8/31/22 MRI Time?

     Well, I hate that we are here, but at least we live in a time where we have the technology to look inside without committing to surgery.  Mijo and his knee seemed to be doing okay, he hadn't complained, and we ask him about every day how it is feeling.  It was therefore surprising that I got a text from his trainer on Monday that she did not think his knee was improving.  She herself was out for a week, so maybe he hadn't worked with her for a few days, but she came back this week and started him on new exercises and he was unable to show motion with the knee without wincing in some pain.

    Her belief is that he should be showing signs of improvement by now.  Honestly it has been a month since we saw the specialist, so he has had about 6 weeks since the event that caused the injury.  About the only thing we can do at this point is do the next thing suggested by the specialist and that is look at the knee with an MRI tool, which will look through the skin and show any damage to the muscle/tissue around the knee area.  I hate that we are here, but the doctor did give us a sliver of hope, if nothing is damaged and it is still just the bruise, he might suggest a cortisone shot, which is another name for a steroid shot.

    What I understand is that the steroid shot would numb the pain, so he could use the knee like he normally would and not feel the pain and back away from it.  I am guessing if it is a tear, he would not do this, but with a bruise, there is no further damage he could do, it is just the pain receptors getting in the way, not that I am an expert.

    We have to wait until tomorrow for the results.  The MRI was done rather unorthodox, we were scheduled at 7:30am.  I wasn't sure whether I would go in with him, so I got up at 6:00am and showered.  Had I known I would just sit in the waiting room outside, I wouldn't have bothered.  Mijo said the procedure was easy, he just laid there and almost fell asleep as the machine did all the work.  He was probably in the room for about 30 minutes.  He came out just in time, some idiot lady had her "service dog" with her in the waiting room, but she let go of the leash and he walked all around the room, at one point coming and sniffing me.  It was a big labrador too, I was expecting it to dump a big ole shit on the floor, she just looked like that type of lady.

8/30/22 My Own Handyman?

     Like I said a couple weeks ago, if it's not one thing around the house, it is another.  Last week, I was dealing with the dryer vent getting plugged up and making the dryer not want to work.  As soon as I cleared the ducts of all the wadded-up lint that had collected up over the years, we moved in 2007 and I had never cleaned it, the dryer started working properly.  We had been running two cycles of drying with every load since the machine was new.  Because it was a cheap machine, I assumed it was the best it could do.  Not that I usually buy cheaper tools, but after spending $1200 on a fully automated dryer with all the bells and whistles and it barely lasting 3-4 years, I was not going to do that again.

    Anyways, the new problem appearing was the light in the closet of Mijo's new room, or Boy's old room.  When we were moving him in, I noticed it flickered a bit.  I kind of thought it might be the bulbs, fixing to burn out.  I don't think we had replaced any of the bulbs in any of the closets of the house, so it probably is about that time.  Then last week, I was in there messing around with Mijo's clothes, I am excited because I've been buying him ties, mostly gold or tan ones, to wear for game days, when they are supposed to dress up.  I had gotten him a tie hanger and was hanging yet more ties I had ordered on Amazon, great prices, when I saw that the bulb failed to turn on.  I figured I'll change it when I get more time.  A day or two passed and I went in there again and noticed the light was on.  I didn't think much of it, but then that night, Mijo came and asked about his lights and fan not working.  I went and looked at the breakers and the one for his room had tripped.  I was half asleep when I did, but I showed him what to do.  He then went and turned it on a 2nd and maybe third time before Wife got involved and started asking questions.  I then thought there might be something wrong with that light fixture.

    I went and took it off, yes, I turned the breaker off.  Once off, it shouldn't be a problem anymore.  It was kind of rusted and even the bulbs were all black and charred in the metal part that screws in.  I decided this was trash and just went and bought a new one.  It took me about twenty minutes, but I installed a new one, bought a box of a dozen bulbs and at some point, I will go around and replace the rest of the bulbs in the other closets.  I bought some whiter bulbs that match the intensity of daytime, so even though the bulbs are only 60w, it looks much brighter in the closet than before when there were two more yellowish/tan-ish bulbs.

8/29/22 Mijo The Romantic?

     Mijo has had a girlfriend for a while now, the problem is that the parents of the girl do not know about him.  They have come up with a plan to let the parents know what is going on, sort of.  The plan is for him to make a spectacle, one of those Prom-posals, but for the homecoming dance, that way she can take whatever he gets her and show the parents.  This is a cute display of affection, but it took us taking a journey and thinking of clever phrases to use.

    Apparently, our son knows she likes Buc-ee's, they have had long arguments about it, he is one of the few Texans who does not appreciate the greatness that is a Buc-ee's gas station.  Either way, he felt this would be the place to begin for making a package of love.  Since we didn't go meet either side of the family, we had all day to do this.  We went up to Buc-ee's got a bunch of stuff, including a huge Buc-ee's teddy beaver, then we headed to eat at Sea Island.  Mijo really likes eating there, I am glad it is a little far from home, or we would eat there weekly, and it is just alright to me.

    After eating, we headed back to Austin, had to make a pitstop at the house, we bought some chocolates, and we can't leave them in the car for more than a minute, in our heat.  We then headed to Michael's to find something arts and craft to make a sign.  Turns out, the Michael's next to the bookstore on Brodie Lane is gone.  It was replaced by a Party City, so we were still able to find something fun to write on.  We also added some candies, then we were off to the bookstore, since we hadn't walked into one since before Covid.  He wanted to get her a copy of her favorite book, but they did not have it.

    We ended the hunt for stuff at Central Market, he wanted a cupcake to be the centerpiece, but since she said she likes carrot cake, it needed to be a carrot cake cupcake, which luckily, they had four.  We got the one, plus a couple of other goodies, for us, and headed home, oh yeah, he even got a dozen roses as an added bonus, because all girls love flowers.  We all sat at the table and helped him set up the stuff, instead of writing a message in by hand, we used the computer, and even added a cartoon beaver, because why not?  We thought it was all cute, by the time we were done.  We only hope the parents see that our boy is a good kid and one of the best suitors their daughter could have.  If they don't, it will be a complicated mess, since they have kind of been a couple since the spring, even if they went most of the summer without seeing each other.

8/28/22 Weekend Plans Shifted?

     Well, we started the week thinking we were going to go visit family.   After talking to mom and getting the guilt laid on thick because we haven't seen them since 4th of July, I had told Wife we were going to have to have to go down for a quick visit.  She then had to add that her family was having a party on Sunday, so we then could stop on the way back and visit with them as well.  This is all great on paper, but the reality is we are drained at the end of the week.  With football practice, it is like we are all there with Mijo, especially since we don't get home until almost 10:00pm, most nights, when we add in going to eat.

    I ended up talking to mom, telling her we would be showing up late in the day Saturday, Mijo has a team meeting on Saturday mornings to discuss the game, then he was going to go eat lunch with the linemen.  I told mom we would probably be on the road around 2:00pm.  She then said it didn't make sense to try and go in that case.  It was a nice gesture, but it's not really a visit if it is only a few hours.  It was then nice to hear from the other side that Wife's family was also unable to get together, one of our nephews plays soccer and they were going to have an extra game on Sunday afternoon, or something.

    Once freed, we were able to take it easy, well, not really.  Wife had scheduled to go pick up blankets, the small ones she donates to the school where she works.  this always happens early, so after dropping off Mijo at school, we headed out to the mall parking lot where we usually meet the lady.  After this, we headed back to our side of town.  A niece of Wife's secretary moved to Austin, and she got a TV she wanted mounted on the wall.  Wife was nice enough to volunteer me to do the work.  I don't mind, but I like to overdo things.  She had a big 60" TV which is nice, but the wall mount is one I would feel iffy using on a 30" TV.  It was small and only hung on one stud in the wall.  She assured me the instructions said it was rated for up to 100 pounds, which flat screen TVs are not near that weight anymore.  I told her I would do it, but I wasn't responsible for anything that went wrong.

