3/31/22 Should Mijo Try To Play Football In College?

     He is still in his junior year in high school, but time passes by fast, and honestly, these boys are already having talks amongst themselves whether they are going to try and play once they graduate.  We gave one of his friends a ride home but stopped to eat a light dinner yesterday, and the conversation centered around their future.  This kid could possibly play at the next level, be it a division 2 or 3 school, but it is possible.  He is about 6ft 2in and Baby A says he is pretty good.  Mijo is a solid lineman, has been selected twice to the 2nd team all-district team, so he is at least a bit above average.  If he has a weakness, it is his height, he is still scratching at 5ft 9in or so.  He has a heck of a squat, near 600 pounds, but he says every time he lifts heavy, he feels like his spine contracts, and he gets shorter, his bench is solid above 300 pounds.

    He has started to get letters from coaches, the latest from the coach at Southwestern University, which I like because it is in Georgetown, and we drove by the campus on our way to a wrestling meet and it is such a beautiful city and campus.  Wife has mentioned other coaches have sent her inquiries, and she has been trying to highlight him thru Twitter, where a lot of the coaches are present.  He was told by his head football coach to make a twitter and act responsibly on it, that the college coaches are looking at you, not just the highlights, but also that you aren't acting a fool, not that it would be a problem for our boy, who has always acted like an old man in a kid's body.

    The pros of playing would have to include some financial support, plus the structure that he is used to.  I think you need something to keep you disciplined and I worry that without sports, he would find other ways to fill his time, drinking and partying worry me, because he is bound to be exposed to it soon enough.  Since 7th grade, he has been almost solely focused on being an athlete, he loves working out, he really watches what he eats, and if he were to be done with that part of his life, would he just get lazy and out of shape?  The cons are that he could get injured, I am sure the game is played much faster and more aggressively, even at a division 2 or 3.  Plus, it is pretty much a job, if he has a scholarship, the coaches are going to want all your free time, so he will never be allowed to just explore and grow on his own.

    I guess the choice comes down to him.  We are not trying to push him either way, but we do want him to know we support whatever he decides to do.

3/30/22 A Little Over A Week Into Our Diet?

     We started a new round of Keto/Atkins last week, on Monday and we are already seeing positive things, as far as dieting goes.  I have lost about 12 pounds, sounds great, but when you weigh 400 pounds, it is not that big a loss, still, I know the formula works.  Honestly, there was no reason to wait so long, it is not that hard being on this diet, once we get into it.  What is the gain in eating so much sweet bread, it is what everyone says the worst thing for a body?

    I have found my little ways of surviving my sweet tooth cravings.  In the morning, after I drop off Baby A, I like to drink a cup of coffee but instead of looking for a piece of cake or other sweet junk food, I am making toast with the low carb bread I found at HEB and putting some peanut butter and low carb jelly.  This gets me through my workouts which I have started lifting again, I managed to get our weight room functioning again by removing the dresser which should have been upstairs in Boy's room all along.  This gives me room to keep the treadmill in there but against the wall, instead of in the middle of the room.  The room feels much more inviting and having a TV with Youtube is almost like sitting at the table and killing time looking at videos, except I fit in some reps.

    Since I do most of the food shopping, there is no excuse why junk food would make it into the house, I won't buy it like Wife would and they innocently say "well, I don't eat it."  I can be fine without eating the junk food if it is not at home, once it is there, I feel like it is my job to eat it before it goes bad.

    The weekend was a little rough, Baby A had friends over and we got them pizza, which we had been eating most every weekend, but Wife opted for wings for us when she ordered them pizza, so it was ok.  I tried making one of those Keto cakes on Sunday, but we always seem to forget how badly those can attack back.  More than half of it is still sitting there.  It tastes fine for a few minutes, but just know, it will not be in your stomach quietly for long.  It always makes me gassy, and I end up having to go to the bathroom more than the usual once a day, certainly not good times.

    Now that we got past the first rough week, I feel that it will only get easier, provided Wife can keep it up.  There is a limited choice of food we can eat, and I don't mind eating the same thing, but I know she likes more variety.  Oh well, let's see if we can make this time out a more permanent situation.

3/29/2022 Need To Get Rid Of Our Ford Escape?

     I hate to say it, but we need to get rid of our little 2013 Ford Escape which we bought about a year ago.  It has been a great little car; I have enjoyed driving it and the ease of parking and getting around town has been eye opening, but sometimes problems arise, and it is best to walk away.  A couple weeks ago while leaving Burger Stadium, the steering wheel got stiff on me and kind of locked up.  It was a weird feeling, and I don't know if I turned it off or it shut off, but I sat there a few seconds worried it was a huge problem, but then turned it on and it was like a fluke.  The car seemed to be okay, and we drove off with no subsequent problems.  Well, Wife has been driving it the last two weeks and she described the same thing happened to her yesterday.  She said she too was backing up and turning the wheel and it locked up and gave her the same steering fault error or something like that.  She also turned off the car and then turned it on again and the problem kind of disappeared.  My thought originally was that I had put too much weight on the steering wheel, being a fat ass, maybe I had leaned on it too much getting on the car, which is the reason I hadn't worried too much.  Wife is not aggressive like I am with the car, she just drives and acts like a human, I am more of the oversized gorilla trying to get in the driver's seat.

    If there were a fix for this, fine I would pay and be content the issue was solved, but I looked online and did not really find what I was looking for.  The issue exists and many other people are experiencing it, but Ford seems to be hesitant to take ownership of the problem.  I saw where the steering column has been replaced on a few customers, only to have the problem come back.  I wouldn't mind paying the $2000, but I can't have a car where the issue might still come back.  I can't, in good conscience give it to Baby A, who was going to take the car as his, whenever he starts driving.  

    This is where the dilemma exists.  Do I replace it with another small car/SUV, which Wife can keep alternating as a daily driver to keep the miles low on the Telluride, do I go ahead and buy a truck, something I have been wanting now for a few years, or do we get something Mijo can call his?  That boy is kind of conservative and keeps simply saying he wants an Edge, like his brother's.  It's a decent vehicle, but I certainly wouldn't call it a cool kid's car.  Still, that may be the best thing, except it seems highly suspicious to go and say I want to trade in a fully paid off small SUV for another small SUV.  I don't know, maybe we should just bite the bullet and buy an electric car, something we were talking about last weekend.  All I know is that I feel we have to do something pretty quick.

3/28/22 Mixed Feelings On The Omega Swatch Collaboration?

     Omega is one of the upper end watch-making companies, with their Speedmaster being their top brand name, since it is the watch worn by astronauts when they went to the moon.  As a matter of fact, we just celebrated the 50th year of that achievement (1969), which I only know because there is now a 50th anniversary Speedmaster in gold with black onyx stone hour markers, truly a watch I wouldn't owning at some point in my life.

    Anyways, that is the grandeur that is Omega, Swatch, on the other hand, makes plastic watches for teenagers, and there was a time back when I was in high school that I might have wanted and even had one of their "toy watches", they do not belong in the same sentence.  Omega watches start around $5000, while Swatch watches start under $100.  It turns out, Swatch is a bigger company, and they own Omega, so a collaboration was born and now a new line of watches is being introduced, just this past weekend.  The new line is basically a clone Speedmaster, in one of 11 colors, representing the nine planets, sun and the moon.

    I don't want to like them, because I feel they are just a rip off of the Omega watch and to me, people that buy these types of watches have worked hard and become a certain level of successful in their lives, but looking at the different colors mixed in, I also can't help but really feel like I need to get at least a couple.  It is a little shocking to me that they released these watches at a very decent price of $260.  I don't know if regular people will be able to buy them at that price, but that is what they are advertising at the moment.  They have also clarified that the price will not go up and that they will eventually offer them at more than the Swatch stores, which currently is the only place one can buy one (well, two is what they are limiting people to buy per visit).

    I love a color that pops and the one for the sun called "Mission to the Sun" is yellow colored, which really looks shiny and fun.  There is a pink one for Venus, Earth's is green and blue, Mars has a red representative, and so forth.  They are made of a ceramic plastic composite, so they are not really metal, but from the images, they still look pretty great.  They are also keeping the dimensions in line with the original Speedmaster at 42mm.

3/27/2022 Finally Moved Baby A To His New Room?

     Well, it took a minute, but I think we finally got Boy's room clean enough to call it done and have Baby A move his TV and clothes over.  I did not expect it would be this much work, but there was a lot to go through and there are still things waiting for Boy to take to his place.  for now, Baby A is keeping the furniture that was meant for Boy, he chose to leave it, maybe if he ever gets a house, he'll want it for a secondary bedroom, I don't know.  I was a bit surprised that the younger one wanted the bed, but it being a queen instead of a king means he would have more room freed up.  Technically, a twin would be good enough for a single boy, these boys have gotten bigger beds because they were ours first.  Plus, the rooms in this house are huge, so a king fits in most rooms.

