10/7/18 Looks Like The Longhorns Are Leaders Again?

    I hate to admit that I was not expecting today to go well for our up and coming new generation of Boys to Men as the old band title goes.  Oklahoma is always a barometer of the quality of the Texas team.  They are a team always in the national picture, and they are used to being in the driver's seat.  It takes a well prepared Texas unit to compete and win against our opponents to the north, even when their team is mostly or heavily comprised of Texas product.

    The beginning was just classic with each team taking turns scoring, Texas scored on every possession in the first half, except the last one which they only got the kickoff with a few seconds left.  The third was almost magical with three unanswered touchdowns, the game almost got a little boring.  By the start of the fourth, I was feeling like it was time for a good ole siesta.  The Longhorns looked like they just needed to keep running the ball a couple more series and time would run out.  Thinking the game was over was stupid o my part, but I got up too early and was paying for it now.  I got sleepy and closed my eyes for five minutes and suddenly Oklahoma has somehow scored twice and the game is about tied.  The final minutes of the game were the kind that age a man.  The Longhorns came out with the ball on the last 1:40 seconds or something like that.  They took the ball to the 32 or something like that and then with 19 seconds, they put the entire game and put it on the shoulders of a freshman kicker.

    Had he missed, the game would have gone into overtime and you just never know what could happen, it gets crazy then.  I did learn something though.  In watching my son's games and like this past week when it was a blowout, I was thinking that the other team should show some class and quit scoring, bring in the B team or something.  Texas didn't exactly bring in the B team, but once they got ahead by three touchdowns in the 2nd half, they lost their focus.  They wanted to change playing style and just run the ball to move the clock quicker.  They are and have been for a long time, a team that relies on passing as much as or more than running the ball.  It is riskier to throw the ball, but it was with those risky chances that you took passing earlier in the game that got you ahead.  Mercy, it seems, does not belong on the football field.  As soon as Texas relaxed, Oklahoma mounted a comeback and we almost lost a game that looked like it was under control by halftime.

    Although it seems ugly, once you got your foot on the opponent's neck, do not let go.  Football is a game very much embedded with emotions and even when a team is down, if they feel a bit of a rally, like they could come back if they get this or that to happen, then that usually happens and the team that started out hot does not always stay hot and in control.  I am just glad Texas can walk away with this one as a win, it is certainly a big time win and makes it seem like the program might finally be in good hands under Coach Herman.

10/6/18 Is It Stealing?

    I got up early as I have been doing on the weekends and went and took care of a couple things.  First of all, Wife needed an oil change, so I took her little Kia Soul to Jiffy Lube and got the high mileage oil change at a rapey $90, but we did have a $15 coupon and it is good for 7500 miles.  While I was at it, they changed the air filter which this time was full of monarch butterflies.  Last time, it was Southern Dogface Butterflies or that is what the yellow residue looked like to me.  After taking care of the tab, I stopped by Lowe's as I was taken to both extra bathrooms and shown how badly they have gotten.  I then felt like I needed to fix them on the spot, even though it was late at night, Wife was even standing there in her birthday suit being bossy and pointing my shortcomings like it is what she does 24/7.
    The shower downstairs just has no water flow, which is the problem we had in our shower, so I went and bought the same water mixer/faucet thing.  In the upstairs shower, the water diverter was not closing completely, so I bought a new water spigot thing and since that was a simple screw in thing, I did it within minutes of getting home.  At halftime of the UT game, I have gotten at least the upstairs bathroom up to normal standards.  Wife had also complained that the toilet bowl was not getting enough water, which I was sure it was just the design, but I looked in the water tank and there was a loose hose which I stuck in the only place it made sense (that I could reach, Wife was standing there bossy and nakkid, :) ).  That fixed the toilet easily enough.
    As far as the title, I also needed a new step ladder as both of my little plastic stools I use around the house to hang decorations or reach high items are now cracked and I just had an ugly vision of the hard plastic collapsing under my 400 pound ass and going through my leg, injuring me again.  I didn't exactly find what I wanted, which would have been a small ladder that folded yet could hold more than my weight.  But I did notice an open item sitting on the floor looking slightly used but still new-ish.  The frame where it was sitting by said it was $99 and after opening and really looking at it front and back, I decided it was about as good as it's going to get.  It had a weight limit of 375 pounds, which is close enough to 400 for me.  I did the self checkout but I could not scan the tag as it was in the middle of the almost 4 foot long frame, but the cashier working there took the tag off and when she scanned it, it read $19.99.  I smirked to myself, do I tattle on myself that on the wall over there it sais $99.99.  I kept my mouth shut and hustled on out.  Is that stealing?  I buy plenty of their overpriced stuff all the time, so I consider this as keeping us honest in our dealings.  Anyways, gotta get back to the game, halftime is over.

10/5/18 Javalina Does Not Want An Out?

