11/28/22 Honorable Mention?

     Mijo texted today while I was getting ready to go to work and told Wife and I that one of his lineman buddies (his wrestling sparring partner) made the 1st Team All District Team, the other lineman we give a ride to almost every day also made 2nd Team All District, along with one of the freshmen who was moved up specifically to help when he injured himself.  Even his long-time headache, the center who did not like taking direction was also selected to 1st Team All District Center.  All I could think of to say was "Be happy for them, congratulate them, you are all a team and work together.  You all made each other better."  I told him I'm sorry you didn't get a mention, then he said "No, I was nominated as an Honorable Mention too..."  I know it was his goal to make 1st Team All District this year and he probably would have, but being he only played about three and a half games, it would be hard to justify it.

    I told him he should be proud, in all, five of the linemen were selected and recognized.  A year ago, only he had gotten recognition, so I told him it is a sign that all of you got better, plus you know you would have been 1st Team if you weren't injured.  He agreed and said he was happy for his friends who always need some love for the work they put in.  It is a rough thankless job, the kid that made 1st Team was working with an injured back most of the season until he got an MRI which he had some weird disks which were more square-shaped than round.  He got some medication for it and was able to play through the season.  His buddy was also working with a bad shoulder on and off, not really practicing during the week to protect it, then playing on game days, only to go back on the injured list on Mondays most of the season.

    As much as I loved the camaraderie of these big boys and how they played thru the pain, not for the coaches, but for each other, I am glad it came to a stop.  I would totally love to continue seeing Mijo play, but only if he is 100% healthy.  He needs a season of rest and growth.  He is still not 100% healthy in his ankle, but he was jumping around Sunday night showing us it is finally not hurting anymore.  I don't know how much longer he will continue being a warrior, I know he loves it, but there is a life to be lived after high school sports and the last thing I want is him to be limping because of all this, so if it ends after wrestling season, that is ok by me.  If he wants to give it another go in college, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

11/27/22 Take Another Day Off?

     Monday was a pleasant surprise, as I was driving into work, maybe a little late, it was about 1:30pm, my boss called me to not worry about coming in, and just take the day off.  I wondered for a second what that meant, and I was already about a mile or two away, so I told him I would stop by anyway and just go check in with my coworkers who I like to chat with.  Boss said our tool had gone down over the weekend and it needed to pump down for 24 hours before we could fire it up again, so even if there was work, we couldn't do anything about it.  He also said we did have one HOT job due tomorrow, but my coworker was already prepping it and we would run it tomorrow, if tool comes up and stays up.

    I went in the building and since I knew there was no rush, I went over to the cubicle area and replaced all my markers and Sharpies that I use to write and make labels.  We use Sharpies on plastic sheets, which is done on purpose to reduce contaminants, and after we just spray alcohol on plastic sheets and wipe them clean.  I have been using the same set of Sharpies and markers for at least a year and a half, so I figured it was a good time to start with new ones, especially since I just got a new lab coat.

    After taking care of this slight inconvenience, I went and found my coworker hanging out in the break room, he was just finishing his lunch.  We talked about our respective Thanksgiving breaks for about an hour, then I went over and talked to some other people trying to kill time.  There is no point to running home, Wife doesn't get home until 6:30ish and Mijo is at practice until 7:00pm.  I probably left work before 4:00pm, stopped at HEB and got some food supplies, such as some fruit and low carb bread.  I don't want to say I am going to start a diet, done that too many times, but I do want to replace all the pastries I've been eating every morning with some low carb bread toasted with peanut butter.  I loved this as a breakfast when I was doing Keto because it is relatively low in carbs yet still delicious.

    I then went home, got the mail, put away the groceries and ended up taking a nap waiting for Wife to get home so we could go pick up Mijo and whatever stragglers needed a ride.  It was a decently good day.

11/26/22 Wednesday? (Netflix Series)

     We finally got into and watched the pilot to Wednesday, which is a show based on the character Wednesday Addams, from the Addams family, a show I remember watching when I was growing up.  They have gone a different direction from the after school show I would watch in black and white back in the 80s.  That variation was kooky, for lack of a better word.  It used the scary and weird as salt and pepper, to add flavor, but not really to scare anyone.  This show appears darker, there have already been a couple murders done by as yet to be defined creatures.

    The series starts with Wednesday retaliating on the jocks for them bullying on Pugsley, who seems a little slower than in the series.  In the old series, both were younger and mostly stayed home, having adventures with different family members, not necessarily interacting with outsiders.  It seems she has had the last of it and drops a couple bags of piranhas in the swimming pool to attack the jocks while they do their water polo or whatever rich kids do in the pool.  This gets her expelled and on to the next private school.

    They end up at Nevermore, where the parents Morticia and Gomez Addams met.  It was great to see Catherine Zeta Jones pop up as Morticia Addams, I hadn't seen her perform in a long time.  Gomez is played by Luis Guzman, who I like, but he is no Gomez Addams, as I remember him from the old series.  He was a suave and sophisticated handsome man, Luis is not.  Wife said the show is an adaptation of the comic books, and Tim Burton is involved, so it's going to get weird.  Nevermore is a school for kids with special gifts, such as werewolves, vampires, and others.  This seems an ideal place for Wednesday who wants to be a loner but the world around her does not want to let that happen.

    We have seen the first couple of episodes and so far, Thing has showed up as a regular, Thing was the hand that hung around the house and helped as much as possible.  He is a mix of small pet/butler handyman to Wednesday, and a good addition to the show.  Lurch exists and was driving the family to Nevermore, along with the parents and Pugsley.  I am sure if the show keeps going, we will see the grandma, Cousin It, Uncle Fester, and the rest.

    I really did like watching the show when I was younger and hesitated to watch them butcher the remake here, but although it is different, so far, I am entertained enough by it.

11/25/22 Last Longhorns Game At DKR?

     Friday was the last regular season game for the Longhorns and thanks to our partnership with them, our Crockett wrestling team was able to make money for the second time, as a group.  Yes, it would have been awesome of all 50+ players had volunteered, but that never happened with the football team, so the fact that we got 14 kiddos to show up was still pretty good.  I am not sure how our VP of the booster club got the idea or knowledge that this form of money making was out there, but we were able to grow our share from one concession to three because we were showing up with big numbers of "volunteers".  It has paid off as a total effort, but the kids are giving plenty too.

    For example, for this game that started at 11:00am, the kids had to be at Crockett at 5:00am.  This meant Mijo and the two friends that spent the night Thursday had to get up at 4:00am.  All Wife and I did was take them, and we had to get up by 4:30am.  We went and got off at the school to wait while everybody showed up and it was a chilly morning.  One of Mijo's friends showed up without a hoodie and in shorts, which meant he was going to suffer, when I asked him, he said he wasn't cold, and he liked the weather.  It was too early to argue with him or stop and get him a sweater, so I figured let the kid learn.  We stood around until about 5:40am then got going to be at UT by 6:00am.  I don't understand why they need the volunteers there so early, but it was like this for every game.  Each concession stand runs alone, and the volunteers are responsible for getting it started, running the cash registers, cleaning after and then restocking everything that gets used up.  This being the last game of the season, I am not sure if it was restocked after.