    It took a good 40 minutes, but we got it done, then headed back in a rush to pick up Mijo.  He only brought one friend to eat with us, I guess the rest of the guys weren't in a celebrating eating together mood.  We then came back home and pretty much napped the day away.  We ended it with a very lame cheap burritos and corndogs meal and watched a movie on Netflix.

8/27/22 Mijo At His Lowest?

     Yes, the Cougars lost another one, I love these boys, but it doesn't surprise me, at this point.  They just don't seem to have enough quality players.  After the game, we do the usual routine, the team has a small meeting on the field, we go down to the rail, the boys come and we greet them, tell them we love them, all the boys we know come and tell us their highs and lows, we tell them to shake it off, it'll be fine, and the sting starts to disappear.  Mijo came up to us and seemed fine, he was a little disappointed but gave us the "I'll see you all at the school in a little bit."

    We left, it took the buses another 10-15 minutes for the teams to get there, including the band, then the small bus for the trainers, then the actual football team.  These games are a huge production, in terms of people required for games to happen.  I guess because of Covid, the last few years, it was just the team a lot of the time, so the support of so many people is just great.  Either way, we had a good spot where he could see our car, so we just sat there, I called my mom to tell her the score and the highlights.

    When he got to the car, he was quieter than normal, I figured he was a bit mad, but I had just hung up with mom, I wasn't focused on him, he didn't play, so I wasn't worried about him having any new bruises or pain, other than his knee.  I said whatever, maybe "you hungry?"  He gave the weakest "yes" he could muster.  Then Wife started with her jibber jabber, and he sounded like on the verge of tears.  I told her to read the room and just let him have a moment.  We drove quietly to Southpark Meadows to look for an open place to get some food.  We got Jack in The Box; Whataburger was just packed around the restaurant.

    Once he got talking, he mentioned how frustrating it is, everyone keeps asking him when he is going to play, he is not in a brace, or anything that indicates he is injured, so he looks ok.  We are getting a lot of parents asking us when he is getting on the field too.  He was trying to talk to his friend with the bad back and that he should rest it.  His friend told him they need somebody to lead the linemen on the field, so he is trying to be strong for the team.  I guess this got him hot and he went and asked the coach if he could play next week.  He then said the coach pulled him into a separate room and told him he won't be playing next week either, he needs him ready for the district games, so he just needs to settle down and wait.

    He has been hoping to come back, he feels helpless and watching his team suffer and losing hope.  A week ago, they were taunting him to quit, and all the seniors would follow him out the door.  I think that is when the coach made them run until they threw up to get it out of their systems.  Mijo does not have quit in him, but he is getting to the edge of his patience, he wants to compete, this is his last year, and he sees his precious few games left wasting away, week in and week out.

8/26/22 Some San Antonio School?

     It seems we all got confused, we thought we were playing a certain San Antonio team on Friday (written Saturday morning), but we were wrong.  When the name of the team came out, we guessed it was the team that went 0-11 last year, so it kind of seemed like they would be easy to deal with.  All summer, our QB had looked great, in the 7v7 matches in the summer, where only the QB and his receivers compete against the secondary, the backs that guard the receivers, we were beating or keeping up with most of the schools we were matched up with.  We had a scrimmage last week, and even there, we were able to run and pass at will, moving the ball easily.

    Last night, it did not go well.  I am not sure what happened, but many things were not right.  The whole problem cannot be on our boy, he is one of five linemen, charged with keeping the trenches under control.  There are technically 3-4 other experienced linemen, two other seniors, and two juniors.  For some reason, the center from last year was trying to be a running back, so had disappeared from the line, one of the seniors just has a very bad attitude (coaches demoted him from his starter role), we think he only plays because his dad forces him, he is rarely motivated to do the right thing, even though on paper, he looks like a player that could go play D1 football.  The other senior, a close friend of Mijo, has little self-esteem, always unsure of himself, but Mijo can inspire him, and together, they have done well.  They play side by side, Mijo at guard, and this kid at tackle, they get the job done.  The other junior, Mijo's sparring partner in wrestling, is another capable player and one of the smartest players on the team, but he has been fighting back problems, he keeps cramping or tightening up, so he is not 100% either.  Last night, they were relying on four freshmen or new guys, and it did not go well.

    The QB was running for his life all game long, and rarely had time to settle and read his receivers to throw good passes.  Most of his passes looked short and weak, and there seemed to be no place to run.  The other team was one dimensional, they could not pass at all, but they were running at will, rarely losing yards on any run play.  They must have just run 3-4 different plays all game long, a sweep around the left side and straight between the line and most every time they would gain at least 4 yards.  It was about as bad as playing those bigger school last year, and as we heard after, this team was a 6A school last year, and instead of 0-11, this school was really 5-6, so they knew how to win a few games.

8/25/22 Through Turmoil, We Learn And Grow?

     This is one of the rougher parts of being a parent, and sometimes the best thing we can do is nothing.  Through no fault of their own, sometimes our babies find themselves in situations they must deal with.  One of those, is when things don't turn out the way we thought they should, or things don't go according to plan.  Our first response might be to go in and try to mediate the problem, to help our kid get their way, because we think that is the way it should have been.  This might make things better in the moment, but it does not help the kid learn that life doesn't always go your way, sometimes life gets in the way and how you deal indicates what kind of person you will be growing up.

    We have become friends with a parent on the booster club, and she is very high energy and a person that gets things done, much like Wife without a filter.  Wife and I love our boys, they are our most important things, but even then, we aren't here to live their lives and protect them every step of the way.  We realized early that the best thing for them, was to let them experience the highs and the lows.  This mom means well and is very passionate about her kid, but she seems to be doing too much.  She doesn't want her daughter to experience any of the lows, instead, she tries to "correct" things in the background, so her daughter ends up on top.  

    This would be like us trying to change things for Mijo, right now, with his injury, trying to make things right, and finding ways to get him on the field before he is ready.  We could, maybe inject him with a steroid shot in the knee, so he wouldn't feel the pain, this might get him playing, but there is the possibility he gets injured worse, and then what?  For our shortsightedness, he could end up with a long-term injury, because we wanted him to get a short cut and be happy right now?  Sometimes, the best thing is to do nothing.  

She thinks her daughter should have more ranking or status on the team she is participating in, and maybe she is right, but the decisions have been made.  If she were to go and demand a recount, or get the leaders removed, what would the girl learn?  Mama won't always be there to help her get her way, and honestly, the daughter seems fine with where she is at.  I believe it is more of mom's ego wanting her daughter on top, maybe she was the leader or captain back in the day, so her girl should be the same, but sometimes life doesn't go like we planned it in our heads.  

8/24/22 The Right Tool Helps?

     We were having a problem with our dryer drying clothes last week.  After opening the back of the dryer and being surprised at how clean it was, I then had to follow the problem outside.  The duct from the dryer to the wall was very old and thick with lint and crushed here and there, so I replaced it and did a much better job installing it without crushing it.  That did not solve the problem, so then I figured it was in the wall.  I measured and between the washroom and the outside, there is a bathroom, about seven feet long, add another foot for the walls, and I figure that is a total of about 8-9ft of ductwork in the house.  I could stick the extensions of the vacuum from the washroom and the outside about 2ft in and it looked clean, but then there is a weird turn, for no obvious reason.  My thought it that the plug was hidden where the line bends, but how to get to it.

    I went online looking for a solution, and apparently, this is a very common problem.  Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, even Walmart sells a duct cleaning kit.  I wasn't sure, especially with the turns, it just seems the poles that come with it will not be as flexible and tear up the thin metal of the ducts.  I guess I was wrong, it worked great.

    I did watch a tutorial or two and the first thing I caught as advise was that run the dryer for a second, see if there is air flow.  If there isn't, use the metal device that looks like it belongs in a blender, it is all teeth and curved, so as not to get caught in the ducts, built like a C, with the teeth to the inside.  I could feel when it hit the impacted material, felt solid, but squishy, somehow.  I started taking stabs at it, but it didn't seem to be making headway.  I then added the vacuum, sticking in one of the poles and sucking as close as possible.  This helped remove the loose debris and allowed the metal cutter to keep moving forward.  Once it punched through the solid, it felt like it moved without resistance, I switched to the brush that is about the diameter of the tubing, four inches. What I thought would be about 8 feet total, turned into all the rods being used, about 13 feet total.  At that point, I hit something that felt solid again, but I assumed it was the dryer.