    It took me a good 6-7 different fill-ups and draining of the steam cleaner to get from one end to the other, and although the carpet still has stains, I feel at least it was much cleaner.  I almost had to laugh, Mijo was breaking in the room with his boys coming over for a sleepover and one of them knocked over a can of Dr. Pepper, fucking awesome, made it half a night before it got new stains.  The lay out is much more open than what he had in the other room.  The room is longer than it is square, so the bed sits over by the windows, then there is still room at the foot of the bed to have a sofa and the TV hanging with the floor open.  Technically, he has enough open space to lay out his wrestling mats between the sofa and the wall where we hung the TV, a good 8ftx8ft space, apart from where the bed is.  I sat in there when his friends first arrived, we had been doing last minute moving of the TV and video game shelf thing.  The room felt cozy, Boy couldn't even keep the sofa clean to sit on it.  We took everything off, and even vacuumed it and suddenly it didn't look that bad, at least to use for a while.

    For his first official night, he had five boys over.  Half of them were his original boys from 2nd grade.  The other boys were newer friends, but I've gotten used to them, two of the newer ones are from the wrestling team, and of course, he said they were wrestling all night.  One of them even brought his wrestling shoes, that is how dedicated he is to the sport.  I think they like wrestling with our big boy because he'll throw them around but not in an attempt to hurt them.  I mean a kid weighing 160 is not going to be a challenge to a heavy weighing 245.  Mijo lets them do their best until he tires of them and then he pins them, or like he said yesterday he dropped one of them and he lost his breath for a second and he was done, but still talked shit.

    Now that he also has the bathroom next door, we couldn't even tell there were six boys in the house last night, shoot, Boy even left his small fridge, so they can keep sodas and other drinks up there and not have a need to come down.  We only saw them all when we went and got some pizzas for them, and they all came down to eat.  Right now, it seems perfect, he has a rather empty dresser and a space for all his things, one drawer for socks, underwear, shirts, shorts, and even space for his warm-ups.  He then has a mostly empty closet to hang his couple of pants and his dress shirts.  The thing taking up the most space is the hoodies, of which I counted around 20, not including the ones that stayed hanging on the hooks behind the door.

    Of course, I miss my older Boy being home, but it is nice having the house look cleaner, he was starting to fill other parts of the house with his clutter and need to be a packrat and a little weird.  I was able to take the dresser back to that room (he did not want the dresser in there, even though his clothes ended up all over the floor), which opened up the room downstairs, and now my weights and treadmill fit and don't seem crowded, which makes it more conducive for me to want to spend time in there and work out.

3/26/22 Rolex Is Turning Into A Trash Brand?

     I hate to say it, I love the watches, but these crap of only being able to find their watches in the secondary markets makes the regular person almost not want the hassle.  I don't know how true it is, but the idea that you have to become a favorable customer by buying a couple of other inferior watches is infuriating.  I mean I honestly wouldn't mind buying a couple of Panerai watches or Cartier watches to become a customer who gets preferential treatment, but there is only a certain amount of money I can dedicate to this hobby in a year.  I will eventually buy some of those watches, I have my eyes on some of them, but I won't be forced to do it just to please the masters running the store.

    The worst part is that criminal shitheads have figured out these watches are worth more sold used than new, so there seems to be an increase in being held up or watches getting stolen from good hard-working people.  This makes me want to wear the watches out every day even less, so then I have to think about "why do I want the watch in the first place?"  I think they are beautiful pieces of art, what makes humans the great animals that we are, in that we can piece together something so complex and have it come to life.  But I am not going to wear them just anywhere, seeing how easy an idiot with a gun can take them away.

    Some examples of watches being worth more on the used markets are the Oyster Perpetual 41, which is supposed to sell for about $6150.

Assholes have figured out some people will spend crazy money to get one of these, so on the secondary markets (don't want to say "used" because some are never even worn, per the description), the same watch will sell for $33,000 to $36,000.  There isn't even any gold on these particular watches, the only thing driving the price up is because "everyone wants one", and they can't be found at Rolex stores.

     I don't know how this problem can be solved.  Rolex is apparently making enough money to be happy, everything they make gets sold, and the people that flip them are happy to go in, buy as many watches as it takes, knowing they will make a tidy profit.  The ones that get screwed are the people that actually want to buy the nice watch for their personal collection.  I won't ever buy something this inflated in price.  But then again, that is why I am now looking at Omega and really considering Panerai as my next watch purchase, maybe in a few years, Rolex cools down as the hot brand.

3/25/22 Third Track Meet?

     I hate to say, but Baby A did not improve from the last track meet, and in fact, threw kind of horribly.  On the one hand, he says he doesn't care as much (wrestling is his true love), which is fine, but he won't be happy if he ends up as a JV thrower, they are taking the top three throwers for the district meet, and one of the sophomores is throwing at least as well as he did this last meet.

    If there is any silver lining, the coach says she has identified his problem.  There are different ways to throw the shotput.  The most basic way is to just go and stand there and chuck it without moving the feet too much.  Then there are two competing motions, the glide and the spin.  The glide is probably my choice if I had to direct him one way or the other.  You start at the opposite side of the approximately 7 foot ring facing away from the field, and in one swift motion, kick your weak leg back, glide to it with your body and then pivot your body through and release the shotput from it's held position of your dominant hand and the shotput resting against your neck.  The third is closer to the rotation used by discus throwers and again you start at the farther end of the ring and in a series of spins develop as much energy and speed to release the shotput as you rotate.  This is much more complex, but when done right, looks absolutely beautiful and powerful at the same time.

    The problem for Mijo, as the coach has identified is that he is not using his lower body, he is just standing there and throwing close to thirty feet by just chucking it with his arms and shoulders.  This is a boy with a 600-pound squat, he should be employing his legs for strength.  She will be working on this with the team, so there is still hope.  I know he is as strong as most of the other team's throwers, he is just not doing the motions correctly.  I hope this does help (getting his lower body involved), because when he is barely getting to 30 feet, some of the better throwers are approaching 50 feet, and Mijo might not want to "care" about the sport as much, he is a competitor, he also doesn't want to suck just for the hell of it.

    The rest of the track meet was fine.  I love just hanging back and listening to them arguing about silly stuff and just carrying on.  The coach is also great, she just gets these boys.  Knowing they are eventually going to wrestle, she tells them just step away from the ring, go off to the side away from people, so we don't get embarrassed by other coaches.

3/24/22 Good Sign Your Kid Is Grown?

    I guess we have to admit Boy is now a grown man, last night was his birthday (writing this a day late) and it was the first time we were not a part of his day.  There have been times, of course, where we had to work or the birthday falls in the middle of the week and we make plans for the weekend, but last night was different.  Wife tried getting me excited about doing something for his birthday, and I just said, "he's doing his own thing, he's not even going to be here this weekend", he is off to Dallas to go hang out with friends.

    We managed to send him some texts in the morning, he eventually responded a couple hours later, it seems these past weeks have just gotten super busy for all of us.  Between dropping off Baby A and a friend of his at Burger Stadium for another all-day track meet, coming home, paying bills, then swinging back to go watch him perform, then going to eat with him and then heading to work, just doesn't leave any free time during the day.  Wife was just as busy, leaving the house at 6:00am, and not getting back until close to 6:30pm, we can't just stop our days and plan stuff.

    It does turn out Boy took the day off, which he really didn't say, and in another universe he might have taken the time and energy to run down and check on his brother at the track meet, but that has never been his style.  I mean he did say "I hate sports", so that excuses him from being a decent family member and attending any of his brother's activities.  But it was his birthday, and one should do what one wants.  He took the day off, I'm sure he slept in, then hung out with his girlfriend and some of their friends.

    We finally talked to him late in the day, I tried calling him as soon as I got off work and was driving home, but he did not respond.  Wife said she too had tried calling him, but also did not get a pick up.  He called us after I had gotten home, he said he had gone out to eat with friends and then went to the movies, which sounds like a nice day.  I don't think I have been to a movie theatre since before Covid at this point, but he has started going more often.  He specially likes the movie theatre at the Domain, which he likes to tell us he lives close to.

    At this point, I am just glad he has found people that make him happy and he has grown enough as a human to make his way out in the world.  We all want our babies to stay close to us, and I did enjoy all the hectic good times, but I think it is also good he can have a good to great time without us, it makes for a stronger person, I think.  Either way, Happy Birthday, Mijo, love you.

3/23/22 Starting Another Round Of Dieting?

     We've talked about it long enough, Wife and I are committed to getting back on track, as far as our diet goes.  We did really good two years ago when we were (well I was) scared we were going to die of Covid-19.  The news was saying it affected the fat and the old, I felt greatly exposed.  After a little panic attack and some crying, we got off our asses and we both lost a bunch of weight, I think I lost about 80 pounds, I was starting to feel way better and felt more mobile than I had in a long time.