    I was talking to my little jock last week and I told him that he needed to decide if he was going to stay with the sports thing or maybe give it up and dedicate himself to the band thing.  I wasn't asking after the latest loss, he was actually offered a programming class in the spring, so his schedule might have to be moved around and I am just having a discussion if he has to remove an elective which band seems to be.  He was kind of with an attitude "Whoa whoa whoa, you want me to be a band geek, how about me dating girls?"  I told him "that is the beauty of band, all the decent girls are already there and you get to hang out around them."  "But I don't want a band dork for a girlfriend!"  I took my filters off, that was an attack.  "Dick, your mom and I are both band geeks, isn't your life pretty sweet?  Pay attention Goober!"
    I am not trying to insult anyone, but on the whole band people are more "creative types, the girls that are really there to play are competitive in life.  In all the movies we watch, where are the morons most likely to be in, group wise?  Duh, the football team, bashing their heads against each other.  You would be lucky to land a ballbuster like your mama, she gets shit done and still has time to scare you and your brother from 3 hours away.
    I was very much in his position coming out of eighth grade.  I had played two years of junior high football, I started on both sides, right tackle and nose guard.  I loved the idea of playing, but I wanted to be a playmaker, I would have accepted like fullback or back-up quarterback (there have been a couple of fat QBs).  I was just as good in band and one of the band directors pulled me aside and said "stick with band next year, you have something special."  Rubbing my ego always works, plus the football team has always been a consistent 3-7 team, so it's not like the jocks rocked.
    I am not trying to persuade him to go one way or the other, it is his choice to make.  I know he really likes being on the football field, even today, they had practice after a game they lost without pads, he said it was the most fun because they got to tackle and work on techniques and angles without all the padding.  Boy went a completely different trajectory than I was expecting with the robots and rockets leading up to the STEM program, so I will keep an open mind.

10/4/18 Paredes Paddled Our Boys Hard?

    At the beginning of the season I worried about the boys needing to be grounded and that a few losses mixed in with a few wins makes for good overall learning.  I know I sound like some lame hippie type, but I just see all these middle schools becoming parts of each other as they fill out the local area high schools and eventually most rivalries right now will be teammates in a year.  What is the point of letting one school "beat" on another to the tune of 40 to 0?
    My worst fear came to light after the game.  Javalina looked to be the center that was screwing it up a few times.  More than once on third and long, while in the shotgun formation, he would overthrow the QB behind him and cause the QB to have to run back and get the ball or he would roll it to him again making the QB have to bend down and scramble to get the ball.  My first question after are you thirsty? was "were you the center....?" not wanting to say that messed up so many times.  He said "yeah, and I don't even care."  He said he told the coaches he didn't want to be center, that he would prefer to stay only on defense.  Again this week he pretty much stayed on the field for every play, even kickoffs which he had to rest last week, but there was communication errors and he was told to just stay in.
    He seemed to be in a little shock as we drove to IHOP telling me if I had seen how the defensive lineman had grabbed him by the shirt and tossed him to the ground and he bounced spun and managed to roll himself back up in one motion.  He said this was the first time he was battling someone that was bigger, faster and stronger.  He said he wanted to be like that kid, that is all he cared about now, was to get stronger for the next time he meets up with this one kid.  He said the kid was complaining to the umpire or one of the referees that Javalina was holding him.  He never got called for holding, I told him and we practiced what is nowadays acceptable, you can use your hands inside the chest, so my boy was kind of controlling him as best he could by grabbing on the inside of the chest, once you wrap the guy, then it is holding.
    I don't know what happened, the whole team was much faster, and at every position seemed taller and faster.  Our boys could not find the line of scrimmage, yet we beat this team last year.  It was their worst performance by far.  I can see Javalina is wearing himself thin playing every play, and even though his teammates said he wasn't doing enough last week, he did get player of the week for last weeks game.  He said this bothered him too, he kept thinking about trying to play a perfect game and that is near impossible.  He said hopefully the coaches see that I am not a good fit at center and they'll just let me focus on defense.

10/3/18 How Many People Get To Do What They Really Love?

    I just saw Class Rank and it took a look at a person willing to do anything for the chance to get ahead.  She ends up coming in 2nd, due to an A- in a PE class which she said she couldn't climb the rope in class because she had literally been up the night before writing thousands of thank you notes for participants of the Special Olympics.  This devastates her but gets her on a plan to change how classes are ranked by going to the school board.
    At the school board she meets a classmate who is very passionate about changes he believes are more important, such as the school district offering Chinese instead of French or having bike lanes on the roads.  Veronica, the girl suggests he runs for the school board to get her wish of changing class rankings and their importance.  She offers to be his campaign manager, when he asks why she doesn't do it, she says she will be gone the following year, as she plans to be in Yale, if they will accept her.  He goes along with it, partly I think because he likes her but partly because his grandma had been involved and he just has it in his blood.
    So when he starts getting to know her, she divulges that she plans on being a History major, he asks interested, so you like History?  She says no, but it is the degree with the likeliest acceptance to Law School.  To which he asks if she cares about being a lawyer, and again  she says not really, her dream is to be on the Supreme Court, for some reason.  But every move she does is calculated for that job.  She plays violin because one of the Supreme Court people plays it, she volunteers in many projects, not because she is interested in them, but because it will look good on her resume.  Bernard, the boy, kind of has a problem with this.  He only spends his time doing things that benefit him, such as his arguing with the school board.
    So how many people gamble on a degree that they are not particularly interested in?  I know that the degree I got fits me but if I went and just got a degree in what I was passionate about, I would probably have studied music, but the idea of being a band director did not seem like something I would want to do as a career.  Do we all just fumble our ways through life and accept how it turns out?  I am ok with what I do, I would never say I am passionate about this.  I am a cog in the wheel, the wheel had been pretty generous in pay, so I got comfortable and fat and old.  I guess fear keeps me here more than anything because I hate thinking I could be making more money by making some moves, but then I am at a point where I am left alone most of the time, and that is ok too.