    I then went and turned on the dryer and I had air flow again.  I kept spinning the brush with the drill, I forgot to mention the use of a drill to spin these attachments and properly clean the ducts.  A lot of lint kept coming for a while, until I couldn't get more to come out.  With the dryer blowing and all the cleaning I did, I can only imagine the duct is as clean as it can be.  Hopefully, this problem goes away, for another few years.

This is the kit, if it can help somebody.

8/23/22 Boy In Japan?

     Boy has now been in Japan for 5 days.  It is hard to have a conversation with him, first off, he never was great at communicating.  Second, we are on opposite sides of the planet, so we get up almost when he is getting ready for bed, and vice versa.  He also spent the first three days on the move, so we didn't want to be in his way, texting if he is trying to figure out where to get off from a train or whatever.

    He arrived in Tokyo, which is a huge city as anyone knows.  He was there for most of last week, one day recuperating from his 16-hour flight, and then doing a little site seeing.  I believe Saturday he jumped on a bullet train to take him to Sendai, which looking at a map is up from Tokyo, towards the upper most part of Japan.  Looking at the map, he did pass by Fukushima, which about ten years ago had a nuclear reactor fail after an earthquake and tsunami overwhelmed the safety precautions.  There is still leakage, but according to their scientists, even the fish in the area is clean enough to eat as far as radiation levels.  Anyways, Sendai is about an hour and a half from that.

    He keeps sending pictures of meals he is eating.  I know he goes crazy for all that type of food.  I just see rice and filler on most of the plates, I prefer meat on my plates.  He did say Sendai is like the Texas of Japan, in that they are known for their beef.  He said he also had a dinner of Wagyu steak and that it was good.  If it is 10:00am here, they are roughly 12 hours ahead, and the time there should be about midnight.  Around 5:30am, he sent some pictures of him in his "bunny suit", the clean room outfit people wear to go inside a fab.

    He has been rather frustrated at how the people work over there.  He is used to working alone, with no supervision, but right now, he is the expert and has a whole crew of people looking over his shoulder and waiting for him to guide them.  He says he went to the bathroom, at the start of his day, and was hoping that they would have started breaking down the tool, opening it, and no, he came back, and they were all standing in the same spot, waiting for him to get them started.  I am guessing this is why they scheduled him to be there for two weeks.

8/22/22 Booster Club Meeting For First Game?

     Last week, the football game was technically a scrimmage, still the booster club pulled together and provided snacks for the team, even when the game was suddenly moved from Friday to Thursday.  This week, we are playing South San, and tonight's meeting (Monday) was to discuss that and making sure we have everything set in place.  I am still not sure if I like being part of the "in crowd", but we keep showing up.  We have donated big time, first with ourselves and by donating material things.

    We got there and the meeting had technically started, they were discussing us getting our games on TV via the internet.  They had some representative from a company that puts the games online.  It sounds cool to me; it would allow my parents to watch the game without even having to leave the house.  If I understood correctly, we pay $375 up front per game and then we split any money made from advertising, which they do by posting names of businesses around the screen, or they use some of the kids to do shout outs.  We kind of walked in at that point, but that is what I understood.

    I was busy setting up my feather flag to show the group, which I was excited about.  It was my idea and I brought it to life in a matter of a few weeks.  It so happened the head coach was sitting there, and he was all happy with the flags, making goofy faces and smiling at us.  One of the other members told us coach has wanted something like that since he became head coach, so I guess he's thinking like me.  I want more presence that the Cougars are in the stadium.

    The booster club meetings always break down to getting food for the kids.  We donate most every time, though Mijo doesn't even eat the food.  He is always a little paranoid the food might make him rumbly in the tumbly and the last thing he wants is to feel like he has to poop, so he doesn't even eat.  I think this year we are trying candy, for a sugar lift at halftime.  It had been only granola bars and fruit, I like the addition of candy, but to focus on those with peanuts, like Snickers, maybe Payday, Reese's peanut Butter cups, stuff like that.

    This week sounds exciting, along with the 50% chance of showers, Mijo is supposed to be back on the field, he was cleared for practice yesterday.  I hope they look as good as they did last week.  Go Coogs!

8/21/22 Turning 51?

     I have now been asked how I feel about turning 51 by both Wife and Mijo.  Thirty years ago, I would have thought I would be old by now, and honestly, when I see my peers around my age, some do look old.  I don't feel old, other than a bad knee, a little bit of a bad back, I mostly feel like my sense of self is still very alert.  I am still telling myself all I have to do is start and keep up a workout routine to strengthen both back and knees and I would be fine, but something always seems more important, like a cup of coffee in the morning.

    I don't know where I'll be in a few years, or who will be riding the journey with me, but my life has been good to great.  About ten years ago, Wife and I came up with a plan, call it a five-year plan if it needs a name, but that is when she decided to go back to school, get her master's, and since then she has been working out of town and all that stuff.  My focus has been to stick close to my boys, so they stay on the straight and narrow, focusing on them growing up.  Now that Wife is all schooled up, she is able to bring in more income, even if she has surpassed me, I still win because all her extra money is our extra money, so life is good and getting gooder.  😉

    I think we did a good job with Boy; it took longer than planned, but he did just graduate with an engineering degree and right at this moment, he is in Japan (for two weeks), sent there by work to fix something or other.  I call that a success, and even then, he is still driven to get more out of his chosen profession, as he keeps applying for better paying jobs.  I see Mijo climbing a lot farther than I ever attempted, after we provided the tools for him.  Our husky Mijo is now a senior in high school, and he is basically my full-time attention as I play Alfred to his Batman.  He is also on a good trajectory, he is loved by all his teachers and coaches, just this week chosen to be the student athlete leader for his football team by his coaches.

    Maybe at 51 I should be driving a better vehicle, but I don't really care too much.  I could go any day and buy one, but I keep waiting and hoping Ford comes to its senses and releases another Excursion.  I am happy enough with our big house and how we are living.  Yes, it is hectic, driving around Austin sucks, and I don't love my job, but everyone has to something, and what I do for pay is not hard.  I am thinking in another year or two, once Mijo is well into college life, I can once again focus on me, and get another boat to ride on into our sunset years.

8/20/22 My Feather Flags Came In?

     In my attempt to be over the top showing Cougar support, last week we went and ate down Manchaca Road and saw a business advertising all sorts of printed materials.  This got me inspired, so I went online and looked for those type of flags, they are called feather flags and are mostly used for advertising near the streets of businesses.  Honestly, I would have bought from that business, but the lady was shady as shit, so we left.  I then tried Amazon, but their color palette just wasn't matching what I wanted, and there wasn't much control in the layout.  After a day or two of fiddling around, I thought to just go on Google and see if some site would just give me freer control of the layout.  I found that with www.flagsonthecheap.com.  Not only were the prices okay, but the promise of delivery was outstanding.

    I laid out the flag like I wanted, added my Cougar on top, chose between 6ft to 15ft height length, paid the total and waited.  I ordered the flags (2), and they were delivered Thursday afternoon, even though delivery was set for on Friday.  Each flag came in its own box, about 4ft long, but the boxes were taped together, which adds strength so they wouldn't be bent in shipping.  Inside the box, there was a bag, and the bag has sleeves for the various poles and even the base.  There with the poles and stand was the flag all rolled up.  The material feels like good quality, because it is double sided, I think there are two sheets sewn together.  The printing was as good as expected, but if there was one thing I did not like, it was the overall color of the flags.  Since we seem to have gone black and tan with the school colors, I went with a black flag and the lettering in the tan/gold color.  The bag is made of the same basic material, which is what made it that much more evident.  The flags are a definite dark navy blue, with an edge in actual black.  If the whole flag was in the color of the seam edge, I would have thought perfect!