    Then one thing after another kept happening and we never got our motivation back.  I wanted to take a week off during Christmas, so we could enjoy pies and cookies and all the rest.  It was going fine, then I did get Covid, so I figured might as well wait to start the diet since I was locked in my room and couldn't exercise.  That was followed by the snowstorm, then it seemed to be one small thing after another, before I knew it, half the year had passed and we kind of gave up, then we figured it was all BS about fat people automatically dying, as I had thought at first.  Another 10-15 pounds and I would have gained all the original weight back.

    I need to do something; I feel lethargic most of the time, I get winded very easily, and a few years ago I was walking four miles a day.  We are going to do Keto/Atkins, it has worked for us and seems to be the best course to go.  I have been lucky to not get labeled a diabetic yet, I know it'll happen at some point, but cutting out the carbs seems the safest route to go.  It seems really hard the first couple weeks, I was used to waking up with my cup of coffee and some form of pastry, it was getting bad, I was making trips to the pan dulce store just for myself.

    When we were in the middle of our low carb phase, it was really good.  I ate plenty of meat, then I started adding the vegetables that are ok to eat, like broccoli, cauliflower, and salads.  Once you get comfortable, you can even add berries, in small amounts, which I found blueberries amongst my favorite, as a snack.

    There are low carb ice creams to help you when withdrawing from sugar, and after a while, I found I didn't need them.  Right now, I am just mad we hadn't started earlier, we are in our second day, and mentally, I am excited.

3/22/22 Freak Storm?

     I know we were warned it was coming, but when it didn't arrive when it was expected, I thought it had missed us.  Of course, life is going to work where we just have to be out there when the worst part of the storm is bearing down on us.  Honestly, if this storm has shown up yesterday, we would all have been home, or we would at least have had the option to have stayed home.  Instead, there I was, leaving the comfort and safety of my work building because I had to go pick up my boy from school.  Normally, he stays until 6:00pm or so nowadays, because of track practice, but after school events were actually canceled in anticipation of the storm.

    I went and picked up Mijo maybe a few minutes after 5:00pm.  There was absolutely nothing interesting going on in the sky, other than some light grey clouds.  They certainly didn't look ominous or like we should take cover.  Baby A wanted food, so we went through the Bill Miller drive thru and I got a little wet with a light drizzle that had started by then.  we have a ton of work, so I decided I would head back to work without getting off at the house.  Mijo had his snack, and Mama was on the way home, she was somewhere stuck in traffic between Austin and San Antonio, but when I talked to her, she said the weather was 90 degrees and just hot.  This again made me think like the worst of whatever storm missed us.

    As I headed back to work and was stuck on Slaughter, there is always too much traffic heading to I-35, the weather finally turned.  It got windy, and the rain kicked up even before I made it to the frontage road.  I could feel the Telluride being pushed around by the wind.  When I was driving on the frontage, it is now really long, almost from Slaughter to William Cannon, before we can get on, the hail started and it hit so aggressively, the car said something about it detecting a crash.  I got a little worried it would shut off or something, but it just kept flashing weird lights and messages, which I couldn't really pay attention too as I could barely see.  There was a lot of hail, I'll wait until tomorrow to figure out if the car was damaged, it certainly got hit with a lot of small hail, nothing bigger than a dime, that I could tell.  I drove about 35 the whole way and was shocked to see morons with their cars just stopped on the driving lanes under some overpasses.  I am sure they caused an accident because cars were just acting like it was a parking lot, but not everybody was interested in stopping.  I continued, figuring if the hail is going to damage the car, it already did it, no point in stopping now.  As I got to work and pulled into our parking lot, it kind of stopped.  It was weird, but I was able to get off the car and walk in with just the lightest of drizzles.

    My mom called a good twenty minutes later to make sure we were okay.  There was news of a tornado touching down in Round Rock and Elgin, with some houses damaged, so I guess they got the worst of it.  I am writing this at roughly 11:35pm, and I can still hear rain coming in waves, being home, it sounds cool.  If I was driving, it would be annoying.

3/21/22 These Prices Suck?

     I planned to grill, like we normally do on Sundays.  At this point, I have my way of doing things, which means I go to the store before anyone else wakes up.  I normally don't mind, but today I really wanted to focus on steam cleaning the carpet after Wife got it in my head that I should do that.  I wasn't even thinking I needed to, but after hearing Wife mention it a few times and even saying I should buy a new steam cleaner, I went all in with her idea.  Thing is, I can only do one thing at a time, and since getting food matters the rest of the week, not just today, I decided to do this first.

    We are starting another round of Atkins/Keto on Monday, after gaining back most of the weight I had lost more than a year ago. I really want to do this; I hate that I start every morning now with a cup of coffee and an assortment of pastries, whether it be cookies, pan dulce, or some leftover cake/pie from the night before.  Saying that, I bought food that would fit that description, which did bring the price down because I didn't get any junk food, like bags of chips, and pastries, or ice cream.  My plan for dinner was simple, grill some burgers and sausages, and having Wife make some cauliflower salad for the side.

    All was well, until her brother called and asked if we wanted to join the family and eat with them at Cooper's BBQ in New Braunfels.  I am okay with this place, but I do feel that it is overpriced, and they did not disappoint in this regard.  The prices are easy enough to figure out, brisket, fully cooked is around $24.99 a pound, and I didn't even look at the other stuff.  I got about a pound and a half, but it was the fattier part of the brisket, and I don't really like this part, I prefer the leaner side.  Still, this was probably already $40.  Then Mijo wanted ribs, I said fine to half a rack, and of course we have to get some sausage and Wife wanted chicken.  The only sides we got was a single serving of macaroni and cheese for Mijo and green beans for Wife.  With the 3 drinks, our meal was over $100.  Wife paid, and I'm not even sure if a tip was added.  All restaurants are now asking for a tip on the receipt, even if we are standing up at the register and getting our own food and drinks.

    It was the same when we went and ate with my mom, the last few days.  Every meal is at least $60 for us, I am starting to dread going out.  At least we brought a little meat home, I saw Wife prepping her lunch for work tomorrow with the leftovers, so at least it is providing two meals for her at that price.

3/20/22 Being A Homeowner Is Honestly A Pain In The Ass?

     I don't think it is said enough, but owning your own home kind of sucks, on the downlow.  Nobody really talks about stuff like when the A/C goes out, we can't just call a landlord, we have to handle it ourselves, and who made us experts in any of this.  Over Spring Break, I fixed a lot more things than I realized needed my attention.  I guess none of the mini projects was an emergency, but they needed to be addressed.

    The caulk around the kitchen sink had been looking old and was cracked and missing in about a three-foot span or so.  I finally guessed on the grey color, and I got one that a bit darker than the original, but just looking smooth and new makes it look better overall.  It took me maybe an hour of scrubbing and removing the old one before I slid in a nice new line of the new caulk.

    Boy left the bathroom about as dirty as a tenant who owed money but decided to leave in the middle of the night.  The toilet had a ring around the bowl, the shower was all moldy and nasty, and even the sink was grimy, and it all needed to be scrubbed hard.  Luckily, I bought these brushes that attach to a drill and the y made the work a lot quicker to deal with.  Before getting down to scrubbing everything, I noticed the toilet top was removed, so I wondered what was going on, this is a bathroom I never even look in, it had been Boy's and his girlfriend's, so I didn't need to be looking in here.  Turns out the water was not running post flush, so I replaced the inside parts that takes in the water, I think it's called the float valve mechanism.  We basically gained a third bathroom by me going in there and doing what I did, so Baby A can stop using the one downstairs and instead he needs to get used to using that one, it is his now.

    I also got to replace the ice maker last week.  There is a branch I didn't get to that is scratching at the front of the house.  I only notice it when I am walking to the car and hear the light screech it makes.  I did also patch some small scrapes in Boy's room and a hole that I made while moving furniture a while back.  There is a never-ending list of things to do if we want to keep the house going at 100%.  I know at some time, I need to address the hot tub, the last time I tried to run it, the flow of water was barely there, even though the pump was fairly new.  I could live with the low flow, but the heater needs the water to be moving faster in order to stay on and heat the water.

    At some point, we will need to bite the bullet and replace the carpets, the ones we have just make the house look older.  I still want the look of wood, even after Boy tells me his apartment has wood floors and his feet hurt because the floor is now hard unlike carpet.

3/19/22 Curtains And A Steam Cleaner?

     We are still working on Boy's room, trying to get it cleaned up and handed off to Baby A.  By we, I mostly mean me, but I guess Wife and Baby A have walked through the room, looking over what I have done.  I have now been able to get from one end of the room to the other with the vacuum cleaner, so it is clean, but the closet still has some clothes and there is clutter I keep moving around because Boy has not come back to pick up more stuff.

    I did take the liberty to buy and hang some curtains in the room.  I have preferred the blackout type, which block out most of the light that gets through the blinds to help keep the room as dark as possible without resorting to putting aluminum foil over the windows.  I never understood why Boy would not let me hang curtains on the windows when it was his room, I am sure he would have liked the ability of the curtains, we all tend to enjoy sleeping in, since I was a night-shifter for so long and we enjoy staying up late whenever possible.

