3/8/21 First Big Wrestling Meet For The Big Boy? (part 2 of 2)

     Wife and I showed up about ten minutes before 9:00am, to make sure we were on time and to get good seating.  There were even less parents this time than on Wednesday night even though there were five schools present.  We set up our waters, I got my camera mounted on my tripod and we waited for the days events.  I like that they play the Star Spangled Banner before the start of any activity and there is a huge American flag in the gym proudly displayed.

    The first match of the day was also the only girls match, and it was quite aggressive.  The girls were in the 106 pound class, so they were tiny things, but they fought just as strongly as the big boys later in the day.  The girl that won seemed to have the advantage of height but I am not sure if that matters so much in this sport, they tend to stay at about the same size because of the tight weight classes.  The next thing I noticed was how wore out the kids were at the end of their matches, specially when they went the full three rounds, the kids were just left in heaps and some had a hard time getting back to their teammates, I even thought they were just being dramatic, but even Baby A said he was tired after the first match.

    Speaking of, Mijo had two matches in his weight class.  The first one seemed like the other kid was a good 5 inches taller even if they were the same weight.  I did not like the optics, but our boy fights like a bigger animal than he is.  He was easily dominating the other guy, he admitted that he got cocky after wards because he could feel he was stronger than the other guy.  Within a minute, Baby A had gone up 5 points to zero, but then he took him down to the mat, and somehow lost his balance and got rolled sideways and while trying to escape rolled himself onto his back and got pinned.  I don't think he was given the chance to even attempt to escape, the referee was quick to count it out.  I'm not knocking the ref, the poor guy did all the matches and it takes a very skilled eye to see and catch every nuance.  Still, Mijo seemed okay after the loss, it was only his second meet so it is more than reasonable that he will meet kids with more skills and some might even be stronger than him, not that he would ever admit to that, or so I thought.

    There was a bunch of other matches as they went through all the weight classes, but eventually they got to his class weight again and once again, the opponent seemed bigger and this one looked more athletic too, not just a big boy.  I was worried he would loose a second match and he would be upset.  The small caveat was that the coach came over to introduce himself to us at intermission.  He asked what it took to get our boy to get mad, he is always so nice and never seems to loose control.  I could only think to compare him to a certain other "strong guy" on the team.  My son, like me, does not like to hear that other people are better than him at anything, unless they are supposed to be, like a senior should be better than a sophomore.  The coach told him this and that before the match, like so and so would have beat the last guy and not let him win.  That got a little under Mijo's skin, he admitted it after.  This second match was so intense, we couldn't help it, the coach started yelling at him after the first round ended and that got us yelling and our adrenaline going.  The other kid was stronger, he took our boy down three times, but one way or another (Baby A says that is what his huge thighs are for) he stood up with the other kid on his back and refused to be laid on his back.  I think he just overwhelmed the other guy and he got tired because by the fourth time they went to the mat, Baby A ended up on top of him and pinned his lower body so he wouldn't escape.  We all then yelled for him to "FINISH HIM!" and "come on, you can do it!" and anything else that comes out when you feel the win coming.  He scooted himself up the boy's torso and got a pin.  It was very dramatic and exciting to witness in the moment.

    After this, I could not imagine him having to do that again, and the coach announced there would be one or two more matches and that would be it.  It seemed fitting once Mijo got a win to enjoy the moment and get on out of there.  He has now had three matches and won two of them, so he is doing pretty good.  He still has a lot to learn, he admits he doesn't know what the coach means when he is told to perform a half nelson or the names of other moves, but he will slowly get there.

3/7/21 First Big Wrestling Meet For The Big Boy? (part 1 of 2)

     Baby A had his first big wrestling meet Saturday morning and it was intense, for sure.  I am not excited about how they run things, I have to say.  I am sure that on Wednesday night, the coach announced the Saturday meet and that he said it would be starting at 5:00pm.  Our son then let us know yesterday that he had to be on campus at 8:00am and the tournament would then start at 9:15am.  Fine, it's not like we have anything else to do at that hour, luckily, we are flexible enough, but maybe the time and announcements could be more forthcoming and maybe more parents would then show up.  At the start of the meet, there were maybe 8 or 9 sets of parents, mostly single people sitting in the smallish gym seating available.  By the end, maybe another 5-6  parents/family members had showed up.