I called the company this morning, the guy on the phone said that is as close as their printers can get to black, but to my eyes, it just isn't.  He said I would get a decision in a couple days if the printer guys could do anything.  I still like them, set up inside the house, the navy blue looks black, but I don't know what will happen in the sun.

8/19/22 1st Scrimmage Of Season?

     I don't know whether to call it a game or a scrimmage.  Either way, we got there as quickly as we could, with Wife arriving from work around 6:20pm, taking 10 minutes to go potty and change shirt and back out the door to Kyle, Tx.  We got out there before 7:00pm but had a hard time figuring out where to go.  I guess at that time, students were letting out of school, so there was a long line of cars which we got in, for a little while, until I noticed they weren't trying to park, but just picking up their kid at the front door.  After a couple minutes, we figured out where to go.

    We walked in freely, there was no one running the gate, and by coincidence, we ran into 2 of the boys we frequently give a ride to, both are injured, and they were walking around trying to look at what the concession stand was selling.  We gave them a $20 so they could get some snacks, and we went to find seating.  By now, we know people, and we went and sat next to the wife of the wrestler's coach.

    I was a little impressed, the boys looked really good, which I have to say, was really surprising, especially since Mijo had been saying that the offensive line looked atrocious with a bunch of 2nd and 3rd stringers trying to cover for the injured starters.  It was some sort of scrimmage, maybe the one team starting on offense got to start from first down 5-10 times, then the other team took a turn.  The must have run about 20 plays without gaining a first down, then got lucky on an open man, followed by more chaos.  Eventually, they scored.  In the first batch of first downs, our boys scored at least three times.  It was pretty much the QB1 show, he was scoring from passing to running, he could not be stopped.  He lowered the shoulders and just ran through defenders with that loud clash of pads that sounds so primal.

    This is what was going on most of the game, until the other team got tired of being pushed around, then they took to playing "dirty".  At one point, it being a scrimmage with the coaches being on the field behind the offense, and we have a female coach, one of their defensive guys got an interception and ran directly into her, knocking her to the ground hard enough she may have gotten a concussion.  Maybe it was an accident, maybe not, but what are the chances of so many coaches on the field, at least 7-8 that the kid hits the one female.  This, my son says, set off the boys, so there were hard hits every time after that, followed by skirmishes broken up by referees or the coaches.

    It got really intense when a parent sitting about 15 feet away from us started yelling to get the kid off the field that had just started the last push and shove match after the play.  It got quiet after he kept yelling for about a minute, he had the attention of the whole stadium.  Another parent yelled at him to calm down, this is football, he then yelled that is why these kids are behaving this way, because they are being raised by trash parents (or something to that effect), I was sure the parents were going to get into it.  On the next play, there was the most exciting play, our QB ran around to the sideline and lowered the shoulders and just ran over a defensive back, poor kid was probably 50 pounds lighter than our QB, laid him out, but our QB kept going and ran into another defender, who apparently had been pulling hair on this kid with really long hair.  The play stopped on the tackle, then the long-haired kid came and shoved the defender who was just getting up and all the flags flew, kids from the sidelines went it and all the parents that were still standing ran down to the bottom of the bleachers.  I was sure it was going to turn ugly with parents down there fighting kids and stuff.

    At this point, the referees called the game, the mom of the long-haired kid went down to the field and talked to her son, who was trying to calm down.  The teams went off in opposite sides of the football field and they started running wind sprints, or gassers, as my son called them.  They ran and ran, until a couple of the bigger linemen were actually crawling.

    I can't say who is to blame, but I've been watching this team since 7th grade and they had never busted out in a fight, other than Dripping Springs, when Mijo was in 9th grade, these boys are not ghetto in that way, although they look the part, being that our boys are ~70% Hispanic.  My take from this was that this might be their Replacements moment, where they fight in the bar and become a united team.

8/18/22 My Socks Arrived?

     The socks I ordered blindly online came in and I am pretty happy with what I see.  I was worried they would be cheap, and they could still be, but holding them in my hands, they feel like they are built well.  They have a tautness to them, and they resemble Nike socks with the accordion in the middle of the foot for extra support.  The logo, Cougar profile, looks about as good as a large print copier can be expected to perform.  If I have one complaint, it would be the tone of the tan/gold.  I chose Old Vegas Gold, which looked a tad more vivid, but the tan provided isn't.  It's probably for the best, this matches more what the colors should be.

    When Mijo was in 8th grade, we went to a football game, sort of an introduction to what he was to expect if he had stayed in band.  We were a little grossly disappointed in their colors at that point.  It was brown and white, with tan as an accent.  If I remember correctly, the drill/cheer squad were in long brown sad outfits.  David Crockett with his Coonskin hat was the only thing that looked okay, because he has always been dressed in brown.

    Fast forward to today and the Coogs have come into the new age.  They started adding black to their uniforms and now brown is pretty much gone.  The look I see is more of a black with the tan and now with October being breast cancer awareness, pink is seeping in.  After showing the booster club, I was asked if pink and black socks could be ordered, everyone in the room was ready to buy some.  Adding that one fun color to the mix really changes the look of the uniforms, even the football team breaks out the solid pink socks once or twice a season, along with pink somewhere else, as an accent.

    We shall see what the people say.  I got about 80 pairs to sell, so it's time to see if people really like them or if it is "puro pedo" as my dad would say.  If they sell at the suggested selling price of $15 a pair, the booster club could make itself $1200 out of our donation.  They offered to pay me back half the cost, but I told them if they did, I would use it to find another thing to sell.  These are the socks.

8/17/22 Always Something At Home?

     As if we haven't been busy enough, Wife said the dryer was not working all of a sudden.  I have not been impressed with that machine since we bought about 2-3 years ago.  We normally have to run it twice to get a dry load, which we have just become accustomed to doing it.  I normally do our clothes during the week, usually on Wednesday and I keep up with it as I move back and forth downstairs with the washing room door open, so I hear when it turns off.

    Because we have been so off by all the extra stuff going on, I fell behind and Wife was trying to wash over the weekend.  I wasn't even aware she was doing this, but she said Sunday that she had restarted the dryer four times to get one load dry.  I am always skeptical, especially because I have not had that trouble, and this was the first time she was running the machine in a while.  I then tried washing a small load to keep up with it and see and I had to agree, there weren't even heavy towels in the load, and it took three rounds to get it dry.

    She was sure it was the heating element because it's the one part inside the dryer she knows of.  I wasn't so sure; I ran it for a minute and stuck my head in it and the clothes was already warm and muggy.  My thought was that the lint collector/exhaust was plugged up and not allowing it to breathe right.  I didn't want to pull it away from the wall last night (Tuesday night), but I wasn't going to be able to relax until this gets resolved, worst case scenario, we just go buy a new one.  I looked at a Youtube video and sure enough, the guy said if the clothes are heating up, it is probably a problem with the exhaust being plugged up, start with the lint collector.  I clean it every time I run it, so I know that wasn't the problem.  I was envisioning the port taking the exhaust to be filled with lint past the lint filter and was really wanting to open it, and luckily, the guy had the same machine we have and showed how to open it, really easy, like 10 screws total.  I was impressed that the machine was as clean as it was, very little lint past the filter.  The next suggestion he had was that it could be the machine to wall tubing.  This did look suspect as could be.  I believe this tubing has been with us since our first house and looking in it, light was barely coming through, and that was after I unfolded it.  I decided this would be my attempt to fix things.  After dropping off Mijo at school today, I ran to Lowe's, bought new elbows, 90-degree 4-inch tubes, and a small piece of adjustable tubing.  It was a pain to get in there, behind the dryer, with the washer next to it, the room is designed to fit both machines side by side and wall on the outside of them.  Still, I moved them around and got behind them.  This time connecting them, I did a much better effort than the first time.  The first tube was already all stretched out and crushed in several places.

