As I have mentioned, Wife is back in our hometown and running into all sorts of people. Because of her new titles, she is getting a bunch of new trainings, and for example, today (Thursday), she was in San Antonio at a conference. Through random selection, she sat at the same table as my old room mate from the UT days.
When I went to UT, there was one other guy from Crystal City that was going to come up, but his parents wanted him staying in the dorms, mostly because he had no car. I knew I did not want to stay in the dorms, I had last shared a room with somebody when I was in 6th grade, I was not going to share a room as I turned twenty. Luckily, while getting transcripts and last minute paperwork at the Junior College, I ran into this guy. Turns out, he was also headed to Austin to UT and he also didn't have a roommate locked down. We were both hesitant, we had had many run-ins at the different silly games we played, such as Pictionary (our team won the three semesters it was held), disk golf, and other shenanigans. I was kind of cocky and smart-ass, walking out of the junior college with a 4.0. He was a couple years older and had a different coolness and always needed to be in control.
We actually clicked, and had an awesome three years at UT. We were inseparable, waited for each other after classes if it was reasonable, worked out together every day, went out on the weekends to the same places. He was even godfather to Boy, I thought we would be friends for life. Then we graduated. After a couple months or maybe a couple years, we had moved into our first house, I had just bought our boat, since the boat was a 1998 and we graduated in 1994, it was a good four years, he came over with his usual posse. He always traveled with a group, his brother, sister, wife, and maybe another friend or two. Instead of having a good time, maybe planning to go out to the lake, he was belligerent, already drunk when he came by. He kept calling me a pussy this and faggot that to Boy who was four or five. It doesn't hurt me to call me whatever, but I also didn't understand why the anger towards me, I had about held this guy as a role model. He helped me break free of my introvertedness. He made me more confidant to talk to girls. I just said okay, he left very drunk, and never called to apologize or say anything else about it, so I moved on.
Fast forward to today, Wife is sitting across from him, asked him are you so and so? He says yeah, did we meet at another conference? Wife said uh no. You were my husband's roommate for three years, we know each other. She said he just agreed with her and excused himself from the table. This is very odd behavior to me. I can still envision the Depeche Mode playing in the background, that was his kind of music, to our Metallica. He came around, but there were a lot of great nights we ran around with the windows down enjoying new music he exposed me to and vice versa.
From what I have gathered from Wife, she has run into other people that know him. He is Director of a private school down there, and one of the teachers at Wife's school worked with him. She was saying that he claimed to have been roommates with Mathew McConaughey while we went to school. He can claim him and Michael Dell if he wants, but I never saw either in our shitty apartments off Riverside (Royal Crest Apartments) or Oltorf (big 4 bedroom apartment) when the other guy from Crystal City changed his mind and wanted to stay with us the second year, and another guy from Uvalde also joined us.
It is funny to me to recreate yourself like that. I have always accepted me as I was. We have good qualities and shitty qualities, we all do. Some of us that are driven might not have foresight to slow down and smell the roses. Others that spend too much time partying forget time is moving along and get left behind. Some of us settle for a simple life, some of us are never quite content and we keep moving and searching for riches we might never acquire. Whatever mission we are on in our given time, keep it real, why fabricate stories to make yourself sound more interesting than what your original story was? If he needs to keep selling the story of having a famous roommate, go ahead, again, I don't care, but what does that accomplish? I could tell people I drive a Lamborghini, but I really don't have that experience, and I doubt my fat ass would even fit in a tiny car like that.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Saturday, October 29, 2016
10/30/16 A Tummy Ache For Chubs?
Part of the past week's woes was Chubs getting a little upset stomach. Normally, I would just chuckle at Wife having to get all Florence Nightingale and seeing her come back with half of CVS in the kitchen. I, on the other hand, take a let's see if we can just wait and have a fart release the pressure. I hate dealing with a sick kid, but I know Chubs rarely gets sick and he was not enjoying any of this, although...