    I was watching the game at home, when it ended, and it was kind of close, Wife and I waited about an hour, then headed towards the mess.  It takes longer than an hour to clear out 100,000 people, driving towards the crowd is counter intuitive but we have to, in order to get our baby.  We picked him up around 3:30pm and took them to eat.  He had his GF and a couple of friends.  The don't deny that they earned that dollar, but we can tell that it is demanding while they are there.  For their efforts, each kid makes $100 a head plus 90% of all tips that they bring in.  Just with the number of volunteers, the wrestling team should have at least the $1400 dollars plus a little more from the tips.

11/24/22 Not A Relaxing Week Off?

     Thanksgiving this year felt hectic, even if we didn't technically do anything but show up and eat.  This whole week, I have been off, but yet, every day seems loaded with something important to take care of.  Monday was Mijo's birthday celebration with his friends.  Tuesday, he repeated the celebration, but this time with his GF.  We just kind of sit and wait to take him here and there, it didn't help that most of the week, the weather was absolute shit, with grey skies and rain.  Today, now that it is Saturday, the skies seem to be clear, sunny, and nothing but blue skies.  Wednesday, just as I told Wife at Target, while waiting for our boy to finish watching his movie at the theater, I say "we are going to relax and take it easy on Wednesday, once we drop off the gf, we can stay up late and just hang out?"  Wife assured me that yes, we could relax.  Ten minutes later, my family went into Defcon 5, my aunt got taken to the hospital in SA, my mom was going to drive out Wednesday and it looked pretty bleak.  I called my mom to tell her we would join her Wednesday, then she said she was going to show up at 10am, which meant we were going to have to get up at the crack of dawn, but what could I say other than "we'll be there."  Between that conversation and a couple hours later, mom must have looked at the weather forecast and then she changed her mind.  It was supposed to be raining all day Wednesday, and the doctors did some testing and determined my aunt had not had a stroke or anything else, so there was no need to put ourselves in danger.  This at least allowed us to stay home and enjoy the one day with no responsibilities.

    Thursday had us on the road to San Antonio, and we couldn't just slide in when it felt right for us, it had to be early.  Wife had also told Boy and his GF and DD with his wife and baby.  The three of us arrived within about 15 minutes of each other, we pulled in first, DD pulled in as we were getting off the car, then Boy made it in time as we were about to do a prayer before eating.  We all ate, everything was good, and we were on the road back home by 6:00pm.  We got home early, Mijo worked the concession stand again for the UT game which meant that we had to have him there by 5:00am.  He recruited about half of the wrestling team that showed up, so he couldn't back out, and we gave a ride to most of them down to UT.  All we could do Friday was wait for the game to end as the weather got shittier, with drizzle and cool temps, I didn't want our kids out there longer than necessary.  We left about the right time, by the time he called that they were walking to the pick-up area, we were already about to get off I-35 and getting there.  We picked up Mijo and three other kids, the others got rides with other parents, and we got out of the area.  The hole area by UT is a mess for a couple hours after the game ends, 100,000+ people leave an impression.

    It is now Saturday morning, and although Mijo went to bed at 9:00pm, it is 12:30pm and he is still not down.  It is rough every time they work a concession stand, he was up at 4:00am and worked until we picked him up at roughly 4:00pm.  It was about 14 wrestlers that showed up, so UT will give the wrestling team at least $1400 plus 90% of the tips for the one game, so that is pretty good.  With the other game worked, the team has already gotten new uniforms which the varsity players got.  I am just hoping Saturday and Sunday are at least relaxing days before going back to work.

11/23/22 Amadeus? (1984 movie)

     It has been nice having time to unwind and do stuff we normally wouldn't.  Out of pure randomness, I was watching Youtube videos Thursday night (after we got back home from my in-law's house) and video clips popped up from the movie Amadeus, which was done in 1984.  I don't know why I even chose to watch them, but I thought they were interesting, and it occurred to me I never saw the movie back then.  Wife couldn't believe I said that, and all I could say was that when it came out, I thought it was related to that stupid pop song that just repeats "Amadeus, Amadeus, rock me Amadeus".  That song was horribly obnoxious and there might have been a movie tied to it, but it wasn't this one.

    This movie was set in Amadeus lifetime, from the later 1700s into the 1800s.  I believe the story picks up around 1760, it is about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but as seen through the eyes of Antonio Salieri, a lesser-known composer of the time.  He was passionate about music from a young age and considered himself devoted to the craft, as one must be to be able to make music pleasing to God's ears.  In enters Mozart who is gifted above all but wrapped in the body of a young horn-dog who cares more for pleasures of the flesh, than devoting his skills to his true gift.

    Salieri is good enough to become the composer to Emperor Joseph II, when they hear of young Mozart.  Mozart is then invited to come and perform for the emperor when Salieri becomes obsessed with Mozart and his carefree ways yet cannot deny the skill and passion how he understands and writes music.  The movie then becomes a fictional recounting of their lives, Salieri always trying to bring Mozart down, but never really can because he loves the art of music too much.

    The story is good in that it is only the recounting from Salieri's old age that we know of Mozart's life, so we don't know the full story.  We just see moments of greatness, when he shows up and plays one of his creations just by hearing it once, to when he performs one of his great concerts or operas.  Salieri is being questioned on whether he had anything to do with the death of Mozart, who died tragically in his 40's, but it is believed it was from his alcoholism.  In the end, Salieri admits Mozart was the greatest composer he ever met, and he resigned himself to at most being the patron saint of mediocrity, as all he ever produced was mediocre music, not for God, but for the mediocre people around him as he seems to lose his mind.

11/22/22 Mijo Turns 18?

     We have been celebrating Mijo's 18th birthday over the last few days, first with his boys on Monday, then with his girlfriend on Tuesday.  It is very hard to shop for him since he has never been into material things like Boy is.  Boy could still give me a list of 20 things he needs right now, if I asked.  Mijo over here just says "I'll come up with something, just give me time."  Basically, we just kind of gave him money to do whatever.  Monday, he had four extra boys join him and we went and dropped him off at EVO where they bowled for a while, then watched a movie.  Apparently, they had gone through the arcade and played some games because he wanted to make sure the punching machine still had his high score before we left.  It did not, so without asking if he could have a little more time, he went and got more credits on his card so he could punch the thing a few more times (this boy's ego is something else).

    While the boys were at the thing, we went to Central Market and bought him a cake which we were going to sing Happy Birthday with, but it didn't happen Monday night.  We got back home after stopping to eat at Whataburger out in Kyle and the boys promptly went to the weight room, to screw around.  Wife and I went up to our room, mostly to give them privacy and let them do their own thing.  We figured we would just do the cake with the girlfriend the next day after we figured we had missed our chance with the boys.  About the same thing happened with his GF, she came over for a bit, then we took them to the movies, when we got out, we ate at Longhorn Steakhouse, where they did bring him a little birthday ice cream cup.  We still didn't technically sing to him, but my mom did sing the birthday song over the phone, when she called him to wish him a happy birthday.

    That was pretty much how his birthday went.  I guess we did order him some specialized wrestling shoes, which cost us like $165.  I had already ordered him some Asics, which he has been wearing, but a couple of kids started talking about Rudis, which is a pricey specialized brand.  He asked if he could maybe have some of those shoes for his birthday.  I liked the idea of him having two pairs to change into every other day, these kids sweat so much, I hate the idea of wearing wet sweaty shoes.