    I fought with the idea of buying a new steam cleaner, ours is at least 18 years old, I remember thinking it was doing a pretty good job on the carpets in our old house when we moved out and I hadn't replaced the carpets but got away with just cleaning them while we rented it.  I was hesitant because my preference would be to spend the money to get a new carpet.  Wife does not want to get crazy with the spending, but we have been talking about getting new wood floors/carpets now for about 3-4 years, it just seems like an excessive expense.  Ultimately, after looking at what Lowe's had to offer, I figured even if we do get new carpets, we need a good machine to keep it clean.  I didn't go crazy buying the most expensive one, instead I chose the one with the biggest water container.  It didn't even indicate that it had the hose and hand cleaner, but it was in the box.  I was planning on trying it today, but we got distracted and I lost the whole day, Wife's family wanted to get together for early dinner in New Braunfels, so I ended up doing nothing but waiting to go, and then I felt blah when we got back home.

    All the parts are now there, I just have to try and get the carpet cleaned, and then Mijo will probably start moving in, maybe this coming weekend.  He does want a sofa, which is the whole reason he wanted to move to that room, to have more space to entertain his buddies.

3/18/22 Visiting My Uncle In The Hospital?

     Our uncle, mom's baby brother (hard to see him that way at 6ft 5in, but mom calls him that) was in a bad motorcycle accident on Sunday back in Crystal City.  It was one of those weird freaky accidents that probably didn't need to happen but what can you do.  His account is that his brakes locked up, luckily, he had slowed down to 10-15 miles an hour, but he still went over the front of the bike and the bike probably went over him, partially.  I say the accident probably didn't need to happen because the motorcycle is about twenty years old and he hadn't even used it in a few years, but I guess he got an itch and decided he would do some repairs and get it back on the road.  He had just replaced the brakes, but a friend of his did it and I don't think it is the kind of situation that you sue your body when he did it as a favor or with the understanding that shit happens.

    The accident was serious enough that they flew him to San Antonio from our hometown.  He says he did not remember anything from when he hit the ground to arriving in the hospital.  As he was telling us yesterday, they got him in an ambulance and took him to where the helicopter pad is located, then he says he had moments of him opening his eyes on the helicopter when one of the guys would open a little window and the cold air felt great.  Although he was completely out of it, his brother was in the hospital when he arrived in San Antonio and he said he could hear him screaming in pain, I guess sometimes it's better not recalling what is happening to you in an emergency.

    Mom and her sister went and visited the next day, and he was still in a lot of pain.  He was refusing the use of an epidural, I guess the same thing they use on women giving birth, but my mom and the doctor convinced him, as the doctor told him he needed to cough, which he didn't want to do because of the broken ribs and punctured lung, or risk having the phlegm collect in his lungs and give him pneumonia.  He sheepishly told my mom he couldn't even focus on what the doctor was saying from the pain he was in.  My mom gave him the stern "let them do what they need to, stop saying no" and he said the relief was almost instantaneous once the epidural was inserted in his spine.

    By the time we went and saw him Wednesday afternoon, he looked banged up, but he didn't look too bad.  He has some scrapes up on his forehead, but they are superficial not deep and scarring.  He says he had a hematoma the size of a mini football (the kind they throw at the fans at games), but it seemed to have gone down, I couldn't see it on his head.  Apart from the 8 fractured/broken ribs and the punctured lung, he also had a broken clavicle, which he said was preventing him from even raising his left hand, he showed us he could only lift it a couple inches off the bed.

    All in all, I would say he was still very lucky he had slowed down the bike to 10-15mph, it might have killed him had he been going faster, or he might have had this happen out in the country, he likes disappearing on solo drives around the county roads back home, not to mention he always used to brag to us how he liked going over 100mph back in the day (he was a cop, so you know, those guys do what they do).  The nurses had already got him out of bed and walking, so I think he will make a full recovery.  It was good to see him, he was always our favorite uncle growing up.

3/17/22 Boy's Apartment Is Operational?

     It took a couple of weeks, but we finally made it back to Boy's apartment now that he has had a chance to unpack and make it look livable.  My folks were here and one of the main reasons my mom wanted to come was to look where Mijo was living and see if she got a good vibe from it, we all worry about our baby's and moving voluntarily where it doesn't feel right is definitely something to worry about.  I think I feel like her, the place has a good feel, it certainly helped to see the gate fixed and back in operation, when we helped him move all the stuff a couple weekends ago, the gate was knocked out of service, but he said they got it working within a day or two.  He also mentioned they have met the guards and the guard station is within view of their patio, so it adds some sense of safety.

    They sure have done a lot of unpacking, the main focus might be their new sofas, they chose some light pink cloth material and I think they look really nice.  It is a sofa and loveseat type secondary seat that has a part of it without a back, so I wasn't sure about that.  He had been buying accessory tables and shelves and he must have had a vision what he wanted the place to look like, because it all looks well planned.  The space where a dining table would fit is there "lounge area", they have a couple of bean bags and one of his storage units with all of their board games which they frequently play with their friends.  He has a small display area for all his funky old cameras, which is great, but I do worry a bit that the windows might prove too tempting for some kids/bums walking by.  They have their windows loaded with plants, so it might be hard for them to bring the blinds all the way down.

    It turns out the apartment is a full 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit, which for what they are paying, is good, I guess.  I like that they are not crowded into a 1-bedroom with nowhere to go but right next to each other.  The second bedroom already has two desks with their computers, and a trundle bed with a twin bed and another one underneath that rolls out, for guests.

    I really liked the apartment; he already has a few pieces of art hanging on the wall, which he took from our house, but they are his.  He has been buying pictures and paintings for a long time, and he just had them in tubes.  At a certain point, I told him that we should put them in frames and hang them.  We both started buying frames and I had hung a bunch around the house, he can and probably will take most of them, but for now, he took ones that would fit without overwhelming the place.

    Finally, I have to mention his kitchen, he was already changing most of his kitchen tools to match in the Tiffany blue, and the kitchen looks like it was planned that way.  He does have about 6-7 different ways to make coffee and he proudly had them displayed out on the counters.  I am glad he has his own space; our kitchen was being overwhelmed with all his stuff on top of ours.  Out kitchen looks just right now.  I think theirs looks pretty great; I am proud of Mijo's first true venture out on his own.

3/16/22 Good TIme Off, So Far?

     Although we didn't plan a trip this Spring Break, it has been a good to great time off, and I would even say kind of productive.  I am roughly 90% of the way done setting up Boy's old room so that Baby A can move into it.  Over the last couple of days, I went and bought a handful of boxes as Boy seemed to be ignoring me to bring more boxes so we could finish out what he started.  There was still a bunch of clutter all over the room, when the week started, but I have now grabbed all the bigger things, like books and boxes that he left and piled them all together in those boxes I bought.  I have separated all the clutter he left in piles on top of his desk and another table he had.  All that really needs done is to take everything he left in the closet out.  I've looked and it seems he left all his suits he wore regularly when he was in high school and some of his bigger jackets.  I'll take care of this here in the next couple days.  I also patched the walls where sheetrock was exposed, and I just need to touch up with some of the paint which I found in the garage.

    Apart from that, I finally removed all the old caulk around the kitchen sink and re-did it, making the kitchen look a lot nicer.  Wife and I sat together last night, and we (mostly her) took care of our taxes for the year, this is always a big monster that we avoid until the last minute since we end up having to pay every year.  Baby A took it upon himself to cut the grass without us hounding him to do it.

    We have had a few get togethers, first with my in-laws on Saturday, we hadn't seen them in over a month.  My parents are here for the next few days, so we'll get plenty of time together, hopefully, Boy makes some time, they came partly to go see his new place.  We even grilled on Monday and had a couple friends over, something we rarely seem to have time for.  I felt relaxed enough that I had more than a few drinks and got a little drunk with some cheap wine and White Claws, they were all yummy, considering I really don't drink.  It was good, I woke up slow, but not hungover.

    I have even managed to make a brisket, last night, something that has become a rare treat, but we have had two in the freezer and Wife was told she is getting another next month, so I was kind of making room for the new one.  

    It has been a good productive time off.  All Wife said is missing is going fishing, which we might try and fit here in the next couple days.  We keep talking about taking the kayaks out, so maybe this will be the time we finally get them out on the water.

3/15/22 Cancelled Cable?

     I think we were past due to cancel our cable.  TV viewing is no longer what it used to be, even 5 years ago.  On top of me hating what has become the norm, I don't need all my superheroes to be women or POC, I also ultimately hate having to pay over $250 a month for something we rarely watch.  Cable is such an outmoded way of delivering content that neither boy even had a cable box set up in their room.  Boy removed his box probably ten years ago, and Baby A had a box as of yesterday, but he hadn't had it plugged in since at least the last time we replaced his TV, which was over a year ago, not that he watched any cable shows.  The last time he relied on any programming for entertainment was back in the SpongeBob days when he still watched cartoons to wake up.