We figured this was mostly his fault. We went Sunday afternoon to Costco and bought a huge pumpkin pie for like $5.99. I thought it was a pretty good price, but I had a sliver when we got it home and just found it a little meh. It wasn't liquidy, but it wasn't as firm as pumpkin pie should be for me. Wife left town, I didn't like it, Judas eats like a bird, so it was Chub's pie for the killing. He had a good sized serving after dinner Sunday and then complained he didn't feel well. I just figured it was his way of staying up late, since it is rare for Wife to be in town Sunday nights. Monday night was a similar song and dance. He cut his own slice while I was at work, so it was him and bro-bro. Boy has no mercy and would rather yell at him to go to bed, than act like a human. You would think our little Einstein Junior candidate would maybe say "hmm, since the pie came in the door, it has been hurting me." Nope, he had another slice on Tuesday and this one came back and bit him in the esophagus, or wherever pies bite you when they win.
Chubs called me saying he felt like throwing up. Boy had just gotten home, so I told him to let him know what was happening and get a glass of water and do the dance in front of the toilet. It didn't take long for the pie and whatever else he ate to come out the wrong way. He was still up and fidgeting that he felt sick and weak when I got home around 11:00pm. I told him to just take it easy, if he felt bad in the morning, I would let him stay home.
In the morning, I went and checked on him and he said he still felt weak and his body felt nauseas but he didn't throw up anymore during the night. I told him not to worry about it, he could stay home, and I would write him a note for school. Wednesday night, after I suggested maybe no more pie, they went to throw it away and found that it had gone past its expiration on Monday. Maybe it made him sick, maybe not, but ever since we threw the pie away, he has not felt sick, so I am going to call it, Bad Pumpkin Pie.
We figured this was mostly his fault. We went Sunday afternoon to Costco and bought a huge pumpkin pie for like $5.99. I thought it was a pretty good price, but I had a sliver when we got it home and just found it a little meh. It wasn't liquidy, but it wasn't as firm as pumpkin pie should be for me. Wife left town, I didn't like it, Judas eats like a bird, so it was Chub's pie for the killing. He had a good sized serving after dinner Sunday and then complained he didn't feel well. I just figured it was his way of staying up late, since it is rare for Wife to be in town Sunday nights. Monday night was a similar song and dance. He cut his own slice while I was at work, so it was him and bro-bro. Boy has no mercy and would rather yell at him to go to bed, than act like a human. You would think our little Einstein Junior candidate would maybe say "hmm, since the pie came in the door, it has been hurting me." Nope, he had another slice on Tuesday and this one came back and bit him in the esophagus, or wherever pies bite you when they win.
Chubs called me saying he felt like throwing up. Boy had just gotten home, so I told him to let him know what was happening and get a glass of water and do the dance in front of the toilet. It didn't take long for the pie and whatever else he ate to come out the wrong way. He was still up and fidgeting that he felt sick and weak when I got home around 11:00pm. I told him to just take it easy, if he felt bad in the morning, I would let him stay home.
In the morning, I went and checked on him and he said he still felt weak and his body felt nauseas but he didn't throw up anymore during the night. I told him not to worry about it, he could stay home, and I would write him a note for school. Wednesday night, after I suggested maybe no more pie, they went to throw it away and found that it had gone past its expiration on Monday. Maybe it made him sick, maybe not, but ever since we threw the pie away, he has not felt sick, so I am going to call it, Bad Pumpkin Pie.
Friday, October 28, 2016
10/29/16 A Flat Tire, Now!!?
Every day seems to be marked by some new bullshit. Today (Thursday) was going to suck because they were to re-pave our street. I left to drop off Chubs at 7:45am, thinking by the time I come back, the road will probably be closed. They had posted signs that the street was closed from 7:00am to 5:00pm. I got back at 8:05 or so and nothing had changed. I discussed with Boy that I would probably park at the house and since he would be at school, when he got back, the street would be closed and he would have to park on a side street. I was a little worried if my truck was out on the street all day, it might get scratched or vandalized.