11/21/22 Still Looking For a Lazy Day To Relax?

     I "officially" am on vacation since Thursday night, although I have yet to feel like I am free to just relax.  Friday was the first wrestling tournament, which I was only at for 6-7 hours, but I still had to get up before 5:00am to get Mijo to school, then show up during the day, then go run get Wife and head back.  Saturday was more of the same, taking him back to the facility at 9:00am so he could cheer on the remaining wrestlers, then we picked him up around 3:00pm, took him to eat, where we met up with Boy and his gf.  This was pretty much our Saturday, I guess we did chill in the evening after Boy left, probably after 8:00pm.  Sunday found me getting up and going to HEB to stock up, Wife wanted tortilla soup, so she wrote don everything she might need plus I got food with the thought of Mijo entertaining friends at a sleepover, so I got him the normal rations for teenage boys staying up all night, sodas and chips.  I guess Sunday was sort of restful, although there can be too much rest, as I pretty much slept most of the day away, waking only to eat and watch Tik tok videos.

    I got up Monday thinking it would be different, but it wasn't.  I had my cup of coffee with a couple pastries, and just as I was headed to my afternoon nap at 11:00am, my boss texted if I could go and help out at work for a couple hours.  I then took a shower and headed in.  It wasn't what I wanted to do, but then again, we don't really do hard work.  I was there 3-4 hours, chatted some, did some work, then left.  I left just in time to catch Wife and Mijo with his friends at Zaxby's having lunch, so I drove over there and caught up with them.  I ate some chicken fingers, then we dropped off the boys at EVO, where they bowled and watched a movie.  We couldn't do much but wait, so we went to Central Market to get Mijo a cake for his 18th birthday, which he was sort of celebrating with his bros a day early.  After getting him a cake, we dropped off the stuff, there is always other stuff when we go to Central Market, such as cheese.

   We ended the night, for us, by waiting in the pool playing area, where we ordered some chips and salsa with a soda.  It took the boys another 30 minutes or so before they were out of the movies.  They boys were hungry, as usual, so we went to Whataburger after, out there in Kyle and ate.  On our way back, we dropped off one of the boys, but the rest came and spent the night.  He is supposed to spend his actual birthday with his gf, so even though he has his buddies at the house, at some point, they will be run out and his girl will show up, hopefully.

11/20/22 Cobra Kai Has Jumped The Shark?

     When Cobra Kai came back (basically grown-up Karate Kid), I was surprised at how good of a storyline they came up with and every episode was like a cliffhanger, making us want to binge watch all the episodes to find out what they could come up with.  They even managed to keep it good enough to go from season to season for four solid seasons, they did amazing.  We learned to sympathize with Johnny Lawrence, who was the original bad boy.  We saw that in his day to day, he was just trying to get by and not bother anyone, until he felt he had to get involved with Miguel, a kid from his apartment complex.  Daniel LaRusso finds out Johnny is back at Cobra Kai, and something wakes up in him, where he decides he needs to take down Johnny a peg or two, even though LaRusso is living a fine life and seems rich and successful.

    The second season just gets better with John Kreese coming back, he is Johnny's original Cobra Kai sensei, and sidenote, the man is in his 70's in real life, but still looks like he could kick ass.  This extends the storyline and drama, where at this point, Johnny Lawrence is teaching the Hispanic kid from his apartment complex, Daniel is teaching a troublemaker, who turns out to be Lawrence's kid, eventually LaRusso's daughter wants to fight too, and of course, has feelings for Miguel.

    Season three gets better, LaRusso finds himself going to Japan to visit Mr. Miyagi's birthplace or something and he runs across an old foe, who has now become his ally, Master Chozen, who comes back to the US and acts as a sort of bodyguard.  We also see all loose ends making small vists to LaRusso's life, such as his high school sweetheart that started all the fighting between Johnny and Daniel.

    Season five just seems like they have run out of material.  Johnny and Daniel have pretty much worked out their differences and have had more than one meal together.  Kreese, although a badass, has been locked away, but his own once friend.  The new bad guy has very little to do with the original beef of the Miyagi and Cobra Kai dojo, this Silver character is using the Cobra Kai franchise to spread his message of power and what not, although it is hard to understand or believe what we are seeing.  In the last episode we saw, he had senseis from all over the world flown in to help him run his dojos who he declares are free, so he is not making money, and they are actually costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars, if we look at it without the lens of Hollywood.  Season five just seems when the show has lost its focus.  It was really good until recently, so I think they did a good job, it's just time to end it.

11/19/22 Surprise Lunch With Boy?

     Saturday, after the wrestling meet, we ran back to Delco to go pick up Mijo to bring him home.  Our plan was to go to HEB after we picked him up and Wife has been wanting to make tortilla soup, since the weather has been cool and shitty.  First thing Mijo says getting in the car though is that they are hungry, we gave a ride to his GF.  We were kind of headed to Taco Bell, a quick meal, then we could still go to HEB, as if my body could eat Taco Bell and not need to go to the bathroom, but anyways.  Approaching the Slaughter Lane exit, I saw the Don Dario's sign and I suggested it instead.  Wife and Mijo both said that sounded better, so we headed there instead.

    Boy had been texting Wife a bit, that he might come to the house Saturday afternoon.  It just so happened they were on their way as we were sitting in Don Dario's.  I answered the group text and told him we had just sat down to eat; they could hang at the house and wait for us or do whatever they needed to do.  In a surprise move, he texted back if they could still join us, to which I was a bit surprised but immediately said yeah, come on over.  The restaurant was mostly empty, it was probably around 4:00pm.  We told the waiter and he let us combine the table next to us to make a bigger table, right before we were given our food.

    Boy walked in about 5 minutes later, with his girl, and they ordered food.  It was a nice meal, we were there longer than I would have planned, but because they got there a little later, there food came a little later.  It was good, Boy filled us in on another upcoming trip, this time to Korea, for 3 weeks, and his girl told us about the progress she is making on her program, how she is almost done and fully certified to do some sort of programming.

    Once we finished eating, we took Mijo's GF home, then headed to our house, minus the run to HEB.  Boy needed to come to our house to look for some heavier jackets, for his trip to Korea, which is supposed to be pretty cold this time of year.  They hung around another hour or so, getting caught up with what we've been up to and stuff.  I am a little bothered that his Edge, his SUV, is still sitting without running in their parking lot.  He has some problem with the battery, and he has decided to just use her car instead of getting his up and running.  Cars become bigger problems when they are ignored for too long.  I can only suggest he get it running, I'm not going to go fix it for him.

11/18/22 First Wrestling Meet For Me?

     It was a bit rough on my end, I worked until past midnight Thursday night, then came home and had to have Mijo at school before 5:00am, sucked but that was the only way to get the team from Crockett to Delco where the competition was.  Coach had said the JV boys would start first, weigh-ins would start at 8:00am, then go until they finished.  I came home and slept until around noon.  I was up at the Delco facility by 1:00pm, I stopped to get some cough medicine for one of the wrestlers, after Mijo told me if I could.

    Upon getting there, I got a lay of the land.  I liked that they had twice the mats than could fit at the Burger complex, there were 6 mats for fighting, which helped move the tourney along.  My main interest is buying the hoodies, when available.  I went and got a few hoodies for Mijo and his boys.  It is kind of fun to walk around, see matches from different corners, I even went down to the floor and watched from ground level.  It is weird, but all the wrestlers just take sections of seating when they show up and that is where they sit and lay.  The girls seem to just curl up and sleep in a blanket on the small floor space between the bleachers.  I rarely see the boys falling asleep in this fashion, although I do see them sleeping in sitting positions for shorter periods.