    We have slowly been reducing the shows we do watch on regular TV, the last ones being The Goldbergs and Black-ish.  Both of these shows have shown us that they too are setting up their own ramps to jump the proverbial shark, we mostly watch because we have been watching for so many years, they are not as funny as they used to be.

    Honestly, with an internet connection, we have opened up to a world of new content, from Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Prime Video, Youtube, and even other free services.  We don't even normally think about turning on the cable box, except maybe to watch sporting events.  This may be where it hurts that we cancelled our cable subscription, but until we experience it, we won't be so sure.  I'll probably end up getting a good quality antenna so we can see the big 4 channels in high-def quality, they are supposed to be free and over the air, with an old fashion set of rabbit ears, again, we shall see.

    I was also bothered that half the boxes weren't even working anymore.  We had a box in both the kitchen and the room next to it, and neither box came back from the last power glitch, they just refused to connect, and it's not like they have an office where we take them to get them replaced, like TimeWarner used to have.

    I think we will get by just fine with the Google Fiber (at $70 a month) we installed a couple months ago.  We have had it for a while, and been using it and testing it, all the while keeping the AT&T service.  Now that I feel comfortable that the Google will do the job, I feel more confident to go ahead and get rid of the old dinosaur service.

3/14/22 Baby A, The Social Butterfly?

     Our younger boy has suddenly become a social butterfly and we find ourselves now going from one thing to another.  We haven't reached the point where we want to tell him no, but we have noticed that he is making plans a lot more frequently than he ever has.  He had the soccer match on Friday night, and poor Mijo, he had to wait for us to go get him after, as we didn't time the game ending just right and he stood out there in the cold for a good 40 minutes after the game ended.

    Saturday, he spent the day with us, so it was all good.  We were with family early in the day, and then spent the evening at home, we didn't even go out for food, we just ate some frozen pizzas and hot dogs as we watched a movie, Wife recommended Xanadu, which I didn't think was good the first time, but Mijo is supposed to go roller-skating sometime this week, so Wife thought it would be fun.  I fell asleep 20 minutes into it, but what did she expect? The movie was even cheesier than I remembered it way back when.

    Sunday afternoon, Mijo had an outing to the movies.  I was a little shocked that they even included a girl amongst them.  It was one of the wrestlers, so we kind of know her, but it was still kind of weird to see Mijo going off to hang out with a group including a girl.  We picked them up after at Mod Pizza, they saw the new Batman movie at Southpark Meadows, at which we got the honor of paying for dinner for most of them.  Still, I want Mijo to have some good memories, so we go along with his shenanigans.  They all ate at a table at the front and Wife and I sat on the other side away from them.  I had planned on grilling some fajitas, but the movie started at 3:50, and went for 3 hours.  I wasn't sure what time they would get out, so I didn't want to start the grill and then have to leave.  As a result, we will probably be grilling today, on Monday, the beauty of it being Spring Break, there is no rush to go anywhere.

    The week is filling up with activity slowly.  We're grilling today, I invited a couple friends over.  My folks are supposed to be coming on Tuesday and be here until Friday.  Mijo has his skating party on Friday with the wrestling team, then it'll be the weekend, so I'm sure other activities will come up.  Wife was talking about driving around and seeing some campuses, but with the price of gas, I don't see the happening.

3/13/22 Gruene River Grill?

     We celebrated my father in law's birthday Saturday morning at Gruene River Grill, which is really more than a restaurant, but a spot to spend a relaxing afternoon.  The whole block seems to be in a dead-end street where the buildings are all kind of frozen in time, and the German heritage of the area is celebrated.  I don't know how we have lived less than an hour from this little gem and never visited it before.  Maybe it was the weather being so pleasant, but I really enjoyed just coming out here and walking around for a couple hours.

    The restaurant itself borders the river and I would say sits cliffside to it, as I could see the river down below, but it is on the backside of the restaurant and we sat inside, so I didn't sit and focus on how deep it was to really determine if it is a cliffside or just sits a few feet lower.  We could have sat outside, but honestly, the wind was still a little too cold for me, we got probably the last cold front the day before, and the morning started in the upper 20s.  It was very mild by the afternoon, up in the 60s, so we couldn't ask for nicer weather.

    Other than the restaurant, there are areas with live music playing randomly, and many little shops to walk through, and window shop.  Boy joined us and he was very excited to go check out the antique store, which he has in recent years become a collector of a bunch of old stuff, like cameras and old video games.  There were all sorts of nick-knacks to see.  The whole area probably has about 30 shops and eateries to walk around and see.  We walked into a store that focused on olive oils, and balsamic vinegars, which were interesting to say the least.  I wasn't in the mood to buy anything, but it was still fun to take it all in.

    The food itself was good, I can't say it was the best.  I ordered catfish and although the flavor was very good, I found very little fish between the layers of corn breading or whatever it was dipped in prior to frying.  Still, it didn't take away from the whole meal.  The building looked to be quite old, with exposed beams everywhere, and big fireplaces in all the different halls to make it nice and cozy.  I liked it enough that I am planning on taking my parents out here when they come to visit later in the week.

3/12/22 Exciting Start To Spring Break?

     Friday afternoon was the official start to Spring Break, of course, it wouldn't be normal without Baby A needing to be somewhere.  I am really surprised at the transformation, he was totally like us, in that he did not like being away from home, and now he is at all sorts of sporting events multiple times a week.  Anyways, he "needed" to be at Nelson Field before 6:00pm, he is now part of the trainers, so he needed to be there for a soccer game.  It kind of sucks that the team took such a small bus that he didn't fit with them, so there goes Dad, taking him across town.  It was actually quick, I thought it was going to suck, driving from south Austin to North Austin at 5:00pm and then back home to pick up Wife and then back up to get him around 7:30pm.

    I got home by around 6:15pm, Wife had just arrived as well, so we both went inside and then found ourselves with nothing to do and the house alone.  I, of course ran to the bed to lay down and try to sneak in a nap, we had about 40-50 minutes, I told Wife not to be a pain in the ass and just chill.  She laid down to, after admiring the new icemaker and the ice it was already making, with no leaks in sight.  Since we were alone, it didn't take long to decide we could have a little fun and we got going, both of us completely in our birthday suits.  It was a good time, until the door opened (the door has a combination lock which she knows), and we were caught in a surprised panic.  It was Girlie, Wife had told me to invite her to dinner with us, but I had told her we would pick her up on the way to get Mijo.  We all screamed in a hysterical panic (I yelled "who is it?" thinking it was Boy dropping by after saying he wasn't coming), it was funny to me, she quickly realized what was going on and ran to the front of the house, and after seeing the coast was clear, Wife ran to the bathroom.  I asked her what she was doing there, she said it was unclear whether she should come over or we were going to pick her up, I did re-read my text, and it did say we could do it either way.  Just as we were laughing, Mijo called to head to him, which we did.  I underestimated the time it would take since it took about 20-30 minutes to get up to the stadium, we left right away when he texted, but there was an accident on I-35 right downtown, it seems like there is an ongoing accident all the time on that shitty stretch of road, it really does suck 90% of the time.  We didn't get up to Mijo until 7:45pm or so, and I felt a little bad for him, he was trying to hide from the cold wind against the little ticket building.  Luckily, there was a second game, so there were still plenty of cars and the stadium lights were on.  We don't usually run late, honestly, we attend most functions he participates in, but he is not playing in these games, he is part of the background crew, taping up injured and stuff.

    After getting him in the car and helping him warm-up with the car heater, we drove around and ate at Outback up north.  I wanted to eat at Sea Island, there used to be one on Research, but I guess it closed down.  I remembered Boy had just given me a $25 gift card to Outback, he found it in his room while we were cleaning.  I figured this would pay for the blooming onion and a meal, if it even worked.  It was another good meal; we were sat as quickly as we arrived and the place was just perfectly filled, not too many people but enough that it wasn't dead.  I had a steak and a salad, which it had been a while and the meal overall was good.

    We got back home by 9:30pm or so, Girlie left, and I was probably asleep by 10:30pm.  We are supposed to meet my in-laws for my father in law's birthday brunch, somewhere in New Braunfels.  I like getting up early, I did, at 6:50am, but when I "have to" for an event, it seems to hurt me.  Still, I figure it'll be a meal, and then we can come back home and chill the rest of the day.

3/11/22 Replacing Our Icemaker?

     I knew it was coming and I think this morning Wife had enough of the BS.  She called me on the phone to come downstairs, she had the broomstick and was basically fighting the ice in the freezer like a knight on horseback.  The icemaker developed a leak or two, it is now over 15 years old, and I could see it.  We've been having these blocks of ice form in two different spots where the ice is supposed to form into the nice little cubes we are used to.  As long as we remove them about twice a day, there wasn't much of a problem, but sometimes we just aren't here.  Over the past month, the ice buildup has been getting worse, and I think it came to a head this morning.  When I came down, Wife had a bunch of ice knocked off and out of the freezer.  We have a fridge with the freezer on the bottom, so it is hard to access the very bottom and I think the block in the back shifted a bit so she couldn't get the door to close all the way.  She was standing there stabbing at the ice with the stick side of the broom, trying to knock the ice out so it would close, and at the same time telling me she really had to get going to work, so, handle it.