Since things were running too smoothly, life through us a curve and Boy called that he had gotten a blow out on the freeway on his way to class, for a test.. This is one of my fears and the main reason I went and traded his old ass Jeep for a much newer Ford Edge. The age of the vehicle does not guarantee whether a car gets a flat or not I know, but the tires are much newer. They are back to fucking with the freeway, for the next four years they will be expanding and improving the part we use from Ben White to south of Slaughter Lane. He probably ran over some shrapnel due to this. I was impressed with Boy, he said he felt a wobble and vibration so he started slowing down and making his way over to the right. He was already slowing down and on the shoulder when it blew. He drove off the freeway and changed the flat by himself on the frontage road. He even mentioned tightening the nuts in a star pattern, finishing tightening when the vehicle was on the ground.
He went to class, I tried sleeping, Fed Ex woke me with a package that had been damaged, so I needed to sign for it. It was Chub's Halloween costume, and it was not damaged, just the bag it came in was a little open.
Eventually, we went and picked up Chubs, ran to Discount Tire, I chose a "Best" Pirelli tire from the selections, remembered Wife's new car did not come with a spare so I bought one for her too. Not bad, but I had not planned on spending $360 on a couple tires on a random Thursday when I started out just hoping I would be able to drive out of my property in time to pick up my son. Now I am bothered that his car has one new tire and three others that have 17,000 miles on them. Oh well, I can't do much about that now. I am just glad it was not like the Firestone crap where cars were flipping over a few years ago.
Since things were running too smoothly, life through us a curve and Boy called that he had gotten a blow out on the freeway on his way to class, for a test.. This is one of my fears and the main reason I went and traded his old ass Jeep for a much newer Ford Edge. The age of the vehicle does not guarantee whether a car gets a flat or not I know, but the tires are much newer. They are back to fucking with the freeway, for the next four years they will be expanding and improving the part we use from Ben White to south of Slaughter Lane. He probably ran over some shrapnel due to this. I was impressed with Boy, he said he felt a wobble and vibration so he started slowing down and making his way over to the right. He was already slowing down and on the shoulder when it blew. He drove off the freeway and changed the flat by himself on the frontage road. He even mentioned tightening the nuts in a star pattern, finishing tightening when the vehicle was on the ground.
He went to class, I tried sleeping, Fed Ex woke me with a package that had been damaged, so I needed to sign for it. It was Chub's Halloween costume, and it was not damaged, just the bag it came in was a little open.
Eventually, we went and picked up Chubs, ran to Discount Tire, I chose a "Best" Pirelli tire from the selections, remembered Wife's new car did not come with a spare so I bought one for her too. Not bad, but I had not planned on spending $360 on a couple tires on a random Thursday when I started out just hoping I would be able to drive out of my property in time to pick up my son. Now I am bothered that his car has one new tire and three others that have 17,000 miles on them. Oh well, I can't do much about that now. I am just glad it was not like the Firestone crap where cars were flipping over a few years ago.
10/28/16 Why Are People Scared Of Driving?
I was lucky in that I started driving around twelve. It was one of the few things my dad seemed to enjoy doing with us as youngsters. If we weren't doing much on a weekend, he would even suggest let's go for a drive. Maybe it was his way of getting out of the house, maybe I was being a pain in the ass, I'll leave it at that. By the time I was fourteen, I was able to drive to high school by myself. I didn't have a reason to drive by myself since my mom worked there, I just rode with her, but for band practice and stuff after school, I would take our old 1979 Cougar. It was a cool car until my dad hit a deer with it, and it was never the same. But still, it was my car for a good while, then I graduated to driving my folk's truck, which was an F-150 Supercab. That was the start of my love affair with driving a truck, plus men in Texas are supposed to drive trucks, it should be a law.