    Regardless of the lack of audience, the sport itself is really intense and I think the more I understand it, the more fun it becomes.  I had this vision of something like Karate Kid with huge teams from different schools showing up to represent their schools was the norm, but so far, I have seen about 6-7 schools and only one has had a formidable team with more than 6 kids.  According to one of the parents sitting close to Wife, their coach made the whole defensive line or side of the football team come out for wrestling, I forgot what school it was, but they had around 18 kids out there.  All that does not matter to the wrestler, as they only wrestle in whatever weight class they are in.  It gets a little squirrelly because the weights are very tightly controlled until 215 pounds, then it is a free for all with the final weight class being up to 285.

    The rounds are just 2 minutes long and they go for a max of 3 rounds, but a lot happens in those 6 minutes.  Some of these kids needed a minute to compose themselves and get off the mat after they were done, they gave so much of themselves.  After the first two matches, I was talking to Wife quietly that these guys are so dramatic acting like they are so tired, to me it is just a few minutes, but all of them seemed wore out after their matches.  My thinking was like Baby A could play a whole football game on both sides of the line and seem fine after, but I guess there is a lot of stopping and resetting and not every play requires 100% effort.  I am so impressed with the heart that these guys go out and play with.  There is nothing easy about this sport, it surely does not get the recognition it deserves.

3/6/21 Somebody Needs To Go Back To School?

     I love having Baby A at home, but recently he has become a pain in the butt.  This week, all of a sudden, he "needs to" go back to working out at 7:30am at school and then get picked up at 9:30am.  This wouldn't be too bad on its own, but then we eat during his lunch break at 12:30, so I have to be at least alert and have a plan for eating around noon.  The day doesn't end there, because then he has wrestling practice at 4:30pm to 6:15pm.  If this was my full time job or I didn't work, it would be fine to keep up with him, as his personal valet, chef, and chauffer.  Truth of it though is that I do have a full time job, and currently I am being pressed pretty good.  I go in about 5:00pm, after I drop him off and drive towards my work.  Boy was helping to pick him up, but they got backed up work too after the freeze, so he has been staying late, so I have to run out of work at 6:00pm and run to get him and since big brother is MIA until who knows what time, I get dinner for the younger one, be it Whataburger, Bill Miller or whatever.

    This works to get me back to work, which I am supposed to be working a ten hour shift nowadays and because of the freeze, we too have had more work than normal, so I have been staying pretty close to my real hours (because of Covid, we kind of have an understanding to get the work that is coming due done and then go home).  After I get home and unwind with a snack, my only other meal is at 12:30pm when I make lunch at home, so I am hungry, I go to bed between 3:00am and 5:00am.  The new day still starts at 7:00am, when I have to get up to wake up Sleeping Beauty, he doesn't seem capable of hearing his alarm which can start ringing at 6:30am right next to his head.  I drop him off, today I stayed awake by drinking coffee and fighting my sleep until 9:15am when I headed to go get him.  We got back home around 9:50am, he wanted some breakfast tacos from Bill Miller, the boy loves that place.  I slept from 10:00am until 12:30.  I had heard the alarm, woke at 11:50, but wanted a little more sleep and then woke when he came down and asked if I was going to cook lunch.  I woke, rushed over to turn on the stove, my pellet grill is having trouble again, I'll fix it eventually, and made us some NY strip steaks with refried beans and cauliflower rice on the side.  We ate around 1:00, then after we finished and I cleaned up, I was able to sleep another while until 4:00pm and I took him back to wrestling practice which this time ended at 5:30pm.