    I cleaned up the mess, then decided I would go ahead and try and replace it.  After dropping off Mijo at school I went to Lowe's to see if they sold them there.  The lady was nice but said they did not have my model.  She sent me to Home Depot, according to their online site, they had one in any of the closest stores, so I went to the one closest to my house.  This old man was not nice, he said they don't keep them in stock because they rarely go out.  Then he gave me a card to an appliance store, to which I asked "they'll have them there?"  He not very nicely retorted "I don't know how the man runs his store, maybe he does, maybe he'll get your information and order it."  I just said thanks and left, fucking old man.

    It took a minute to fin the store, but I got one, brought it home and just said F it and took off the old one and inserted the new one.  It required a lot of prep, such as removing all the food from the freezer and even the door, but I had figured out how to do that a while back, so it wasn't hard.  The hardest part was working in the awkward position since the icemaker is down at knee level but up against the ceiling of the freezer.  I was working on my knees and having to bend up, not a great position for a fat ass.  Still, it was pretty straight forward once I knew the unit was identical and all I did was replace one for the other.

    A Youtube video I saw said it could take 24 hours to get ice, but as I was sitting here at the kitchen drinking my coffee, I already heard a batch of ice cubes falling, so it is working.  I'll throw the first and second batches away, then I figure it'll be good to use for drinks and stuff.  By the way, I wasn't sure which model it was or it would have been around $65-80.  At this appliance store, the same unit cost me $130.  It was a bit more, but I guess the peace of mind of buying the right thing is worth something?

3/10/22 Second Track Meet Of Season?

     This was an interesting track meet, as far as I could tell.  It was held on a Thursday, which I am always curious how it is okay to miss school to come out here and do a little sports activity, but I digress.  I love this core group of boys; they are mostly the linemen from the football team and the bigger wrestlers, although out there against so many other schools, our boys tend to look small.  It almost pisses me off that it is the norm for our boys to barely scratch 6ft tall while these other schools have some monsters walking around at least 6ft 6in and taller.  I was standing next to some Bowie boys and my head was probably at their shoulders.  Regardless of this, as Baby A told me, he is only doing this to stay active and hang out with his friends, so he is trying his hardest not to take it too seriously.

    The meet was supposed to start at 10:00am, so I dropped off Mijo off at 9:00am and he is a typical "my family's last name", he is so moody when we aren't rushing at his command.  We left the house at 8:30am, he tells me we have to pick up one of his friends which I don't mind, but don't act like I'm the one making you late, it's your buddy we're picking up.  He acts like the sport can't start without him being there.  I decided to leave, there was nothing happening at 9:00am, so I went to gas up car, get some money from ATM, then go home and pay some bills, it was payday, then head back.  The boys had just started throwing, they do all the field events early in the day, so that the ones also involved with running also have a chance to rest and be ready for those activities later on.  I was told the relays didn't start until 4:30pm.

    I walked up to the shotput field just in time, I might have missed the first few throwers, but I got Mijo's throws on camera, not that he cares.  I also saw our other boys do their thing.  They are improving, Mijo improved 4 feet from the week before, throwing for 32ft and change.  It sounds good until you hear the winners threw like 45 ft this week, last week some kid threw 49ft.  I would be more invested if Mijo was concerned about getting better, but he seems content to just be amongst the team.

    I was there from 10:00am until 1:00pm, got a nice suntan according to Wife, I looked red in the evening, indicating I spent some time in the sun.  It was a good time, after the varsity boys threw, we walked over to see the girls throwing discus, on the opposite side of Burger stadium, the coach does both shotput and discus and both boys and girls.  It is really cool to be accepted amongst the team and the coaches now know us pretty well, since we are always around.  Mijo was getting compliments that he has the best parents; we are always there to see him and support him.  He just shrugged, it probably gets uncomfortable for him, especially when some of the other boys add "yeah, I don't even have a dad."  Other than those little moments, which somehow are still said in joking fashion, it was a good day.  Right next to the discus ring, we could see the high jump, the pole vault, the triple jump, and the long jump.  Some of these kids take their events seriously, either Dad or coach filming the action, then the kid is reviewing their technique.  I love that some of these kids care enough to do what they do, competition is important.

3/9/22 What Happened To Respecting The Upper Classmen?

     Baby A was kind of complaining that these new kids just don't respect like back in the day when he was coming up.  I understand what he means, when he was a freshman, I would look at the football players and think "dammit, Mijo has to go against those big guys at some point."  His freshman year was good, he stayed on the JV team, there was no freshman team, but the growth was good, and he was with his friends having a good time.  His sophomore year was a challenge, Covid hit in the spring of his freshman year, so we weren't even sure if there would be football in the fall, but a season was had.  It went well for him, he started as a back-up on Varsity, but quickly found playing time, and by the end of the season was playing on both sides, of the ball, as a lineman.

    All through this, he kept getting stronger, and never getting out of line, and definitely not trying to disrespect the upper classmen.  He was noticed for his play, getting a 2nd Team All District Lineman nod, so he played well enough to get noticed by the coaches in the district.  At the start of his junior season, he even got a mention in a magazine that the offensive line for the Cougars will be strong and coming off with our son leading them.  He had another good season, even with missing two games with an injury to his shoulder, he still made the 2nd Team All District Team again.

    At this point right now, he, along with a couple of other guys, are the leaders for the next season.  He is at the top of the lists for squat, deadlift and all the other weightlifting lists they keep hanging on the wall, so he feels that he has worked hard to get where he is at.  Then in come the new kids...

    I can't help but laugh, one kid who shares his name with one of the other juniors who has also been doing like my son, playing lineman on varsity since sophomore year, even with a broken hand was called out.  The freshman told the junior that he was coming for him and that "he was the better Jose."  Who does that?  This kid also told Mijo that my son was going to "eat his shit" (I don't even know what that means) and that he wanted to go against him head-to-head.  Baby A says this kid is like a gnat, he can barely squat 200 pounds, while Mijo is squatting 600.  Kid can barely bench-press 100, while Mijo is maxing at 300.  This kid was on the wrestling team at the start of the season, he had me laughing as he was really good at talking shit, my son says he needs to knock him down a peg.

    I do like that in part, the coaches have helped break down the curtains of mystique between the different classes.  Mijo has a couple of freshman and sophomores that are "his" projects.  He is supposed to be coaching them and making them stronger.  Our son takes great pride in his boys, he likes that they have his attitude, they are the kind of kids who want to do good.  Like he said, they are not the strongest, but they don't quit and have the right attitude.  Saying this, because they spend time together, they also don't have this realm of gravitas because they are upper classmen.  These freshmen also are comfortable enough that they joke around with him all the time.  I've gotten to know some of them, they followed him onto the wrestling team, so I see them joking with Mijo all day long.  I like the energy around my son, he's a good role model for them.

3/8/22 Feeling The Effects Of Getting Old?

     I hate to admit it, but I am getting old.  I was on a twelve-hour shift for almost 20 years and never felt it as taking a toll on me, it was just what I worked.  Over the last 5 years or so, I have gotten away from the long shift and slid down to working 10-hour days.  The difference with the 12-hour shifts was that in a 2-week period, I would work 4 days one week and 3 days the next and repeat this pattern, getting paid every two weeks.  Now I work 4 days every week, still getting paid every two weeks.  There are less hours per day, but an extra day per pay period.

    On top of that, with Covid, we had gotten in the habit of working even less hours, as we were told, do whatever work is due in the next day or two and go home, there was no interest in hanging out and possibly exposing ourselves more than necessary to our co-workers.  This meant that for about a year, I got used to working about half the night.  I got into some good habits and short cuts, such as running multiple tools at the same time, to cut the time I had to be there and still get the work done.  All this came to a screeching halt a couple months ago, we were talked to and told this had to stop, we must be there the full shift, so we are gradually trying to get back to an antiquated way of doing things, it really doesn't make sense, they should care about the work getting done, not us sitting there watching movies on Netflix to meet some time bandit they built.

    Anyways, if there is work, I don't have a problem doing it and as slow as things were a month ago, now we are in the middle of a busy period.  I am sure no one from management is going to complain "Why are you staying so late?"  Nah, the whining is only when it doesn't benefit them.  Consequently, I came in Monday and there was a lot of work from one particular customer.  It wasn't all due the next day, but most of it was, so it makes sense to prep it all together and run it all at once.  That, on top of a few other jobs that were also due the next day had me there for a rare 12-hour shift, and I can honestly say that two days later, I still feel it.  I was on my feet most of the Monday, running between the two analysis tools and the prep hoods and it made for an exhausting afternoon and night.  I didn't get home until almost 1:30am, and then it takes me another hour to settle into bed.  I felt like I slept 4-5 hours before getting up to take Mijo to school.