    It seemed there was a long while when I got there that nobody seemed to be fighting, then all of a sudden about five different boys all went in succession, so that got exciting for a while.  I hate to say it was JV level, but I did like that most of the matches I saw, the boys were winning, seemed like a good sign.

    Mijo was telling me today that it was good to get the new wrestlers into a meet.  Real competition is so much different than practice.  No one goes 100% in practice, everybody holds back.  When fighting in a real competition, he says everything is much more intense and happens faster, so he was glad they all got to experience the real deal.

    I left before 5:00pm to go home and pick up Wife.  I will admit I napped for a while since she was stuck in traffic, but she got home around 7:15pm and we left back to catch the end of the night action by 7:30pm.  It was a good first tournament that we didn't have to be there all day long and because Mijo didn't even wrestle, we didn't have to go back the 2nd day.

11/17/22 First Wrestling Meet?

     It seemed like a long time coming, but wrestling season is finally here again, and yet, we could have used a couple more weeks of rest.  Mijo, for one, did not even wrestle.  He was put on the injured list and sat out the first tournament, along with quite a few of his teammates.  I think it is awesome that the team is loaded with something like 54 wrestlers currently on the roster.  According to coach, about half of them are girls, so both teams should be able to fill full teams and the girls did what they showed up to do.  Something like 8 of the 10 weight categories on the girl's side were filled.  A lot of them are new but coach kept posting that so and so wrestler had won their first match of their career, so it was exciting.

    I wish the boys were in better shape, but for whatever reason, probably football, a lot of the boys are walking around with injuries.  Mijo could have wrestled, but the coach chose to let him rest the ankle a couple more weekends, his back-up, who fights JV was also injured on his shoulder, so for this tourney, we did not have a heavyweight.  For that matter, we only posted three varsity boys, but another one had been coughing up blood, so he didn't show up.  A lot of the boys who will end up on varsity, fought as JV, and there was success there.  Mijo's sparring partner last year, who fights 220, was fighting his weight, the weight class has been changed to a max of 215.  He was struggling all week to lose weight down to 220, and he was within a pound, only to find out now he was off by about 6 pounds, to 215.  By fighting JV, he was then put in a sub-category, where he fought at 225, something I still don't understand completely.

    Still, he was able to sweep the competition and he got a first-place medal, along with a new kid from Akins who transferred to Crockett, I believe, who just joined the team and hasn't finished his paperwork.  He also fought JV and was able to sweep his competition, so we had two first place wins on the first day.  Another kid I don't know also got a 2nd place win and then as a kind of surprise, Mijo convinced one of the freshmen linemen to join wrestling, and he got 4th place in his first tournament.

    All in all, I think it was a good first tournament, the newer people got some needed experience, and the team is on its way.  They will have this week to rest, then start up again the week after with a dual, I believe the following week.

11/16/22 Big Box Stores Giving Their Business To Amazon?

     I love convenience, it is probably the main reason I chose to stay in the big city.  When I want something, I like the idea that I can run to the store and buy it.  Growing up in my small town, it was a luxury to go to San Antonio 2-3 times a year to go shopping for school clothes or x-mas gifts.  Leaving in Austin means every week was that time of year, when we could run to the mall any day of the week.  Covid pretty much killed the mall, it is hard to figure when it is open, some of the better stores just closed while we were in quarantine, and then the heist became a loud and round thing, where too many times, and once is too many, idiots ran in there and stole a bunch of Rolex watches, that I am not even comfortable walking around the mall.

    This is not even a complaint about that.  For whatever reason, Mijo could not find socks this morning, so being I am who I am, I figure I'd run to Academy and buy him a pack or two to solve his problem.  Should it really be hard to find socks for a teenager in a store that mainly sells the idea of being an active human that does outdoor shit?  I guess when school is starting, they have socks everywhere, in all sizes, but right now, when they are focused on Santa gifts that barely fit in the back of a truck, socks are a forgotten thing.

    This is what I mean, I feel that they should always have a wall display of the different socks in all the normal sizes people wear.  I saw socks, it seemed 70-80% were for girls, then the other majority were crew length socks, our boy only likes the ankle height ones.  Then they kind of need to be Nike, so they match the shoes, and finally, he needs the plus size ones, which during the start of school, they will carry.  I looked all around the sock wall, then around the shoes and nothing.  Guess where I go when I can't find the stuff I need?  I'm not waiting for the next time socks become important enough to stock, I find them elsewhere, and Amazon always has them ready to roll.

    It sucks but it is the same for stuff like wrestling shoes, I know it is a niche item, I grew up not even knowing wrestling was a thing, but here in Austin, it is pretty big, yet I walked around and saw 1-2 wrestling shoes to choose from.  I can go on Amazon and choose from 20-30 different brands/colors/styles.  Similar thing happened with the football cleats we bought this season, the ones Mijo got were not my first choice.  Every year we had gotten him some full height tank looking shoes to protect his feet and ankles in the trenches, and this year they did not really have those, instead he opted for the ones he got, which looked cool, but only protected his ankle 3/4 of the way.  Maybe this was the reason for the injury, maybe not, but had I seen taller beefier shoes, I would have chosen those.

11/15/22 Turning On The Heat?

     Here is a sign we are getting old, I turned on the central air heater a minute ago.  Used to be both Wife and I played like old west cowboys on who would blink first and turn it on.  She did send me a text that the house was chilly last night, as she laid in bed and Mijo and I were watching the last of Monday Night Football, but I didn't think it was that cold last night.  Sometimes, it does feel colder upstairs, compared to downstairs though.  Anyways, a coworker told me of a family in her neighborhood whose house burnt down Saturday or Sunday night, I think they lit a fire in their fireplace.  I figured, turning it on right now is better because we are all awake for another 8-10 hours and we can monitor the house or not be here while the unit goes thru a couple of heat cycles.  I know the central heating is not like a fireplace, but it does get plenty hot, and debris does collect all summer, so when it is first turned on, it always smells like a little burning.

    I looked at the forecast for the next few days and the temperature doesn't look like it will get above 60 outside, so that just means the house will not have a good reason to climb above 65, at the very least and that isn't good for any of us.  When we were younger, it didn't bother me, we used to even keep a window open in the bedroom and really let it get cold, but now, I don't think so.  Wife will still sleep without any blankets on her, although she sleeps in those goofy sleep pajamas with pants, I like a nice comforter or two on top of me when it gets cold.

    Mijo also has his gimpy ankle, so I want him to be as comfortable as possible.  It was getting toasty in here in a hurry, so I set the temp down to 69 and I think that will be good enough.  I don't mind it a little cooler than normal.  Weird, usually we get a cold front for 2-3 days and the weather warms back up, but I don't see that in the forecast for at least another week.  It's fine I guess; I like the idea of being on vacation next week and it being cold.  Maybe it lasts into December, and we get a white Christmas.

11/14/22 Coach Is Putting The Brakes On The Heavy?