    I hate that all I could do after getting home is lay on the bed and kind of nap, kind of tried to stay awake.  Wife had called that she was on the road at 5:00pm, so I wanted to be ready for her, but this week has just sucked the life out of me.  Oh well, Wife is here all week for Spring Break, maybe she can lighten the load this coming week.  We have a wrestling meet tomorrow at 8:00am, so I slept all day so I can go to bed early, I am pretty sure I am not going to sleep well tonight.  If Mijo was at school, I would just drop him off at 7:30am and pick him up at 6:00pm and not worry about all the stuff in between, but then again, I do love having all that time to interact with Mijo, it would just be nicer if life backed off a bit.

3/5/21 First Wrestling Meet?

    I have to admit I had no knowledge of what was going to transpire during this first wrestling meet and honestly, Mijo was about as clueless.  All he knew was that he was supposed to be on campus at 4:00pm.  He had sort of volunteered me to help run the scoreboard or something, but I guess somebody else stepped in before I got there.  All I know is that I asked him to text me a time to return to campus, I dropped him off at 4:00pm and headed to the bank, not knowing if they were going to be charging to get in like they do for football games.  After hitting the ATM, I came home to wait the extra hour and a half, he told me to be there at 6:00pm.  At 5:40 or so, he calls me saying he needs to shave before 7:00pm or he won't be able to wrestle.  We had bought a new razor for him sometime in the fall, he just had not gotten around to doing it.  I remember even discussing it during the Christmas break and he just said "later".  Later came today as his coach put him up against a wall.  He admitted in the bathroom where we managed to take care of his "neck beard" that the coach had told him a couple of times during practice to shave, so this wasn't foisted on him last minute.

    The meet itself was quite small, it was Crockett, Anderson, and a third school.  Normally, the teams are up to 15 kids strong, but with Covid, few kids are participating this year.  Crockett has 4 boys but only 3 were present.  They had two girls but the other school did not have girls in their weight category, so they did not wrestle.  The matches are two minutes long with up to three rounds, although Baby A only did one round.  A couple of the matches went the full three rounds and it doesn't seem like much, but once they grapple and put themselves into weird holds on the floor, even two minutes is a long time.  I thought and we have been joking that the whole thing is "gay" (not being derogatory, just the best way to describe it), but it really isn't.  There is a lot of strength being displayed to maneuver an opponent into a position and then subdue him takes skill, patience and strength.

    Honestly, when Mijo fought, I wasn't sure if he won or lost.  They are supposed to put either a red or green wrap on their legs to identify them and then based on certain moves or holds, they get a point or two.  I don't see my boy as big and strong but out there competing, he is just a thick massive thing.  His skills are raw, he doesn't even know the names of the moves, and even he admitted he wasn't sure of he had won after it was over.  The other kid was taller and a big boy too, but I think Baby A was stronger and more aggressive.  He pushed the other kid out and kept him in the perimeter of the ring, like he was protecting the center as a lineman in football.

    It was funny, in the other matches, parents all around me were yelling different holds or moves to their kids, like go for the Smith pull or Johnson cradle, I don't know what they were yelling, but it seemed to mean something.  They would then all react in unison when something happened, so whatever the kid did on the floor was good.  All I know is that I need to learn a lot more about this sport.  The next meet is Saturday and five schools are going to be present.  Mijo already knows he is going to have two matches, so I hope it goes well.

3/4/21 Another Small SUV For Us?

    I am keeping Boy away from this one, but we just replaced the Ford Ecosport we had bought last summer with a Ford Escape.  Although we bought it Sunday, it did not get delivered until yesterday afternoon, so I really had my first drive on it yesterday dropping off Baby A at practice, and running through my routine of going to work and stuff.  First off, I notice it is bigger than the Ecosport on the inside.  It drives slightly bigger too.  The fun go cart factor does not appear to be there or I need to punch it a bit more.  I remember taking a turn on the Eco, I could make it go 90 degrees on a corner and it seemed to stick and throw you around, that felt fun.  I tried doing that yesterday, going in a little too fast because the light was changing, but it just felt like doing a chubby turn as it went wider than I wanted.  I guess that is good, its ride is more composed, I'm sure Wife will appreciate that.