My complaint today is not that, it's more of an observation on small town people being afraid to drive in the big cities. I always thought it was weird growing up, it was a conversation piece. One of my aunts still will not drive to San Antonio. In high school, I was taunted with the wait until you have to navigate in those big cities, get off on wrong exit and you are going to be lost or sent to the wrong side of town. I have missed exits, but I always figure out how to get back. I don't even think about the fact that we are driving in a big town and there are more challenges. I was and still am worried for Boy, but a parent always worries.
I learned to drive manual transmission with the commuter bus that went between Crystal City and Uvalde, which is about a 45 minute drive. I started asking questions to the driver who was one of the students and within five minutes he said do you want to drive, and before I knew it with the bus going 55, he stood up and I jumped in the driver's seat and before I knew it, I was driving probably 30-40 students with absolutely no skills on how to drive stick shift. By the time we got home, I was doing OK. He let me drive it a couple more times and then I volunteered to drive the commuter bus the second year. Why not? I was going to be in the bus either way, why not get paid to get to school? I considered myself the most responsible person on that bus anyway, so it was a good fit. This also made it much easier on my folks to buy me a vehicle to come to UT. I got a very well priced new 1991 Ford Ranger when I was ready to leave home, and it was a manual, advertised for $7995.
I bring this up because Wife was telling me she is taking some coworkers with her to a conference in San Antonio and both the ladies do not like to drive in the big city. Even more fun for Wife, she called on her way back home that each of them had taken a row in the suburban she was driving and they were both asleep, not even bothering to keep her company on the way back, like Wife wasn't tired. She told them, they are on their own Friday, because she is driving in her car, so she can head up to Austin afterwards. She is not going to chauffer both of them and then turn around and do another three hours to get up here.
My complaint today is not that, it's more of an observation on small town people being afraid to drive in the big cities. I always thought it was weird growing up, it was a conversation piece. One of my aunts still will not drive to San Antonio. In high school, I was taunted with the wait until you have to navigate in those big cities, get off on wrong exit and you are going to be lost or sent to the wrong side of town. I have missed exits, but I always figure out how to get back. I don't even think about the fact that we are driving in a big town and there are more challenges. I was and still am worried for Boy, but a parent always worries.
I learned to drive manual transmission with the commuter bus that went between Crystal City and Uvalde, which is about a 45 minute drive. I started asking questions to the driver who was one of the students and within five minutes he said do you want to drive, and before I knew it with the bus going 55, he stood up and I jumped in the driver's seat and before I knew it, I was driving probably 30-40 students with absolutely no skills on how to drive stick shift. By the time we got home, I was doing OK. He let me drive it a couple more times and then I volunteered to drive the commuter bus the second year. Why not? I was going to be in the bus either way, why not get paid to get to school? I considered myself the most responsible person on that bus anyway, so it was a good fit. This also made it much easier on my folks to buy me a vehicle to come to UT. I got a very well priced new 1991 Ford Ranger when I was ready to leave home, and it was a manual, advertised for $7995.
I bring this up because Wife was telling me she is taking some coworkers with her to a conference in San Antonio and both the ladies do not like to drive in the big city. Even more fun for Wife, she called on her way back home that each of them had taken a row in the suburban she was driving and they were both asleep, not even bothering to keep her company on the way back, like Wife wasn't tired. She told them, they are on their own Friday, because she is driving in her car, so she can head up to Austin afterwards. She is not going to chauffer both of them and then turn around and do another three hours to get up here.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
10/27/16 I Remember "Subtle"?
Wife is in a conference this week and said she ran into one of my old teachers from high school English class. I thought it was a little weird for a couple of reasons. First off, I don't remember any of the other teachers that did English back in the day. Crystal City High School is 99% Hispanic students and even the teachers were mostly Hispanic. For some reason, the English teachers were usually white ladies that didn't last. I believe this lady is married to a prominent business guy, so she set up roots and stayed there.
Another reason I thought it was weird Wife mentioned her is that I still remember a game where we were all put up against the wall and we had some sort of competition spelling wise, we just went around and around and we got random words. Although I was the last guy, which was cool, I stumbled on "subtle", I had not heard the word before and I remember feeling like I had been stabbed because I was sure I was the best speller in that class and such a simple word took me out. I don't know why, but that is one of those memories I can't forget, and it was supposed to be a game. I was thinking deeply on it as I was dressing for work the day before.