     Wife and I were just talking last week that this is crazy, running from one sport to the next and Mijo hasn't really had any time to just sit back and relax.  The playoff game was just this past Friday, and the first big wrestling meet is this weekend, starting Friday morning for JV and going into Saturday for the varsity kids that qualify.

    Mijo is technically not on the injured reserve, per doctor's orders, but he still has a little pain and discomfort.  It was important enough for him to try and play the final game of his high school career with his teammates, but this is the first wrestling meet of the season, there is a whole bunch in front of him.  Surprisingly, to us, his coach has suggested he and a couple of other kids, his lineman buddy, who is the heavyweight back-up, to both sit this tournament out.  It would be a shame to try and rush into the season and hurt himself and loose the rest of the season.  This sounds like a good plan for a couple of reasons.

    By resting this meet, we then go into the week of Thanksgiving break, so he then gets another whole week off.  By the time Thanksgiving is past, we will be 7 weeks past the high ankle sprain incident, which is more in line with the real time for that type of injury to heal.  For a normal civilian, he is ok.  He has been walking without any brace or boot the past week, going on two weeks, but for wrestling, he found out during practice, it is still tender.  He was telling me he got pinned by his 220-sparring partner, and that never happened last year, so obviously, his ankle has to be hurting him.  He said they did a move, he tried stepping on his foot and it gave him a sharp pain, which he didn't plant solidly, like he would normally have, and his buddy pinned him.  

    I'm sure he will be ok with a couple more weeks of rest, maybe he will need to keep wrapping his leg with tape as well, so I like this time off idea.  I asked him who will represent the team at 285 (heavyweight), and he said it would be a freshman which will be tough, but it's one of the freshmen that was pushed into a starting role as a varsity lineman, so the kid is getting plenty of experience off of Mijo's injuries.  I might have to buy this kid a hoodie too.

11/13/22 On To The Next Thing?

     We might have been shedding big tears with football ending and maybe we took yesterday as a day to let it all sink in, I know I will miss running errand boy for Mijo back and forth, but now it is Sunday, and we must prepare for the upcoming wrestling season of which we are at least two weeks behind.  I'm not sure if we are really two weeks behind, but I know official practice started and while football was going on, the big boys that play football could not really interact on the mats, first because of UIL rules and secondly, coach did not want any more shenanigans like Mijo hurting his knee and not being available for football when he was needed.

    Still, now that Mijo is a senior, we must think a little differently, if he will continue trying to be a jock in college, he must find a team that will take him and preferably, pay him for the privilege.  I have been working for the last 3-4 hours getting all his matches from last year and picking out some sort of highlights film to possibly send to coaches that might consider him for their wrestling teams.  Mijo said he would gladly play football for a scholarship/payment of school, however that works, but if it were up to him, he would really prefer to wrestle instead.  There is less money for wrestling, I mean football is king here in Texas, but there are still plenty of kids going full out for other sports.  Hopefully, a mix tae of his best matches/moves can help get him noticed.

    I think wrestling would be a better fit for him, he loves and understands football well enough, but as an offensive lineman, he is a little short, and I am afraid it may affect his play, when average linemen are 6ft 3in and up and he is squeezing in at...let's say 5ft 8in.  He is as strong as any of them with his 350-pound bench and what was a 600-pound squat before his injuries, he doesn't bow down to anybody, plus he has the heart of a lion and does weigh a solid 250+ pounds, but I am afraid he would get wore down trying to keep up with too many 300plus pound monsters.

    In wrestling, he would find his weight category, even if he stays as a heavy, he could gain some muscle and get to a comfortable 260 pounds, while the maximum weight in his category would be 285 pounds.  I really think for him to succeed, he' would be better to fight in the weight class below, and for NCWA, which Texas State is a member, there is a 235-pound weight class he could very easily weigh down for.

11/12/22 Restful Saturday?

     Usually, after the Cougars play, we take the next day off.  We don't plan any visits or go anywhere.  Mijo is usually pretty beat up, so we give him a light day to recoup and just make some food at home.  Yesterday, he somehow managed to snag himself into working at the school, volunteering to man the table for wrestling at the school's showcase.  The showcase as he explained, was an opportunity for the 7th and 8th grade kids to come around the school and see what programs exist that they may want to join.

    His GF volunteered to man the table, so of course, he was going to want to do the same.  Before we left the house, he asked if he could take my coffee maker.  This proves a perfect opportunity to "donate" a coffeemaker that had been bouncing around the house for a couple years.  Luckily, the little carafe was still intact.  Once he had the coffeemaker, he needed instant hot chocolate, cups, a gallon of water, and hopefully and electrical outlet wherever they set up.  We did not attend this; I spent the three hours he was there getting an oil change then going to HEB.  Wife spent it asleep, then taking her shower and getting dressed to go eat breakfast once he got out.

    We ate breakfast at a restaurant then came home, after which I took a nice nap.  The only plan I had was making some chili (love chili when it is cool), then watching the Longhorns play at night.  Somewhere during the day, DDs Wife called Wife and asked if they could come over to hang out.  We love the baby, my future wrestler, so they came over right as the game was starting.  We ate some chili, and sat in the living room, even Mijo joined, laying on the ghetto bed while we watched the Longhorns lose a weird one.  I know they can't win all of them, but this was at home, they are supposed to have an advantage, which they did not capitalize on.  DD and his little family left once it looked like the Longhorns were on their way to losing, with maybe 7 minutes left.

    It is a little annoying that Boy doesn't come over more often, we're trying to give him his space and not force him to come, if he doesn't want to, but it looks kind of bad that his friend enjoys coming over more often than he does.  Oh well, at least for now, we get a baby to adore and love, he is getting bigger and bigger, already sitting and crawling all over the place, he is a cutie.

11/11/22 TIme Change Snuck Up On Us?

     As it does every year, the time change showed up when we weren't paying attention and stirred shit up for no reason.  I don't understand why this antiquated system is not retired already.  It is bad enough that it gets darker earlier, when in the summer it might be 9:30pm before the sun sets, in the fall it sets closer to 7:00pm, but then we do something foolish and roll the time back, so it is now darker by 6:00pm.

    Maybe a handful of farmers like this idea to start their day earlier, but farmers are not the majority anymore, they could very easily just start working a little later, and how many crops are they tending to in the fall, anyway?  

    What I hear is that the shorter days are already causing increased cases of depression and Seasonal Mood Disorder, which if it is a thing, I am sure I suffered from for many years.  I don't know what is real and what we manufacture anymore, but Wife convinced me I had SMD because I go through a bit of a depression when the time changes.  I don't think it is as bad anymore, but back in my 20s and 30s, it took me weeks of not feeling right before I would come around.

    The time change was last weekend, I believe, and the biggest adjustment I saw was Mijo's football team, making the playoffs meant practicing for one more week, but their practice field on campus does not have lights and by the time they go outside, it is about dark, so they were borrowing three mini-buses from the district and the coaches were driving them to go practice at the Burger facility, specifically, the smaller Burger field.  I was able to get out early on Wednesday (I actually went back to work and stayed until 4:30am), but I went to see them practice out there and it was a good, fun practice.

    By the time I got there, it was dark, and a rare cool night, before this cold front showed up.  I thought it a perfect night for what turned out to be Mijo's last practice, with temps in the low 70s and the coaches in generally good moods, for once.

    The spring will always come back with its longer days, and make things better, but for now, we have to accept these shorter days and do the best we can.