    I love all the bells and whistles on it.  First thing I did was sync my phone to the stereo, it took a minute to get them to communicate, which got me worried because it is a 2013, the connection would be wonky.  Once it connected, the phone list transferred almost instantly, Spotify works perfectly, and I called Wife and the hands free phone works great.  The sunroof is a "panoramic", so it opens all the way to the back so the rear passengers could get sun on them, if there were any.  I was still looking for flaws in the leather and couldn't even see wrinkles in the driver's seat from 7-8 years of the previous owner.  I did find a piece of paper in the owner's manual with what appears to be an Asian name, no offense, but it is something like Ngie or something.  I imagine a small 100 pound single lady driving it, which is why the interior seems so new.

    One problem I am dealing with is figuring out the door code.  Ford has the ability to unlock the door with a code thing on the driver's door.  Problem is that I looked in the owner's manual for the code and couldn't find it.  I looked underneath where I was able to find it in Boy's Edge, but it was not there for this one.  I saw a Youtube video how to get it through the computer, but I need to go try it.

    Other than that, it seems perfect with it's remote start, paint looks new, tires are fairly new, it has cool shiny rims on it, I even saw a spare tire in the rear, which is good because they were not offering that for a while.  I also found the window sticker in the glove box and brand new this little car sold for $35, 500.  That makes me feel like I got an even better steal, paying only $11,300.

    I was kind of sad when Boy crashed the Ecosport, after I found out he was okay, it did do a great job protecting him, he said airbags deployed from steering wheel, below at his knees and even on the side, I guess so he wouldn't hit the door, Mijo walked away a little bruised but unharmed.  I really enjoyed driving it and I was kind of looking for a twin of that car.  I couldn't find one with AWD, maybe that is what made it turn so firmly around street corners, but that negative experience did lead us to get this car.  I almost feel like it is a mild upgrade.  The Ecosport was a Titanium too, it was also loaded, but the Escape feels bigger and we are not stuck for years with a $300 note.  We paid for it once and we are done.  We just have to decide whether to insure it with full coverage or just liability, we don't have to do as a bank requires.

3/3/21 Solving Problems One Step At A Time? (Part 2 of 2)

     Sunday morning I got up extremely early, I was downstairs making coffee before 7:00am.  After napping on and off from 8:00pm until midnight, we went upstairs to bed and then I wasn't sleepy.  We both stayed up watching Tiktok videos and just catching up.  Baby A even came in the room at one point, the door was open because I was trying not to run the A/C and I had some windows open trying to keep it comfortable.  He came in asking if we could buy him a video game for his PS4 or XBOX.  This boy just does not ever ask for anything, I can't tell him no.  I gave him my card and he ordered some $9 game.

    After getting up super early, I made some cinnamon rolls, the little tubes that pop when you twist them, and enjoyed my cup of coffee with two of them.  I watched Youtube until I got bored, around 10:00am and headed back up to try and wake Wife.  She was up, but not ready to get out of bed.  We laid in bed, rolled around together, you know, then I napped for another hour and we finally got up when she suggested we go to Covert Ford to look at a couple of used cars.  Not having anything better to do, I said sure.  We woke Baby A, got ready and took off.  It was fine, just cloudy and cool at the house, but it was misting hard by the time we got there.  I would almost call it a full on rain, but we kept going, walking the lot.  I was so easily distracted by the F-250s splattered here and there, they have like 30 in their used inventory, but the two that I liked were still over $50 and $60,000 used and with a bit of miles.