    I was looking for an easy day Tuesday, but the work just keeps coming, and even as I don't like it, I still ended up doing too much.  We have new customers and not that the work is hard, but it requires a little pre-planning, and that takes time, and before you know it, the day gets away.  Oh well, two more shifts and I get a week off for Spring Break with the family.

3/7/22 Awesome Gift?

     I wasn't expecting anything this morning but to drive Baby A to school, come back home and drink my coffee with some toasted fancy bread from Central Market that I bought Friday afternoon.  Mijo came down the stairs and said Coach had a small gift for us that he wanted to give to me, so Mijo would get dropped off by the gym and the coach would come out.  This seemed a bit of work, it gets busy with the drop-offs and the busses, but I figure we would go and see.

    In my head, I thought maybe it would be a mug, like the ones we got in the basket we bought at the football banquet, they are very nice, metal, colored black on the outside with a gold Cougar, they look great, even if we already own a coffee mug and tumbler.  Still, a gift is a gift, and I appreciate the gesture.  Whatever we did for the team was not to gain points with the coaches, we honestly felt like part of the team, wrestling is very different in that the kids are sitting for hours waiting for their few minutes of fighting, so we would sit amongst the team, and we got to know a lot of the individual kids.  These are great kids with great attitudes, they need to be of a certain attitude to take the beatings, the winnings, and the losses all in the same day.  To voluntarily get up at 3:00am to go to a meet, starve yourself to make weight, it just takes a certain personality that loves the sport.

    After the first meet we found that the team did not really have a budget to spend, the kids were supposed to be bringing money to buy from the concessions, which they didn't all do and there weren't always concession stands, so we took it upon ourselves to get them a cooler full of Gatorades, waters, Capri-Suns, and then a bins worth of different snacks like Rice Krispies, nuts, protein bars, Cheez-its, Nutella and peanut butter single serve packs, and any other snacks we could think that kids might like to every tournament.  These meets also did not seem to care about time, often starting at 7:00am for weigh-ins and going as late as 11:00pm on several occasions, it was kind of crazy.

    Apart from all the mayhem, I really loved the sport, Mijo still says the wrestling team felt like a family, the kids spent so much time on top of each other that they are just all very close.  The gifts were a couple of tumblers with pictures from their picture day with Mijo in all of them, it is a one-of-a-kind gift that is going to be pretty hard to beat as best gift ever.

3/6/22 Boy Still Moving Out, Slowly?

     It is a very slow process, but Boy is making progress.  He came over again on Sunday and was here most of the day, arriving around 11:00am to wash clothes and take more stuff back to his apartment.  I had just come back from going to the store, as most weekends, I like to go before the rest of the family wakes up and I go get what we need.  It is much faster this way and I believe it keeps costs down, because Wife likes to put stuff in that we won't/don't even eat.  Anyways, I was just sitting here enjoying my coffee when he walked in.  I ran upstairs and woke Wife so she could come down and say hi to Mijo, she was a little bothered that although he came by on Friday, he didn't stick around long enough for her to get home.

    I finally got to cleaning his room, I had been hesitating because I didn't want to invade his space and take over, as apparently, I am told I do.  This really bothers me because these jackals want the space cleaned but at their pace.  If we leave it up to them, it could take half a year.  I didn't necessarily want Boy to move out, but now that he has, his room needs some attention.  It doesn't help that Baby A has already said he wants to take over that room, so I feel it needs to be cleaned and readied for a new life.  Baby A has his own ideas, and although I like some, I am drawing a line in the sand over him saying he doesn't need the dresser that goes with the rest of the bedroom furniture.  He doesn't seem to understand that without a dresser, his clothes don't really have a place to be put in.  It doesn't help that Wife is encouraging the shitty attitude.  If we are not going to put the dresser back in the room, Boy actually went without it, but he would just keep his clothes in piles, like a freaking hamster, his room looked like a mess all the time.

    Yesterday, I was able to get to the point that I vacuumed all the room, except the space under his bed.  I would have and wanted to move it, but he loaded it with too many books and things that I wasn't going to move by myself.  Instead, I fought as much of the battle as I could.  I cleaned the rest, the room looks much better already, one can walk in and around most of the room, but there is still a little more work to do.  There are holes and dents in the walls that need to be patched in, then repainted before i am going to let the younger Knucklehead take over.

    This will cascade into his room being empty, which I will then tackle and move furniture around, I really want that room for the weights, it is much bigger than the room downstairs, so it will all be a work in progress for a bit.

3/5/22 First Track Meet Of Season?

     Another sporting season is underway.  We were wondering about last year and why Baby A didn't participate in shotput or discus, but last season was shortened, and wrestling coincided with the season.  Either way, this is a new year and both sports are separated enough that about the same boys that did wrestling are now hanging out doing the shotput.  It is so much fun to watch these boys in action.  I don't think any of them will be breaking school records throwing, but they are having a good time doing it.

    Yesterday, I went and watched the last 10-15 minutes of practice, and it was nice having the boys come up to the fence to say hi and give me a little fist bump.  I then got to see them go into various wrestling holds and tumble on the grass.  I swear these boys can't keep their hands to themselves.  The testosterone just flows out of them, since Mijo is the heavyweight, it's usually two other boys climbing on him to bring him down, it is funny, to me.  The coach has a good spirit and I think she likes their energy as she was laughing along with their antics.

    I think maybe 5 of the 6 shot-putters (varsity and JV) were on wrestling, then this morning another handful of the smaller wrestlers showed their faces and they said they were running in different events.  Even some of the girls we met were there, also participating on various running events.  I guess the athletes are athletes year-round.  Mijo says he doesn't care about track as much and is honestly doing it for conditioning, knowing it will include additional running and stretching activities.

    I can't say I was impressed with Mijo's first throws, but this week was the first time he had thrown in almost two years, since he didn't do it last year.  I was asking him if he recognized any of the other throwers, I would imagine the heavyweights from wrestling would be the husky shot-putter types, but as the one non wrestler kid said, "this is a different animal."  He really wasn't kidding, one of the kids with a huge throw was about as big as me, I swear, he had to be 350-400lbs, and strong looking.  Apparently, he had a brother, both kids had the same last name, and they were calling them brothers (but I'm not 100% sure), and the other kid legit looked like an NFL linebacker, all muscle and just scary looking.  He threw like 47 feet, while our boys were near 30 feet.

    Mijo was not even bothered, he finished the shotput and said he was done, he was going to hang out and watch some of his friends do their events.  I like the non-stressed Mijo, he took wrestling very seriously, really wanting to do better every time or at least learn from the kids that beat him.  We picked him up five hours later, after we had gone home and napped for a good while.  He said the day was good, we had lunch at Busch's Chicken and came home.

3/4/22 Wife Has Friends?

     Of course, Wife has friends, but rarely do they ever pop up and invade our lives, most everybody we know and grew up with are back in Crystal City.  Austin is just a lonely spot in the middle of the state where we happen to live.  This week was a little different, as two of her coworkers from when she was working in La Pryor came to town for a conference.  I know very little, I guess she probably tells me more, but typical guy, I just say mmm-hmmm to keep her moving along on the conversation.  I may honestly be wrong on some of these accounts, but it's what I went through.

    I think she went to eat with them at Longhorn Steakhouse, pretty fancy for a lady not on a per diem, just saying.  In all honesty, this is a standard good meal, I used to prefer Outback for a regular nice meal, but then they decided to move locations and set up in San Marcos, which is a little far off for just a meal.  Longhorn Steakhouse is really a good alternative, and it is located here in Southpark Meadows which is a couple minutes away from the house.  According to Wife, she ran over and picked up the ladies, who were staying off Ben White, close to my work.  All I know is that she ate a meal that ran around $19, based on the receipt in the bank.

    Tuesday night, she was busy at work, she had to stay for an event is about all I picked up from her conversations.  I believe it had to do with those Tiktoks they made and posted online.  Last week, she showed me some cartoon videos, and her and I guess her work crew are all acting goofy and trying to get the word out that something is coming (whatever event they were celebrating).

    Wednesday night was back to the friend's and this time they went to eat at Kerby Lane Cafe.  The ladies wanted to go to an honest to goodness Austin dive, and I think that fits the bell perfectly.  One of them has gluten allergies and the menu made her feel really safe and confidant that she could eat whatever and not get sick.  Wife ordered a plate with pancakes is all I got from her talking about the night.

    They wanted to get together in San Antonio one last time as they were headed back home last night, Wife is sort of coming down with a cold, so she said no.  I told her it would have been fine by me, Baby A had the dance he went to, but honestly, I got him there and back again, so Wife didn't have to be a part of that equation.  I am just glad it is Friday afternoon, and all is hopefully back to normal, although track starts tomorrow, and we have to have our boy there by 6:45am, so it is still going to be rough out the gate.

3/3/22 Putting On His Dancing Tennis Shoes?