10/2/18 Some People?

    Work can be a pain at times, because of the gloves and lab coat, I don't like leaving the chemistry room too often, and when I do, most of the time, it is to pee.  Last night was no different.  I waited as long as possible, and it was probably around 10:00pm when I headed to our private bathroom in the long hallway.  I know I am going to pee and fart and sometimes I might go even farther, so anyways, I am in  there minding my own business when I hear somebody walking down the hall.  They were either rasping the wall with their knuckles or knocked on the door very faintly and then attempted to open the door in one motion.  I heard the steps and I usually whistle so that anyone trying to get in will hear the noise and change direction.  I did not ever think this could make them come at the door more aggressively, but....
    I said something generic, maybe I coughed when they were knocking, then I said "occupied".  This alerted the person (most people would go away at this point), this guy asked if I needed help.  I was like "what the?!?!" I then told them to "keep walking, I am in here."  And the guy now goes "who is this?  I don't recognize your voice."  I said "good, now go away."  Then because I am about the only person in the building, and I know it was the security guard that I talk with now and then, he asked "Is it you, Mr. Gallegos?"  "Yeah, can I shit in peace?"  and he sounded heartbroken "oh, ok, I'll just keep on going."  "Thank you."  I said feeling almost bad, but what the F, did he want to carry on with how have you been, while I possibly squeeze out some brown divers?
    This was very strange, but I guess.  Maybe because we always chit chat he expected the same, even if conditions were a little weird for it.  It was a slow ass day, this is the most entertaining thing that happened today, probably.  Javalina was too tired for much conversing and I didn't even see Boy.  Wife talked to me while I drove into work, but she was more concerned with getting her food, she was in the drive through somewhere.  Girlie texted, but she was just asking how the weekend had been, we didn't discuss anything new.  Oh well, this was a Monday.

10/1/18 It Appears Disney Is On The Docket For The Summer?

    It should make for an interesting summer vacation this coming June/July when we go to Florida and we are joined by both my folks and my in-laws.  We have traveled before together, so it wouldn't be a first time.  When I was going to college, we went up north to work the sugar beet fields and even stayed in the same house together.  A couple years ago, my folks and my in-laws traveled to Las Vegas in the same bus and I believe they hung out together, for the most part.
    Wife and I had already talked amongst ourselves that we were going to go.  It was a shitty summer last year that we really didn't go anywhere, and most of you would say that Disney is not ideal as it is packed with other idiots and it is hot and expensive and we don't have little kids, but it is also a cool place to go, I like the ambience there.  I even like walking around "Downtown Disney", where there are no rides, only store after store of Disney related merchandise and snacks.
    It was odd that it was my dad who asked "what about Disney and going to Florida this year?"  It had been on my mind, but sometimes it seems like my parents want to be private and thus it would be better with no outsiders, but then I don't or can't think of my in-laws as outsiders since Wife and I have been together since 1987, and my folks have known my in-laws probably longer than that since it is such a small town and everybody knows everyone.
    My folks big concern with the trip is that my mom worries about driving such a long way.  This is the same problem my in-laws have.  Last year, my father in law rented a 12 or 15 passenger van and they went up to Milwaukee and cruised around for a week in it.  A 15 passenger van would be great to get all them old farts plus us 4, maybe Boy's GF, my sister in law and maybe her hubby, he has been weird about traveling in the past, and maybe the other sister and her older boy, the younger one always goes to visit the other family in the summer and her "hubby" has bad knees and never goes anywhere.
    So a big ole van would get most of us there, my sister will probably go, but be on a different schedule, and they will go in their own vehicle, they always do.  My fancy attorney bro bro is even harder to tell.  If he even goes, they might fly and stay at a Disney room, (psst, he has attained poop don't stink status, but shhhh, it's a secret).  Just kidding, but the fartknocker never does things the way we do, so I expect they would make their own arrangements to get up there.
    Right now it is all sounding good.  We have to find out who is in, and get a big enough house for everybody, it should be fun, the bigger, the fancier and the more people we split the bill with, I think.  This is all preliminary, but I am getting excited, I love being up there, and if I can help it, I would love to be up there two weeks, but we will see.