    Just as we were walking back to our car, the sales guy had even started walking away from us, I noticed a blue what I thought was an Ecosport, exactly like the one Boy crashed a couple months ago.  It was actually an Escape, which is a little bigger.  It looked too new, the paint was still bright and shiny, even with all the mist.  It has new tires, so it looked good, just as I was figuring he would say it was over $20k, he said this is the perfect car for your son.  It is a 2013, and it is only $11,800.  I was waiting to see the inside be a disappointment, with torn seats or something, but even after he said 2013, the leather seats looked brand new, they didn't even have the worn wrinkles on the side.  The guy said it was a Titanium, which means it is loaded with all sorts of options.  It has auto start from the keyfob, leather, a panoramic sunroof, a large screen with back up camera and sensors.  I even asked for the carfax report surely it had been in a car accident or something.  There were no problems indicated, so we kind of fell in love and test drove it.

    Wife then suggested I offer $10,000.  We did, but the guy tried doing the hard sell, showing us on paper that he needed to add taxes and all that other stuff, bringing it up to almost $13,000.  He really wanted us to finance, suggesting we just pay a huge down and make payments for four years.  I told him I didn't want payments and we weren't coming in to buy, we were just looking.  He then asked what payment would I really accept.  I said maybe I could swallow $11,000, but I wasn't going to go all the way to $13,000.  He came back with $11,348 or something like that.  I considered it a win because it was less than what the car was selling for.  I don't know if it could have been brought down more, but just the fact Wife and I had talked about almost getting a $21,000 car the night before made this seem like a steal.  We only test drove it around the block, we didn't get it on the highway, it was misting bad and it was almost empty of gas, I didn't want to take a chance and run out.

    This does seem like the perfect car for Mijo to start learning on, it is a very nice looking car, other than the age of it, it seems perfect.  My plan is that this is for learning, once he goes to college, we'll look at upgrading him.  Paying for it cash means we don't have to worry about a payment adding to our monthly total, so that is win win in my quest to move down the line and get myself a new something sooner rather than later.

3/2/21 Solving Problems One Step At A Time? (part 1 of 2)

     I was really stressing internally with the idea of having to save up to buy Baby A another car that he can use here in a few months when he starts driving.  The truth of the matter, I don't really want him driving because once he does, he'll be taking care of himself going to and from school, so I won't be necessary in his day to day affairs.  This removes a lot of overhead concerns for me, but I do like the time we have coming and going because we get to talk and eat together.  The problem is that he is not like Boy who hesitated until he was 20 to start driving, this one already wants to go on his own.  He hasn't really even started practicing, so he has a long way to go, but I want a back-up car in the driveway anyway.

    After telling Wife I was kind of concerned about the Excursion after the freeze.  It is running fine, but somehow or other, I got the feeling something was up driving home last week Monday and Tuesday night after the freeze.  Nothing is outright wrong, just a little shiver in the wheels as I was coming home.  I kind of even thought I might have a low tire.  I looked at them when I got home, and they were all okay, so it must just be in my head, still, this makes me want to have another car in the driveway, just in case.  Wife seemed to understand and we spent the weekend looking at some options.

    We drove to Bluebonnet Ford on Saturday, it is in New Braunfels and she just thought it would be cool to drive there and then stop at Buc-ee's.  We looked at several Jeeps, which the thought was Boy could end up with a newer Jeep and Baby A could get the Edge.  Boy likes the idea of a newer vehicle, but he's not sure he wants a new longer note.  I decided to forego that idea and just stick to getting a small SUV.  We then looked at several used cars, at Bluebonnet Ford and then Truck City Ford in Buda on the way back.  We had a pretty long conversation with the sales lady there, but they didn't have much selection.  Their best bet was the demo cars, which they had a few to choose from.  I almost liked the 2020 Ford Escape she showed us, with only $4,100 miles for $21,000.  It seemed like a good idea until we got home and looked online.  I found several brand new ones selling for $20,500 or so, which is less than the demo she was advertising.

    I thought Wife had had enough Saturday, after we stopped at Sam's and bought stuff to make some hoagies (fancy word for subs, which is fancy word for sandwiches).  We ate our big hoagies, watched Wandavision and the rest of the night was a blur as I napped in bed while Wife watched crappy TV.