the ass thing to be concerned about.

    I then had to go to Target and get granola bar snacks because we signed up to bring them for the team tonight.  I was at Target and really forgot I also had Fox coming back to look at our downstairs A/C unit this time.  I got home with the snacks and some for us and put everything away.  It all worked out good, the guy called while I was loading the washer that he was headed this way.  I have now had this guy over so many times, I am thinking about just giving him the door code, it would be easier, maybe let him have one of the guest rooms since he is here so much.  He worked on the unit for about an hour and determined that the float switches that are supposed to tell the unit to shut off when there is backed up water in the lines were wired incorrectly.  He rewired and tested the system and I think it is now good.  The last repair, actually adding of an extra component (a sensor that reads the temperature inside the unit because the tool also has a dehumidifier component separate from the air condition part) seems to have fixed the unit upstairs that kept freezing.

    All in all, I guess it's good that I am around during the day to deal with all this crap, but man, if it's not one thing it is always another.  I still have to wait around until 3:00pm to take the snacks to the school, but I guess I can nap around that.