    I am really hoping the dryer can dry the load in one cycle, but I will settle if it can do it in two.  If this doesn't work, then I need to look at the wall and the port from the wall to the outside.  The washroom is inside the house with the small downstairs bathroom between it and the outside wall.  I think there is a tube running in the space where the tub sits leading out, it's the only thing that makes sense to me.  Maybe there's a bird's nest in the exhaust housing, but I did stick a cleaning tool in there and didn't see any activity.

8/16/22 Team Spirit

     Wife and I decided that we were going to go out with a bang this year with Mijo.  We are fully immersed with the booster club and trying to make it worth something other than a lot of talking and volunteering.  We might be idiots, I can hear my family telling me, but I am having fun being a Cougar.  First off, I found that site to do the personalized socks and then ordered 100 pairs.  My initial idea was to just order them for my son, who as usual, was fighting the idea that I was being extra.  I then told him I wouldn't give him any, but I would order them anyway and give them to all his friends.  He came around when I started including more people.  He thought it would be a good idea if I got some for all the football players.  I said no.  Then I showed them to the booster club, they loved them but added I should get some pink ones, for breast cancer awareness month.  They should be coming in any day, they said 8-16 days, about 10 days ago.

    I then got the idea of those feather flags, the flags you see outside business that are skinny and tall.  We had gone to eat breakfast at Mucho Taco, on Manchaca and I noticed a small business advertising printing on anything ability.  We went over, but I was not impressed by the twit running the place.  They seemed as if they had just gotten done burying a body and were cleaning their van.  She came up to us with big dead eyes staring at us.  There was no smile on her face, or suggestions of what they could do when I asked her if we could put the Cougar logo or something with Cougars.  Just confusion in her eyes.  I thanked her and we left.  It did give me ideas afterwards.

    I went to Amazon, looked up flags and found a place that does personal flags.  I ordered two 4x6 flags with the Cougar logo, I hope they look like I envision them, very simple yet bold.

When I couldn't find the feather flags with color option I wanted, I jumped on Google and found a site that might just get it done, if everything is legit.  I got two of these and they will fly 10ft x 2ft tall.  I know this doesn't change whether the boys do better or not, but I want them to feel like they are supported and when they show up on a field it is theirs.  Go Coogs!!

8/15/22 Last First Day Of School?

     I had been thinking about this for a while this summer, that once this year starts, we are off to the races and getting to the finish line (graduation).  I've teared up a time or three thinking that next year I won't be driving him every morning to school, sometimes joking, sometimes arguing, but that has been my job with him, and I enjoy it 95% of the time, especially since I don't really work nights anymore and I am alert.  The reality was way different.  Nothing like I had thought it would be.

    First off, he had an awesome plan, he was just going to wear hoodies as his clothing.  Because of this, I had been buying him nice hoodies.  He just asked for a new bag of white T-shirts.  Sunday, we went to the mall in the afternoon, after we came home and slept some after the sunrise thing.  I kept telling him, "Get some polos or new button-down shirts, just in case you have to dress nice one day."  Nope, he knows what he's doing.  Fast forward to around 8:00pm, he was in his room talking to his GF, and suddenly he comes down and tells us "I need some new shirts, she told me I am not going to wear hoodies all year, she wants to match outfits."  I just stared at him in disbelief, all I could do was laugh, and call him an Idiot.  The best I can do is go tomorrow and get you some, but you need to get through Monday.

    Back to the Monday at school, he wore an old freshman-year shirt which he has really likes, but looks old, to me.  When we got there, one of his teachers saw him outside and commented, "Oh, I see you're going for that retro 80's look."  I followed with "No, he's going for that I am an Idiot who doesn't listen look."  We know her pretty well (she was their shotput/discus coach), so she knew I was joking, then I explained the whole GF thing, which she didn't know about, so I filled her in.  She has been their class sponsor since freshman year, so she knows the kids well, at least the ones we know.

    All the familiar faces of the booster club were there, so it made it easy to just lay low and hang out.  I saw most of Mijo's friends and other football players going in.  We took some pictures, but there was more an air of fun and excitement.  The lead mom is a bigger ball of energy than Wife and she was literally getting in all the kid's way before going in, telling them to get their phones out, set a message to mom or close family and set it to picture.  She was then taking their pics, giving the seniors a shirt and they would move on.  They also had little snack cakes, so the mood was fun. 

    I was there from 7:45am to about 9:30am but the time passed by pretty quickly.  After that, I headed to the mall to be the parent that I am, getting shirts for my Knucklehead, then going home to get ready for work.  I liked the whole experience overall.  Plus, Boy was around for almost 10 years after he graduated, so it's not like Mijo will just disappear.

8/14/22 Senior Sunrise?

     One of our busier weekends even had us up at 4:30am.  On Sunday, they had the Senior sunrise, which is simply enough getting together on campus, at the football field and watching the sun come up, signifying their year as seniors just started.  Honestly, there wasn't much for us to do other than showing up.  The hardest part was waking up the big knucklehead.  He likes to stay up late on his phone or video games every chance he gets, and it was technically Saturday night.  He said he thought the house was on fire when I came, knockled on his door and yelled at him to be ready in 15 minutes, no time to take his one-hour shower, or the sun will be up.  We were out the door by 540am, but we did need to go pick up his friends.  During the day sometimes it takes up to 40 minutes, but I guess with no traffic it went much faster.

    Knowing we had time, after we got them, I did drive around the school looking for an open store to buy some sodas or something, but to no luck.  By the time we pulled up, the old senior sponsor from last year, she has taken up another job, and the new senior sponsor were there, setting up a bit.  They had a table with some snacks and at least they opened the little shack where the football pylons and other field equipment is kept so we had some light where we sat.

    Other than getting our beach chairs out and setting them up by the track, we didn't have much to do.  When the booster club person who pushes us to do stuff showed up, we went to help her get the coolers and stuff off.  They talked of setting up games and doing tie dye shirts, but the kids only seemed interested in breaking up into their little friend groups and talking.  Mijo and his friends walked a couple laps, Wife tried taking a sad picture of them walking away from us as if they are leaving us, but I told her tocut it out with the sappiness.

    They all lined up at exactly when the sun was at sunrise, 6:57am and then we took a few pictures.  There was the group picture, then people took smaller pics with their friends, and finally we all started to leave.  The activity ended with us going to eat breakfast at Garcia's, which was nice with Mijo bringing his GF and a couple of friends.

    This really did feel like a separate part of the day, we got home and slept until 1:00pm after that.  Then we went school shopping for Mijo.

8/13/22 Taping Of The Senior Hallways?

     First off, I didn't know this was a thing.  Second, if I left it to Baby A, he would have probably ignored it too, and we would all be none the wiser.  But since I am in the booster club and I was standing out there helping to accept the donations for the scrimmage and helping with the pizzas, I was pointed to and asked "Can I count on you?  Will you be there to help these next four days?"  It is hard to say no to pushy people who are trying to do all they can for their kids, and therefore, I do more for my kid.

    As it was explained to me, the taping of the Senior hallways is an old tradition where the seniors own the hallways on the second floor of the school.  I kind of love how the building is laid out.  There is an outdoor area inside the walls of the school, and all the way around this outside area, there are hallways about 15 feet across and they open with walls that only go halfway up so people can see down to the open courtyard.

    Before we took Mijo out there, Wife and I had to go find him the right tape, the GF had mentioned that she wanted to write her name in pink tape, and I guess he wanted red.  They also had to use something like blue painter's tape, which does not bond as hard and doesn't leave a nasty residue on the ground like duct tape.  Essentially, they use the blue painter's tape first, then they can put the duct tape on top of the blue tape.

    Although I was asked to go and maybe supervise, once we got there with some donuts and kolaches, there wasn't much for us to do.  Mijo had his girl, and thus we did not exist, he went off to the opposite side of the building from where we were standing.  The booster club mom who asked to see if we were coming was going hard on the project, even tried to recruit us to help her, but I said nah, I got bad knees, I wasn't about to try and work on my knees, I'd never get up.

    At that point, Wife and I left, we went and ate, then got home.  I really hesitated to fall asleep, but eventually, I still did.  The little Pooper didn't call until 3:20pm, to go get him and take his girl to her home.