11/10/22 Surviving Two Proverbial Deaths In One Season?

     This was not a season I would wish on anyone, as far as football careers go.  Mijo had full expectations of making first team All-District, maybe even more, after having been recognized the last two seasons as a 2nd Team All-District candidate his sophomore and junior seasons.  He worked super hard all summer, at one point squatting a massive 600 pounds and looking like an athlete in his prime is supposed to look like.  Then he hurt his knee in a freak wrestling practice, honestly, he was fucking around, but not doing anything he didn't normally do, trying to wrestle two lighter caliber wrestlers at the same time.  He landed wrong on his weaker leg, and his problems started.

    MRIs and x-rays showed swelling, but nothing broken.  He was cautiously rested for the first four games, to give him time to be solid for the important district games.  Two games into the meat of the schedule and him getting back into form he suffered a high ankle sprain, which without x-rays, the trainer worried it might be a fractured bone in his ankle.  At this point, I witnessed the saddest moment for him as he was crying not because of the pain, but because he just couldn't use his leg, if there were a way to wrap it, he would have continued playing.  All the coaches came through where he sat and the coaches hugged him and kissed his head, like he had somehow died, but still kept moving.

    X-rays and another MRI would show he had a high ankle sprain, which just happens to take 4-6 weeks to heal, when there were about 4 more games in the season.  The doctor was a little blunt but told him, sorry kid, your season is done.  We asked what if they make the playoffs, could he play in 5 weeks.  The doctor said if he can jump on that ankle without being in pain, then yes.  He walked around in a boot to isolate his foot from day to day and game to game.  After the last game, on a Thursday night, we had the doctor's appointment on Friday and he was released after biting his lip a little and lying a bit about how much pain there really was, still some, but not a lot.

    He suited up for one last time and played with his boys as best he could.  Our concern was that he would re-injure himself because he did not give the ankle enough time to heal, but all that worked out alright.  Truth of the matter without their QB healthy, they had no chance of winning and floundered about all game long.  It was good to see him doing his thing one last time, who knows if there will be a college career right now, but it has all been fun.

    The seniors were basically told to sit the 4th quarter out, they had done everything that had been asked of them, it was time for the lower classmen to have the field.  This brought on the tears on Mijo and his classmates, it was rough, the bleachers were a good ten feet too high for us to come down on the field and we were told by the announcer we weren't allowed, so we just saw them crying and stood above not being able to console them.  It was a necessary part of the game, it always ends at some point, but man, it hurt the way it happened.  All I could think of saying when I finally did hug and cry with him for a second was "did you have fun?"

11/9/22 Playoff Game Versus Rouse?

     Rouse was a tough team to get matched with in the playoffs, they have a lot of experience and have had some success.  Because of our ranking in our district, we got matched with them.  We ended up third in our district, while they ended up 2nd.  There was no point in finger pointing or doing any weird theatrics, it only took watching the first series and noticing our QB did not run to tell it was going to be a rough game.  Our QB had something like 1800 yards rushing this season, but he took some hard hits in the LBJ game last week, and as a result, I don't think he was mobile enough to do what he normally does, which is tear defenses apart with his cutting and quickness.

    The whole day was like a dream, starting with everyone was coming to see Mijo play to nobody is coming because of the impending weather, to experiencing the weather come in then wait for the game to start.  I have voluntarily been setting up our flags around our bleachers at every game and last night was rough, with the wind blowing strongly.  The bleachers were massive and somehow built up from the ground, so it felt like we were even more out in the cold.  It took me almost an hour to get all my flags set up and settle down to go sit down.

    Honestly, I missed the coin flip, when the captains go and meet in the middle of the field.  Mijo was chosen, along with three other seniors, all deserving of the opportunity, all have contributed to the team in their own way.  I had also bought a new video card to record the game and dammit, they wrap it in that hard plastic that is about near impossible to tear open without a knife.  I finally set myself up to watch and record the game, but I did miss the kick-off and some of the first drive, but seeing how tentative our QB was moving, it was easy to see we were in trouble quickly.  Not only was he injured and not capable of running, but our two top receivers were also slightly injured, about half of the linemen had some sort of nagging injury, it was just hard to get anything on offense going.

    In the end, they might have beat us that night, but I know that had our boys been healthy, we would still be in football mode, and wrestling would still just be the next thing waiting.  As it is, all things come to an end and although it will be missed, our high school football career is but a shadow now.

11/8/22 When Life Hits The Gas Pedal? (Part 2 of 2)

     Thursday morning, I managed about one hour of sleep before I got up to get reay to take Mijo to school.  If the playoffs weren't a big enough deal this past week, he also started wrestling practice in the mornings, which mean we have to have him at school by 7:00am.  This is the practice he had me take him to school and then promptly called back to go and pick him up and bring him home.  He said he just did not feel right.  All I remember was bringing him home, telling him not to be a whiny baby, unless he really did feel sick, and let me sleep a few hours because I was still planning on going to work.

    In the background of all of this, Wife and I were talking with our families and getting confirmation that they were coming to see Mijo's last game, I still had to move furniture and somewhere go to the store to have food for when they showed up.  I never really found time to go get food from HEB and never got around to moving the bed, my mom does not like the "ghetto bed" in the living room, which is still my favorite place to hang out when it is just us.

    At the Wednesday night practice, Coach had mentioned to the parents standing around watching the team that they were going to go eat at Golden Corral on Friday around 11:30am, so I mentioned this to Wife, and she liked the idea, which we made sure we made time to attend.  Friday was its own monster with the first big cold front of the year coming and staying all day.  Both my parent's and Wife's ended up cancelling upon news that there would be hail and rain all day.  This did not even happen.  The cold front came in later than expected and had rain, but nothing crazy, except for the cold temps later on.

    We went to Academy to get Mijo something thermal he could wear under his pads and found some Under Armor long sleeve shirts.  We sat there and discussed getting one for his two close friends, then I thought of the other senior who has been playing offensive lineman in Mijo's place, and finally the two freshmen who have had to step up with all the injuries, so we took care of all the big boys, it was expensive, but it was our way of helping out.  Mijo said the boys were excited when he gave them the thermals to wear, it surprised and made their day.

    At this point, all we could do was go home for a couple hours and wait until it was time to head to Leander, to go sit in the cold.  It was so very cold.

11/7/22 When Life Hits The Gas Pedal? (Part 1 of 2)

     I haven't written anything in about a week, life just seemed to get away from me for a minute and that just kept cascading.  This was the first week I have had to work late, it has been so under control at work that I am usually done with any work by the time Mijo is getting done with football practice and I was able to eat dinner with them most nights.  This week, of course it happens to be the last one with football practice is when shit hits the fan and I need to stay more than I want to.

    The main reason we got backed up was that one of our analysis tools went down, which forces us to have to share the one tool with the other company we share space with.  Since I technically am scheduled to work after hours, it is easy for everyone to just say "Mando can run it at night."  This means I get no pity and the other company just gets to use our tool during the day.  I guess I don't really mind doing the work, but this being the week os playoffs and so many little things happening, I felt distracted.  For example, Wife was in meetings or something on both Wednesday and Thursday night, so even if I was busy, at some point, I had to stop and go get Mijo.  