     Baby A is still new to social events, he hadn't shown much interest until recently, starting with his newfound interest in soccer.  All of a sudden, last weekend he wanted to go and participate in decorating for a dance event that occurred last night (Thursday, writing this Friday morning).  He claims his interest in helping is strictly because he has friends who are involved in the dance committee or whoever was running the show.  Regardless, Sunday turned into a dud, we told him it didn't make sense to decorate the week before, the dance was going to be in the cafeteria of the school, same place where we had the football banquet, all the tables roll out of the way, and the floor space is decent for events like that.

    All week, I tried getting an understanding of how things were going to play out.  The dance was on a Thursday night, but he said there wouldn't be school on Friday, so that helped out with worrying about staying up late.  The next question was "what time do I pick you up?"  He could not give me a straight answer.  Maybe he was going to practice, maybe he wouldn't and then he would come home at 4:50 to shower, or maybe he would just stay there and help decorate.  I told him it was gross to not shower after being at school all day (he does have football class in the morning), but he is a kid, and I don't think kids care as much about this.

    I texted him at 3:30pm, he said to get him at 4:50pm which was going to be a pain in the ass with work, but oh well.  Ten minutes later, he said never mind, he would call me.  I proceeded to continue working, figuring I would stop when he called.  Good thing, I continued, because at 6:30pm, I was still wondering, which I called him, and he said he would just stay there.  This worked in my favor, I didn't want to stop and spend an hour running around, just to come back to work later at night.  I managed to finish what work we had by around 8:00pm and I said screw it, I am going home.  I had stayed two hours late the night before and I hadn't taken a lunch break, so although it was early, I justified it.

    I got home around 8:30pm, or so.  Wife stopped and bought Popeye's chicken, we ate at the table, for once, without TV as a distraction.  By the time we finished eating, Wife was ready for bed, she goes to bed before 10:00pm, I told her I would go get Mijo, which he texted at 9:30pm to give him another 30 minutes.  I told him I would be there by 10:00pm, which I was.  I was feeling mellow and relaxed, so I told him to take his time, but that I was outside.  I was probably watching Tiktoks for a good 30 minutes before he came out.  We gave one of his friends a ride and then headed home.  It was a good day, especially for him.  I was just glad it was the end of the week for me.

3/2/22 Employee Is Leaving?

     Our director of operations has decided to move on to greener pastures and I kind of think it is the right thing for her to do.  We are a small company of roughly 15-16 people.  4 of us do chemistry, 3 do imaging, and another 2-3 do surface science stuff.  The rest of the people spend all their time in the cubicles and I'm sorry, but I think it is too many for a small company to exist without getting their hands dirty.  I am not saying anything bad about anyone, but sometimes grand plans of reinventing the wheel are really not necessary in a company this size, with employees who have all been working together for an average of 20 years.

  I am still one of the younger employees, although in recent years we have hired a couple of new faces.  Just turning 50 this year it dawned on me, this company is aging.  I don't know exact ages, but I hear we have two guys in their 70's, most everyone else in their 60's and a handful, myself included, in our 50's.  There might be a couple in their 40's, and maybe one of the newest guys could be in his 30's, but I would be surprised.  Given all this information, I think if I were offered an opportunity with a bigger company, I might take it too.  I am happy where I am at, for the most part, but I do worry a bit that the company breaks down from attrition.  When I joined the group, and we were still part of AMD, we were about 40 people strong, that was back around 2000.  Gradually, we have had layoffs and lost people for various reasons, and now we are less than half what we used to be.

    The director leaving is taking a director job with an established company, she should do well, and with a much larger audience, her ideas may actually be appreciated.  Like I said, we are a bunch of old Prima Donnas, I don't want to be told how to do my job if I can continuously get the job done.  My only push back with her was when she came around suggesting things, most recently, to start doing a weekly report, to show what I do.  I know I do a lot, my manager knows it too, the report is just extra busy work, in my eyes, it doesn't put money on the bottom line, and that is what I like to focus my work efforts on.

    Lately, we had been talked to about coming back to working our full shifts, when Covid started, we were told to just do the work necessary and due in the next day or two, and go home, to reduce interactions.  Then we were told we had to wear pants; I have been wearing shorts for most of the last 20 years.  We can also not wear open shoes anymore, like Crocs, and we should be wearing socks, I don't know why.  There was also talk of too many people in the lab, another rule established because of Covid, so only say 3 people can be in a room at one time.  If we are going to act like Covid is no longer a concern, then we can't use the rules from Covid times to restrict shit.  I was also scolded in the last couple months for not wearing a mask, although again, I am not the only one.  Most people wear it on their chins, I refuse to do that and will just take it completely off.  The same people who work together go and drink coffee together and it is perfectly ok to take off our masks there.

    She had the unfortunate responsibility of being the one pushing on all these corrections, so she has seemed like the bad guy, I don't know that anyone else is left to bust balls, the other managers are all dudes and frankly, I don't think they care about stuff like this, other than to make sure and have the work done.

3/1/22 Shit People Still Suck?

     Last week, I thought I would be smart on Thursday as I was driving home, we were getting a cold front and I figured I should fill the gas tank up, so I wouldn't have to be doing it in rainy weather and it was supposed to be cold for a couple days.  It was actually chilly, but the precipitation never came, so we stayed mostly dry.  Friday morning, by 7:30am, I got a call from my bank, supposedly, that I had some suspicious entries, and I should stay on the line.  I hung up but went to the computer and checked out what was going on.  Sure enough, there was a charge for $400 and one for $212.  I did not know what they were for, but I know I didn't do them.  I called Wife to call the bank, she loves being on the phone, I hate talking to people, but on the way to dropping off Mijo at school, I got another call.  Since I knew it was real this time, I took the call, talked to a person and told them I did not make those transactions.  They were able to put a stop within a few seconds, cancelled my card and got everything fixed up.  I hate that criminals, Shit People, can do this sort of thing, but at least we have counter measures that keep us from being liable for these attacks.  While I was talking to the lady from my bank, Wife got one also and she was getting more information, such as they had gotten the attempted transactions from the Shell gas station by the house, I am guessing they had one of those skimmer devices on the gas pump I used, but I use this gas station regularly, it is the one closest to the house.

    The guy talking to Wife was saying that they had attempted three withdrawals of $400 and three of $212, I don't know why they are so stupid and stick to specific numbers like that, but then again, that is part of the reason they are criminals.  I fucking hate people that do this type of activity for sure, but I also kind of understand.  Things are getting so ridiculously expensive here in Austin, how are regular people going to survive going forward?  Wife and I are good but that is because we both have good paying jobs.  I know that isn't the case for a lot of people, some are just barely getting by.  Housing prices are crazy, I doubt I could afford a house in today's market here in Austin.  I keep looking at car prices, but I am not paying $70,000 for a new truck, but even the smaller Ford Ranger easily gets into the $50,000 range.  Everything is kind of unbalanced, I don't know if it is because we are coming out of the pandemic, but either prices need to come down or we need to start getting paid more money, and that needs to happen quickly.  Like I said, we won't starve any time soon, but I know this can't be good for the average family trying to get by on the median Austin income.

2/28/22 Baby A Becoming A Trainer?

     I've been eyeing this interest in Mijo's interest in soccer games with a slight wonder as to why.  I figured if he is interested in some girl that is a good enough reason for him to be out there in some of these cold nights.  Yesterday, with no warning, he texted around 2:00pm to see if he could go to the soccer game at night.  I don't mind him going, but there are logistics involved.  I go to work around 1:00pm nowadays and although I can easily go and pick him up, I don't want to spin around an hour later and go pick him up.  Wife would normally do the second pick up, but her friends from La Pryor are in town for a conference and so she went and had dinner with them last night, so I had to tend to Mijo.  It turned out the game was a double header, JV played first and then the Varsity team played after, both girls' teams, hence why I keep thinking he might have a crush on a girl.

    His story is that he is curious about becoming a trainer, one of his friends has been doing it after he broke his ankle at the start of football season.  The kid carries a huge bag with all sorts of first aid gear and has been getting trained on how to respond to small emergencies on the field.  Mijo went to the game saying he talked to the coach and the coach said he could be a ball boy.  Ball boys chase the ball when it is kicked out of bounds and from what I saw the last ten minutes of the game when I went to get him, those ball boys are running as much as the girls as the ball spends about as much time out of bounds as in play.  One way or another, our boy figured out it was easier to tend to scrapes and bruises, so he talked to the head trainer, and she said he could help out.

    Knowing our boy, I was not surprised when he said, "for the first girl I helped I was being real delicate, I didn't want to hurt her, but by the end of the game, I was thinking and wanting to yell at them to quit whining about every little scratch and get your ass back on the field."  He said all the girls just keep asking for band aids for every little scratch.  There is no way these girls could survive a football game.  He did get a lot of experience he said, girls were constantly coming off the field with various cuts and one girl did have to be carried off the field when she got kicked in the leg and she got a nasty bruise.

    I am hoping this sparks an interest in Mijo wanting to go in the medical field, there are so many things one can study and do well, nowadays.  Other than becoming a doctor, even a physical therapist, technician, and other specialties I can't even think of.  He is at a good age to experience different things, maybe he finds something he really loves.