8/12/22 Scrimmage Time?

     Friday was a super long and kind of stressful day.  First off, I helped get Girlie on the road, took her to the airport to pick up her rental.  Baby A and I took her to eat and then she left.  This was around 1:00pm.  Then we had to head home, Mijo had to shower, then off to school.  They had a scrimmage against each other, but it was at the Burger stadium, where the real games are played.  Before they headed out, there were pictures taken, then they were fed.  The scrimmage did not start until 6:00pm, so I hung out for a bit with some of the booster club people, I helped unload the pizzas brought in to feed the boys, then went home to wait for Wife.

    I ended up being at the school for about 2 hours, I got home around 4:00pm, took a 2nd shower, then a small nap before Wife got home.  We then headed out to the scrimmage around 6:30pm.  It was nice out there, the sun wasn't beating on us, for some weird reason, it got cloudy and nice.  We sat amongst people we are now getting to know more and more, since becoming a part of the booster club, it almost seems like we belong.

    The scrimmage was fine, but since Mijo wasn't playing, his knee is still a problem, it was hard to actually pay attention.  A few of the players we know are the walking wounded, one is concussed, like his third one, another has an injured hand, Mijo has the knee, another has a sprained ankle.  We were kind of just catching up with people we hadn't seen since school had ended.

    Afterwards, we gave one of his friends a ride home.  Before going home, we had to go eat.  We ended up at Torchy's Tacos, which was good, his friend had not eaten there, and I always enjoy introducing someone to new things.  He loved it, as we did too, but we got out of there after 10:00pm, went and dropped him off, then headed home.  We had yet another event scheduled for Saturday, the taping of the Senior hallway.  This tradition has the seniors tape their names on the hallways up on the second floor at Crockett HS.

    Of course, we weren't ready and then Mijo tells me at 11:00pm that he needs pink and red duct tape to use to write.  I have grey and probably black, oh and clear, but no red or pink.  Guess who was up super early running to Home Depot?  This idiot.

8/11/22 When It Rains It Storms?

     I have been so busy the past four days; I hadn't even had time to sit and write.  Here we go.  Girlie found out the boyfriend had not been paying the rental she was going to use to get to Indiana, so that was a big blow.  Turns out, Hertz called her to inform her that she had to either pay the car 's rental rate due or they were going to label the car as being stolen.  This was a big shock, so she went and paid it without talking to the BF.  The outstanding bill was about $1700.  This left her with about $1500 on her credit card.  Before her car accident, she had planned to have around $4000 to go.  Now, as of Friday, she was down to less than $1700, including the cash she had in her bank account.

    In a state of mixed emotions and frustration she rented a U-haul and told me she was going to leave Thursday.  When I got home, I told her this was a stupid idea and to cut it out and think.  She was mad at the BF, who we have all repeatedly told her was going to screw her over again but was going to end up punishing herself.  I sat her down and we did some real simple math.  The U-haul was going to cost her $1300, she already had that quote.  I told her based on the 1200 miles; gas is going to be about $400-$500.  I told her flat out, you are going to run out of money about 300 miles shy of your destination and then what?  You need money to pay rent to the people letting you stay with them, you need food, you still don't have any transportation over there.  I told her to slow her ass down, I don't want to be sending her money for gas before she even gets there.

    She waited the night, then in the morning, Wife and I had gotten a chance to talk, and we decided it would be safer if she just flew.  We offered, but she didn't like the idea because she was planning on taking about a U-Haul's worth of stuff.  I took her to run some last-minute errands and I thought of just renting a car for the drive.  We came back to the house and looked at prices for a medium SUV and the price was still high, around $600, one way, but it would get her there with her stuff.  I told her it'll be half the cost for the vehicle, compared to a U-Haul and probably half as much for gas.  She put it on her card and although I didn't think she would go, she did.  I helped her plan, thinking it would take her three days, if she stopped to rest, leaving Friday in the afternoon, but she drank some Redbulls and got there driving all night.

    I was scared for her, you hear of so many dangerous things that can happen on the road (specially for young females), just a flat tire would be disastrous, in the wrong place.  Luckily, all went well.  We texted a bit today (Sunday), and she has already decorated her room, bought an inflatable mattress and seemed at home.  She can now focus on her internship, a part time job, and then getting back for her diploma in four months.

8/10/22 Where Did The Summer Go?

     I was surprised to see some of our friends on Instagram taking their kids to the first day of school.  At first, I was scared that Mijo was avoiding school somehow and he hadn't told us the real first day of school, but those kids in the pictures are going to Del Valle, which is adjacent to Austin.  The facts are that school does start next week, we haven't even been to the mall in maybe two months.  The last time we went, I think Mijo was going to hang out with friends, we just haven't been in the mood for shopping, and this boy does not care what he wears.

    I bought him a new pair, as I said earlier, for school and he just started wearing them to practice.  Since he is currently injured, he is walking around the football field on his street shoes, so his "new" shoes now have a green color to them.  It is annoying, I want him looking sharp and he could care less.

    I thought there was a rule of some kind that required school start as late as possible in August.  Part of this was so that the school wouldn't have to fight to keep the school comfortable in this crazy heat we have here, in Texas.  I was sure it couldn't start before my birthday (21) this month, but according to Wife, Mijo starts school on Monday, the 15th.  I have conflicting feelings about this.  I want it to get started to get back to our normal routine, but it will also be the last year I get to hang out with Mijo so much because he is still living here with us.

    This summer has also been rough because of his workout routine.  He is/was at school every day, to work out in the weightroom.  Just as football practice started, he got injured in his knee.  According to a doctor and a specialist, it is just a cartilage bruise, but it is taking quite some time to heal.  He can walk okay, and a brace makes him barely feel anything, but he says when he squats, he can still feel pain, same as when shooting forward from the line of scrimmage, and that is without a big knucklehead in front of him trying to knock him down.

    At this point, I will be glad to get out of this pattern of heat, it has been downright shitty, most every day above 100.  I am looking forward to the days when we get another boat and then find a nice place to drop anchor and enjoy ourselves away from the masses.

8/9/22 My Jerseys Are Here?

     I saw an ad and I just reacted a couple weeks ago.  I knew it was a risk, but the commercial looked legit and I really liked what I saw.  The site is called Fansidea and they sell jerseys for football, baseball, basketball and maybe even hockey.  They are not NFL or any of those big names certified, and they are certainly not the heavy material I believe the real stuff is made of, but it can be personalized, and they have tons of color combinations.

    I went with what I would imagine is the New Orleans Saints colors, the jersey being black with gold lettering, but if you keep going down, the colors get crazy.  There were even colors like red, white, and blue on one all blended, there are camo versions and some even come with a random splatter look.  Not knowing what to expect and being disappointed the previous year with the jersey I ordered, I wanted to make sure it fit.  I ordered a 5XL and then wife joked I should order a 6XL since it's from a Chinese factory and they are a small people.  

    I have to say I am happy with both versions I bought.  One is the traditional solid color (black) with gold letters, and the other has more of a snowdrift look in the lettering, where the big numbers are gold in the bottom but look like snow is slowly filling the top.  I do have to say the price is a little misleading.  The basic jersey price is $29, but everything you add, adds some more to the cost.  I chose 50 for the number, then the school's name in the front, and our last name in the back, and finally, I found a Cougar logo and had it added on the shoulder.  By the time I was done, each jersey was approximately $70, but if they hold up, it'll be worth it.

This is mine:

This is Wife's:

8/8/22 Signs That The Watch Market Has Started To Correct?

     Finally, it seems that the watch market is coming back to reality.  We reached a point in which a nice watch that might have sounded expensive, say from Rolex, like the Cosmograph Daytona retailing for close to $50,000, in the used or secondhand market could easily be for sale at 2-3x the original price.  I don't know how people in general feel about this, but I say good!  I fucking hate these idiot flippers that go in, buy all the watches and then just turn around and try and resell them at a higher price point.  I hope some of them went bankrupt.  They add no value to the process, and just made it that much harder to find what I want, in terms of inventory.  