    Tuesday, I stayed late, but I was home before 10:00pm, so it wasn't so bad.  Wednesday, we had so much work, my coworker told me to go home for a few hours and come back around 9:00pm, when she would be done with the work she had to run through the tool.  I decided it was a perfect night to go watch the Cougars practice, which is always fun, even when the coaches are working them hard as possible, they find little ways to be fun and entertaining.  I have loved being a part of the team and getting to know so many of the boys.  After practice, we went and ate dinner at Jimmy John's, a sub place.  The next day, Thursday, was a mess.

    I took Mijo to school almost 20 minutes late because he had to go to the restroom.  Fine, it happens.  I had been home maybe 10 minutes and was making some eggs and stuff for breakfast, when he called me, he didn't feel well.  He wanted to come home, felt like throwing up.  This would probably be ok most any other day, but I happened to work until 5:00am, so I was loopy and out of it, still, there I was driving back and forth to school a couple times.  I worked until 5:00am because I had so many samples to run through our tool, and not that they were all due the next day, but we had several more from that customer coming, so waiting to run them would just make the night longer to run, whenever I decided to do them.

11/6/22 Impromptu Booster Club Meeting?

     Last night, Tuesday, we had an impromptu booster club meeting.  The playoff bound T-shirts came in and they wanted to hand them out as fast as possible.  I like the idea of the shirts; I was the one who brought it up at the last booster club meeting after a coworker told me her kid at Bowie was getting one for their efforts.  I can't complain about the shirt itself and the fact that it was made so quickly is also pretty awesome, but it is a first-generation shirt, and I can only hope that if the Cougars can keep winning, then the shirts will be getting better.

    The shirt said everything it needed to say, and the back even had the whole team and staff listed, which is the cherry on top.  If there is something I didn't like, it is the overuse of white.  The shirt is solid black, and the writing is in white.  Being that the school colors are more black, brown and gold, maybe tan, I would have preferred if the writing was all done in gold or tan, just so it wouldn't contrast so strongly with the black.  I kind of also thought a brown T-shirt would have been better.

    Another little problem is that we ordered way too many shirts, at first only those that paid for shirts were going to get one, so I had ordered about five extra, in case any of Mijo's friends did not get one, but then the coach told the booster club that all the varsity boys were to get one, along with the trainers and coaching staff.  Pretty much, anyone mentioned on the shirt, qualified for a free shirt.  This message did not get to us until the day after the shirts had been ordered.  I am sure we will find kids who wouldn't mind having a shirt, Mijo does have a couple of friends outside of the football team.

    There is a little bit of excitement in the air, we all seem to think our Coogs can beat the first-round opponent of the playoffs, even the boys looking at the tape aren't seeing someone as dominating as LBJ was last week.  It will be an exciting game come Friday night, even the weather is up in the air, it might be a cold night, we'll have to wait until Friday night to see what happens.

11/5/22 Football, Playoff Mode?

     It was exciting, I have to admit, as we waited to see who we were going to be matched with for the first round of the playoffs.  It might be a quick one and done or we could survive a couple of games, either way, this is all new territory for our Cougars and win or lose, our fate depends very much on who is healthy and available for play.  After the dust settled, it appears we are matched up with Rouse, out of Leander.  Wife, never one to miss an opportunity to remove barriers, thought it a good idea to drive up there and see the football field we would be playing in.  Leander is still part of the greater Austin area, to me, the field is about 5 miles of Lakeline Mall, and took maybe 40 minutes to get out to.  Mijo and his close lineman buddy both went with us and when we got there, the field was locked up, but we still parked, and they got off and went to the fence and talked for a while up against it.

    Playoffs is a first for our boys, Crockett had not made the playoffs in 15-25 years, depending on who you listen to.  Either way, we were trying to explain to our boys here that what they accomplished his season is big, like Hamilton says, "to leave a legacy is planting a crop of which you will never eat from but will set up your future teammates to prosper in what you began."  I find this an exciting time and I can only hope our boys perform to the best of their ability.  Every year, we hear the same names, the same programs advancing in the playoffs, at least now, our boys have a seat at the table, and it is up to them how long they get to enjoy it.

    I thought it was kind of cool to see Mijo released to play, taking the assignment last night seriously enough that when they were released game film of their opponent, he went up to his room and started analyzing the defenders and seeing what they do and how they do it.  I wish he would have had a season of this, where he understands the game enough to see it on film and have it related to what happens on the field, but we have to take life as it comes.

    For now, we got grandparents on both sides of the family lining up to come see him on Friday night, so either way, we will celebrate his season and get to watch him on the field one more time.  Friday night is supposed to be a cold and rainy night, so it might be uncomfortable, but then again, that is what football is all about.  Go Coogs!!

11/4/22 I Voted?

     I kind of wanted to vote, not enough to actually go and stand out in the rain, but Wife felt more passionately about voting than me, and you know how that goes.  She forced me out the door, when all I wanted to do was babysit my brisket and wait for the boys to get out of the movies.  First off, I was glad the boys played football on Thursday, so they could enjoy a weekend of just relaxing and taking it easy.

    The next part was that Wife did not get home until after 7:00pm, so whatever thing she wanted to get done, was going to happen later at night.  The final piece to the shitty night was that we had been expecting rain all day and it hadn't rained, until she decided we should be outside with all these Austin liberals.  I went out to look at the grill around 6:00pm and it was just your normal muggy evening, but then by 7:15pm, I decided to bring my brisket in and let it rest in the oven (with oven turned off) and the wind and drizzle had kind of started.  By the time we got in the car, just before 8:00pm, it was raining hard, which I thought would either stop or dissuade her once she saw how long the line was to vote.  We drove over to Southpark Meadows in some heavy downpour, but of course, by the time we were looking for parking, it had slowed down some.  We sat in the car for a good ten minutes before I thought the rain had all but passed.  It kept drizzling on and off while we stood in line, but it really was only about 40 minutes of waiting.

    I was sure that it was some sort of illegal for representatives to be out there soliciting votes, but I guess I was wrong.  There were at least 3-4 people giving out waters, ponchos, and then pizza slices for a moment to listen to what they had to say.  Wife got a water bottle from one of them as they approached the first time, not knowing they were going to break into a soliloquy about why we should vote blue, one of the knuckleheads was still trying to convince us how hard it is to vote in Texas, because we need to show up with our ID.

    Once we got into the building, it was pretty straight forward, I hate to say I just looked for every R and voted for them but fuck Beto and everything the democrat side has become.  That ass wanted to take our guns less than 2 years ago (when running for president), then he decided he wanted to run for governor of Texas, and he forgot that part?  He can suck it a long time.  I disagree with Abbott and what he did for abortion and women's rights, but that is not enough to vote for more imbeciles in power.

11/3/22 Last Regular Season Game?

     It seems just when we got good at being fans, it's over.  We've been a lot more involved this season, and I've been showing up with my flags and banners marking the football field as our turf, which is part of the fun.  Funny how some dopey parents just assume the football field provides those flags and put them up for the teams.  We finally know a lot of the parents and it was feeling pretty good to show up and feel like we are a community, but I guess all good things come to an end.