    It is possible that the recession we are in is affecting that part of the market, but all the stories of people being held up for their watches, and in some instances even beat up or worse, has to have many people losing interest in wearing nice watches.  I saw some horrible stories on Youtube where even old ladies were getting beat up by some young thug to get at her watch.  I fully respect the person who has worked hard and gotten to the point of being able to afford a nice watch, only to have said thug get his by basically cheating at life and taking it by force.

    One of the guys on Youtube both my brother and I follow has announced as well as several other sources that it is simply not a good idea to wear any expensive watches out in Los Angeles, the possibility of getting mugged is very high.  This one guy has a collection with hundreds of watches, some as expensive as $1,000,000.  He said he just put them all in a bank safe.  He doesn't even feel safe having them at home.  This another reason I feel the market has/is collapsed.  I don't feel safe even wearing my watches just on a day-to-day basis.  I prefer to wear them with a long sleeve shirt, that way I can hide it in a public place like when getting gas, and then roll up my sleeves if it feels safe or civilized.

    I get the flippers trying to make a little money but taking a $9500 watch like the Omega Snoopy 50th Anniversary watch and putting it on the secondhand market, unworn, for $30,000 is just robbery.  If they even advertise it as unworn, then the only reason it was purchased was to act as a middleman and profit, so I say good, I hope these knuckle draggers disappear, for good. 

8/7/22 Who Is Really Living In A Cage?

     Wife was driving home from work one of these days and she got stuck at a light where she could see a homeless person.  She felt bad and mad at the same time.  On the one hand, she hates that they suffer and live out in the streets, but on the other, it is by their choices, in cases where it isn't a mental thing.  Then we got into a conversation, which I like exploring, and usually pisses off whoever I try to do this with.  I asked her who is really the one to feel sad for?  You might think you're winning, but your butt runs from place to place, and you aren't in control of your domain.  Try missing work for a few days without announcing to your superiors what you are doing, and all your comforts could be taken away by getting fired.  These people get to lay around all day, if they want.  They come out to a light intersection, put their hand out and get what they need, and then go about their business.  Just from that point, who has it better?

    Then you can add the fact that yes, you make a bunch of money, but most of it goes to cover housing, to keep your stuff and a car to get to your job, so you can be a prisoner every day, just to keep the shelter and maybe a little extra cash.  The bums keep all their belongings in an HEB or Target cart and don't have to worry about taxes, or schedules.  Their time is their own, they aren't selling their life blood for a couple trinkets from the man.  Add in a tent provided from one of the nice people with too much money and life is getting a little better and better.

    What I don't understand is why do they set up camp right next to the freeways?  If I lived out in nature, I would go find a campsite next to a quiet lake or river, that would be nice.  Once you give up the grace of using modern plumbing and/or showering every day, why be amongst all the roar and commotion of "civilization"?  I think that is a lot of the reason these people go crazy, in the first place.

    Meanwhile (this was a conversation with Wife), your butt still has to rush home, go pick up Mijo from practice, eat something, probably overpriced crap from one of our mediocre eateries, take a shower and get to bed before 10:00am, just to do it all again tomorrow, starting at 5:45am.  And don't think you can take it easy, skip a few house payments and you'll lose the house.  Forget to pay taxes, and eventually they'll threaten you with fines and jail time.  Shit, don't feed your kids and the state might even take them away.

    Who is really living in a gilded cage?

8/6/22 Another Evening With The Baby?

    DD and his wife called Friday night to see if we were available to watch their baby for a few hours.  He is now starting to teeth and mama said she was being driven crazy because it is non-stop crying.  Our biggest plan for Saturday night was that Wife said, "No Barbeque", which I didn't like, but I added "good, maybe you can locate the kitchen and rattle some pans (I'm funny).  She had decided on making a lasagna, which I liked because they are great, but do take some time to put together.  Since we were planning on being home, we said sure, bring the "Gordito" over.

    It was actually a pretty busy day, overall.  Wife had a start of school drive, in which they hand out backpacks and throw a party out of getting the kids ready for the first day of school.  She said they had the fire engines, gifts, snacks, and even the Coyote from the SA Spurs was there.  All this activity of course required she be there at 7:00am, so she had to leave the house before 5:40am.  This left her no time to go with me to get the lasagna supplies, so I had to manage that.

    Then because when she got here, we went and ran some quick errands, the baby got here about 20 minutes after we had gotten home.  Wife ran upstairs to take a quick shower and I was tasked with starting the ground beef on the skillet.  Then the baby got here and after all the hellos and actually seeing the tiredness in their eyes, we told them to go.  They said they were probably just going to go buy a bucket of chicken and watch a movie at home.

    The baby is a cute little hunk of ham, he is built solid, not really a squishy baby.  Wife was, "Well, you can hold him, and I'll put the lasagna together, or I can hold him, and you can put it together."  I hadn't made a lasagna from scratch before, so I was curious.  It took a good 20 minutes and we had enough for the two pans she had.  It was then in the oven for about 2 hours, it seemed.

    The baby was a good baby until he wasn't.  He must have a tooth coming because once he started crying, he kept crying for about half an hour.  Wife had asked if I wanted to go to Target and get some sort of seat for him.  I love buying stuff, so this a chance to shine.  Turns out I picked the exact one they already have.  I don't know what they are called, but it is an activity center where the baby seats in the middle and the seat rotates all around with little toys attached to the frame.

    Baby A called me while I was still at Target to get him a pacifier because he was crying his little brains out.  I got him a couple different ones and some teethers too.  It was a little intense I guess until the Motrin kicked in or the little seat thing really distracted the pain, but after I got home, he settled down and went back to happy baby mode.

    DD and wife came back about 2-3 hours after they left.  Mama needs to chill out, she is strung tight and says that she has only been away from the baby about ten hours total.  She needs some more support to stay sane, but I'm not sure either side of the family is kicking in that much support.  We enjoy the baby.  He is the closest thing we have to a grandson, Boy still says he doesn't see a kid in their near future, so for now, this is our future wrestler to follow.

8/5/22 GIrly's In A Sea Of Trouble From Her Car Wreck?

     As far as I know, Girlie leaves at the end of the week, but as of yet, she has no car.  She was hit in the Walmart parking lot and her car of two years was totaled about two months ago.  I don't understand why, but the insurance said the other party had some evidence they were going to submit to prove she was at fault.  The lady who hit her was driving a rental because she had just hit another person with her car.  Because the lady never did, they just determined that it was a no-fault accident and they called it square.  They did pay off her car, according to her she owed about $28,000 and the car was valued at $32,000.  She was expecting to at least get the difference to help her with a down payment, but Geico has not done that.  Instead, they paid off the car and called it done.

    She was already slowly getting into credit debt just trying to get by, so it's not like she had a savings, who does, nowadays?  She has been working, and she will be some kind of physical therapist, mostly working with developmentally delayed, so I don't know the specifics.  But because she is fixing to leave, the company she works with has been slowly removing her clients, so she has less and less hours, so it is almost impossible to save money for a down payment on something.

    That being said, it is a big ask for us to buy a car, we aren't doing that, she is currently not even talking to her folks, there was a big fight.  Piecing together everything, she will be gone for about 4 months, her professor, said they would finish the internship program before Thanksgiving, so she can get back before it gets too cold.  Her boyfriend is driving her up there, she currently has the rental from the accident, he has been paying for it at the discounted rate they gave her, which is like $300 every two weeks.  I had jokingly said "we can buy you a bike and you can get around that way."  She will be living about three miles from where she will work.  At the moment, this is her best idea and though she laughed when I first said it, she drove around with Wife one afternoon to pick up Mijo from practice, and Wife kind of convinced her it could work.

    I was thinking maybe a scooter would be a step up, they could somehow transport it in the SUV, maybe get a small trailer, I don't know, but cost wise, I think either her or her boyfriend could afford the $100-$120 payment a month for a scooter.  We'll see how it plays out.

8/4/22 Secret is Out?