    The game, on the other hand, was fierce, and not in a good way.  LBJ manhandled our boys and left their mark.  It is easy to see why they are ranked so high in the state.  Usually, our QB has been able to run around defenders and finding holes to run, but that was not the case this week.  It did not help that he was already slowed down with other little nagging injuries, he wasn't really able to throw the week before, his mom said his shoulder was hurting.  He was hit pretty hard, his knee buckled, and he was taken out.  Another of our receivers was hit helmet to helmet and he was taken to the hospital for concussion evaluation.  That LBJ kid was ejected, the play was totally uncalled for.  We also lost our other top receiver, who was also fighting nagging injuries.  We were left with the QBs younger brother, who had been stellar at defensive end, to work the QB position, but he was unable to run or pass, so it was a totally rough night for us.  We have a back-up QB, but as Mijo said, he is skinnier and smaller than our QB, they would have broken him, if he had tried.

    Just looking at the front defensive line, those were big scary boys.  Mijo's friend, who we give a ride to, most days, was saying they were talking mad shit, like "who let the little boy on the field?" as they looked at the guard that has been playing in Mijo's place, he is a good two inches shorter than Mijo, probably stands 5ft5in, and not very strong.  Mijo's friend is 6ft2 and he says he was looking up at the guys and they were just faster and stronger. there was very little to do but take the beating.

    It sucked all around, and I will even add, the referees were penalizing them all over the field, but it did not seem to matter much, there must have been 6-7 unsportsmanlike conducts against the other team, in the end, they still dominated.  As down as our boys were, they have to remember they had a solid season, and for the first time in a long time, they are in the playoffs.  It had been maybe 20 years or something like that, we had been told, plus they won 6 games this season, those are good things to feel good about, I am proud of our boys, they have come a long way.

11/2/22 Oops, Off By One Day?

     I kept telling wife Mijo's doctor appointment was on Friday, this past week, but she insisted it was on Thursday.  We both kind of had a bit of a fantasy that the doctor would say everything looks great, and he can play the last game.  My mistake was thinking the game was on Friday, when it was really on Thursday.  I am almost glad he didn't play, not that he would have been game ready after spending a month in a leg boot that limited his mobility.  Anyway, I picked him up Thursday, per Wife, only to get told "no, his appointment is tomorrow, the doctor isn't even here today."  All we could do at that point was go have lunch, then go back to dropping him off at school and waiting for the game at night.

    Friday was much better, I picked him up around 2:15pm, then headed over there.  It seems we are there so often, the receptionist already knows his name, not really a great sign overall, but it's nice to be remembered.  It took a good 15 minutes before we got to the doctor, every other time it has been within five minutes, but this was in the afternoon.  The doctor had him take the boot off, then did some tests on him, such as jumping on the leg, pressing here and there, pulling on the foot in multiple directions.  Mijo did say there was still a little soreness here and there, but the doctor said he was impressed at how quickly he had come along; the MRI had shown a tearing of at least one of the ligaments.  

    Doctor said he was releasing him to play saying this could happen again, but it is also a freak accident that is kind of rare.  At this point, it is up to Mijo if he wants to play, but being part of the team, I don't think he can say no, he's been wanting to be a part of the team all season.  Wife is very worried, I say you have to live your life, we could be in a car accident and lose a leg just driving to the store for groceries, there is no such thing as playing it safe, there is always a risk.  This is Mijo's decision, we discussed if he gets reinjured, it could be his wrestling season, but at this point, he feels like he has to be a part of the football team, so we will see him on the field next week.

    I don't know how much, when we got home, he was super excited, he wanted to go for a jog around the block, but he says that was harder than he imagined it would be.  He is not a conditioned athlete right now.  His first few steps were also very awkward, he had been walking in the boot for over a month, so his leg has gotten a little weaker, he was surprised to find.  He says he will be alright by next week.  I am worried, but excited to see him happy.

11/1/22 Getting Close To Needing A Break?

     Too many days are blending into one lately.  I hate that football season is coming to a close, it is by far, the best time of the year, and yet, it will be nice to be off the routine of late practices every day followed by a mandatory game time either Thursday or Friday.  Mijo has been injured most of the season, so it's not like we have even enjoyed watching him play, although the team overall has been very good this year.

    Still, I can tell we all need a break, this morning, he was supposed to be up by 7:15am and ready to go, but when I noticed it was too quiet upstairs, I went and knocked on his door and he was still fast asleep.  I find it a huge pain in the butt to have these once-a-week early morning practices, which make our boy have to be at school earlier than normal.  I can dig the 8:00am wake-up for regular days but getting up at 7:00am to be ready to take him, is another story.  This is the 2nd time he has overslept, which is telling me he must be dragging butt and not able to wake up as he is supposed to.

    The good thing about this time of year is that we are coming up on a week off for Thanksgiving, in less than three weeks, and then we have our two-week vacation for Christmas, so between the two, it should be enough of a change of pace to feel normal.  Right now, all I want to do is go back to sleep, which I did yesterday, and it was good, but I was still sleepy all afternoon.  The feeling might just be because of the weather, the overcast look makes it seem cooler than it is outside.

    One of my coworkers already asked for his days around Christmas, so it seems like that time of year, to start asking for what time our family needs of us.  I am going to try and get the week of Thanksgiving, followed by the week of Christmas and then the week of New Year's, see if that idea takes this year.  Last year, they wanted me to give the options to others to take some of that time off, but in the end, I was able to take the days I wanted.

    It seems this whole year at work has been a pain in the ass, with our main customer keeping us on our toes and making us test the limits of our tool's capabilities.  Right now, they are ramping up some huge project with over 50 samples, where we might normally do 5-10 on any given day, so it is going to suck for a while.

10/31/22 Halloween Night?

     Holidays during the week just suck, there is no way around that.  By the time we got home, even if I cut out early, it was after 6:00pm.  Mijo had texted for us to pick him up, it seems some kid accidentally kicked his leg in the cast and sent some shooting pain up his leg.  As a result, we were able to get home at a decent hour and not have to wait for football practice to end at 7:00pm or whenever they end up getting out.  I think Mijo was more focused on the fact that they let his GF come over, and for a Monday night, that was good enough for him.  We ended up picking her up about 6:20pm, then coming home.

    By the time we got home, Wife had just arrived, but she was outside trying to quench the thirst of the hungry trick or treaters.  They seemed to come in a few big waves and by the time it got dark, there were few kids left.  We sat out there getting eaten up by mosquitos until around 9:15pm.  In the meantime, DD, his wife and the baby had stopped by.  They dressed the baby up as a little devil and made a round about the neighborhood.  After they had enough of the walking, we went inside and ate some pizza that just arrived as they got back from walking.

    We all ate pizza, joked around, saw the baby crawling and eating like a big boy, then we kissed the baby goodbye and took the GF home.  We were half surprised to see her family outside with a few cars parked in their property.  The girl invited us to get off and say hi, we did not know what to expect, but we figured why not.  They were having a chili cookoff, and we got to sample about three of the nine various flavors and blends.  The one that was given to me had chunks of brisket, it was great.  Wife had one that looked more like beans, but she asked for a mild version that wouldn't be too spicy.  Mijo had an extra spicy variety.  All were good, we stayed maybe fifteen minutes, met some family members of the girl, then left since Wife has to get up at 5:00am.

    Everything happened so fast, but we got back, I went in the bathroom, Mijo turned on the TV and found Monday Night Football which was almost over.  I sat with him and fell asleep within minutes.  Little holidays like this are fun but they go by too quickly and now we are facing Thanksgiving around the corner in a few weeks.