     This is a couple days late, but yesterday (Friday), I called my mom, I was out driving and figured it was a good time to brag about Mijo.  I couldn't even finish the pleasantries of hello before she wanted to change the subject and ask the big question "Does our boy have a girlfriend?"  I laughed a little uneasy, but at least the secret is out.  I couldn't talk about it per his request, the relationship is moving about as fast as ice melts in winter, but yes, the husky Mijo is now in his first relationship.

    Mom quickly went into it, my niece saw a picture on Snapchat, then she showed it to my nephew, or vice versa, and then one of them ran to tell Grandma.  I quickly admitted it was true, but he had sworn me to secrecy, so I wasn't supposed to say anything.  It was hard, because I like to keep my mom in the loop of what the boys are up to.  Mijo had been waiting for the perfect time to say anything, but I am not sure, the parent's might be very strict or something, but she has not told them, so although they have been "dating" since April or around there, it is on the downlow.

    I thought it was a little weird that the parents didn't catch on.  She is on the wrestling team, and we met her parents and talked to them for a good while.  They were really thankful that we have been nice enough to be taking their daughter home like 4 times a week all of a sudden and feeding her at least twice a week towards the end of school.  Wouldn't you figure out if your son/daughter suddenly started hanging out with a person of the opposite sex, that there might be something there?  I was trying to talk up my son with stuff like "our boy is a great kid, doesn't really go out on the weekends, he mostly hangs out with us watching movies or his friends might come over once in a while.  I thought the being nominated as an All-American might have impressed them, but because it is sponsored by the Marines, they just assumed it was some way of announcing he is joining the military (or that is what the girl told Mijo when they talked after the awards banquet).  No disrespect to our military, but before Mijo does anything, he is getting an education.

    We have told him to put some pressure on her, maybe he can go over there, old fashioned style, and ask her parents, like a man from the 50s, that he would like to court the daughter, I don't know.  Either way, they are a cute couple, she wrestles on the team too, so she understands his biggest passion right now, and that is good.

8/3/22 Second Opinion For Our Jock?

     Maybe we panicked, maybe we just needed a second opinion to make sure our boy is okay, but we took him back to Texas Orthopedics today to look at his knee.  I say back because this is where we ended up last year when he hurt his shoulder.  It was nice to hear that his shoulder was not broken or whatever else, I thought it speeded up his recovery knowing everything would be okay.

    Because things didn't seem to be progressing as quickly as I thought they might, I ended up scheduling this appointment.  Apparently, you only get shitty service when you go to the poorer medical facilities.  This place, like the Victory Medical on Bee Caves gets you in and out the door super-fast and leaves you feeling good.  Texas Orthopedics is over by Barton Mall, on Ben White, the small street right before hitting MoPac.  They even had me filling out the medical questionnaire by email, so we didn't even waste time doing that.  His appointment was at 2:15pm, we got there at 2:00pm, and we were in the small rooms talking to a nurse for his vitals by 2:10pm.  Even with x-rays, we sat and talked to the doctor, he checked the knee by moving it about and talking with us for a good 10-15 minutes.  I had the school trainer on the phone, she requested to be in on the visit, in case the doctor recommended any therapy she could handle to help us.

    With the x-rays, the doctor was able to tell us nothing was broken, and although he suggested we could do an MRI, after moving his knee around, he felt pretty confident that it was more of a cartilage/bone bruise.  The best thing for it is to let it rest, he sent a doctor's note to the coaches to excuse him from working out for at least a week, that should have him feeling better, if not, we can go and do an MRI, if we want even more peace of mind.  The doctor did suggest seeing a physical therapist could be helpful, even if it is once or twice.  Once he figures out the exercise routines, he can go and do them himself at home.

    Having the trainer involved was good, she said she was at school early, to have him come in by 2:30pm to get him started on some therapy.  I am not sure if this will be enough, but it is a good starting point.  I feel bad for Mijo, I know he wants to get on the field and mix it up with the rest of the team, but better to deal with this now than when the season gets started.

8/2/22 Need A New Meal Plan?

     Things have gotten real interesting, real fast.  With Baby A starting football season on Monday, the times for practice were changed, I guess to make sure they are out there during the hottest part of the day.  For summer weight training, they were going from 9:00-noon.  This was nice, I was able to take him, then come home for about three hours and enjoy my coffee and read and stuff.  Now that football is about a month away and all the football players are supposed to be there, weight training was optional, the times are all over the place.  The plan from the coaches is to have the freshmen work out in the morning from 8:00-10:00am, then the JV and Varsity teams come in at 3:00pm to 8:00pm.  It is not contact all period long, the first few hours are still drills and some weight training, followed by actually sitting down and studying film.  I believe there is also the stipulation that if it is above 100, then they wait until 6:00pm, otherwise, they go outside at 5:00pm.  With Texas weather, I am assuming they will be starting outside at 6:00pm most every day.  I think it was 106 yesterday.

    This is where it gets tricky, Wife does not get home until about 6:20pm, if things went smoothly.  Mijo and I leave the house around 2:30pm, to drop him off and then I head to work.  This means there is no one at home to get dinner started.  We can always eat out, that is not the worst thing, but it is going to be expensive if we do it every day this month.  We kind of have to be quick too, the last two nights, Monday and Tuesday, the boys get out by 8:00pm, but even with finding a place to eat by the house, it is still almost 10:00pm before we get home.  Wife likes to be in bed before 10:00pm, normally, so she is not getting the sleep she is used to.

    I suggested we were going to have to change what we eat, go to more food that can be prepared ahead of schedule.  The crock pot would work, but who wants to eat a hot meal after being out in this heat?  For tonight, I am going to attempt to make some either tuna or chicken salad to make sandwiches when we get home.  It is going to be a hectic and exciting year and I am sure we will get through it like we do every year.

8/1/22 Mijo The Savage?

     Baby A had a sort of birthday party for one of his close friends on Sunday and this boy does not disappoint.  Within five minutes of letting them in the door, they were making their way to our weightroom to run through some reps on the bench.  For some weird reason anytime one of his friends comes over, they have to go check who is the stronger of the boys.  All morning long, Wife kept repeating the phrase "I don't want to see you wrestling, your knee is injured, and you need to stay off it for a while."  It seems he merely waited for Wife to go upstairs to take a shower and then it was on.

    We ate our dinner which was the brisket, chicken, burgers and sausages that we made around 7:00pm.  The boys then had nothing better to do than wrestle.  He even went and brought down his mats, he has two 4x10 ft mats that attach to each other with Velcro edges.  These fit just perfectly against the wall in front of the sofa in the living room.  I was kind of looking at them and yelling constantly to be careful and not fall onto the subwoofer, or the other furniture in the room.  Since Wife was in the shower, he proceeded to take over the wrestling and he looked like a shark after the shark finds a blood trail.  They all got all sweaty and gross, and whether wrestler or not, they all took turns fighting.  Honestly, the only one that can almost challenge him is the other heavy, the birthday boy, who fought JV this past year, there can only be one varsity fighter per weight class.  His other friend who fights at 150 loves to fight him, but Mijo outweighs him 100 pounds, so when he gets tired of the smaller friend trying different moves, he just muscles him and falls down to pin him.  The other three boys don't have training and it really seems dangerous to let them get on the mat against our husky boy, he could really hurt someone if he didn't take it easy on them.

    Once they had all gotten beat by him, he basically started begging for someone to wrestle him.  None of the boys wanted a 2nd round of getting beat, so he was left with no choice but to beg them to fight him.  Then he started boasting that he could wrestle two of them at once.  Then he went ridiculous saying he would wrestle all of them, to which they said no, we'll all just attack different limbs and take you down, to which he responded "no, I'll use Veggie boy (I am assuming he is vegetarian because he looks like he weighs about 120), grab him by the legs and use him as a bat to knock you all out.  It sounded so savage and ridiculous, but with the look on his face, I don't think he was joking at that moment.  It took Mama coming in with the wooden spatula and threatening to hit him with it, to even get him out of his fugue state, after she had showered and come back downstairs.