The teacher was very nice with Wife, she knows my mom and said something like "you're Mrs. Gallegos's daughter-in-law, which of her boys did you marry? Wife said the oldest, and she remembered having me in her class, which I thought was pretty impressive. Wife was in a stretch driving back from San Antonio and there are sections where the phone cuts in and out, but I am sure the exchange was something like "I knew that boy was something special, you must feel blessed to have married such an excellent human being." I do love my ego stroked but Wife was in the car with a couple coworkers, I was not going to be demanding she repeat herself over and over (I'll wait until the weekend).
It's a little weird with Wife working next to our old hometown, she is now in a higher position of authority than say one of my old math teachers, he moved over to the town she works in and she stopped by and said hi. He also remembered me and also spoke nothing but glowing words, something like "If only everyone was like your husband, I swear that guy is one in a million. I hope you cherish him every day."
Another reason I thought it was weird Wife mentioned her is that I still remember a game where we were all put up against the wall and we had some sort of competition spelling wise, we just went around and around and we got random words. Although I was the last guy, which was cool, I stumbled on "subtle", I had not heard the word before and I remember feeling like I had been stabbed because I was sure I was the best speller in that class and such a simple word took me out. I don't know why, but that is one of those memories I can't forget, and it was supposed to be a game. I was thinking deeply on it as I was dressing for work the day before.
The teacher was very nice with Wife, she knows my mom and said something like "you're Mrs. Gallegos's daughter-in-law, which of her boys did you marry? Wife said the oldest, and she remembered having me in her class, which I thought was pretty impressive. Wife was in a stretch driving back from San Antonio and there are sections where the phone cuts in and out, but I am sure the exchange was something like "I knew that boy was something special, you must feel blessed to have married such an excellent human being." I do love my ego stroked but Wife was in the car with a couple coworkers, I was not going to be demanding she repeat herself over and over (I'll wait until the weekend).
It's a little weird with Wife working next to our old hometown, she is now in a higher position of authority than say one of my old math teachers, he moved over to the town she works in and she stopped by and said hi. He also remembered me and also spoke nothing but glowing words, something like "If only everyone was like your husband, I swear that guy is one in a million. I hope you cherish him every day."
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
10/26/16 Boys Growing Up Into Little "Bitches"?
Recently, I saw a few videos with Judge Joe Brown handling cases on Youtube. Judge Joe Brown was on TV as one of those TV judges who handle arbitration cases. His show ran from 1998 to 2012. In one of the episodes he went into a tirade about how he had noticed over the last twelve years how lacking a man in the house, young men are growing up and acting more like women than men. He then went on and points out all the jewelry the guy is wearing, how he is standing there fidgeting, and constantly rolling his eyes. Judge Joe goes into trying to explain that men don't need all the bling and shiny jewelry, that when a man is addressing you, you should stand firm and give the elder your undivided attention, and that rolling your eyes and fidgeting about is behavior best suited to a young girl.
I have never understood the need for a man, as a man, to carry on with jewelry, I find guys that do a little suspect. I will occasionally wear a watch, but I consider that functional. I tell my boys all the time, not every adult is worth respecting, they must respect themselves first, but definitely if standing before an authority such as a police officer or judge, shut up and listen.
The series I am currently hooked on Highway Thru Hell has a kid fixing to turn 19, and he is also a little shit. The owner of the towing company is his step-dad, and the kid just doesn't want to get it. There are clashes between the kid and almost every adult male on the show. For the third season, half of the crew has relocated 700 miles away near some oil fields. Of course, the kid has decided he is going to go over there and drive one of the tow trucks. This worries the hell out of the lead driver who has been made manager of the crew working over there. No way he wants to babysit the brat. The step-dad trying to help the kid out had him driving a regular city tow truck so he could learn the ropes and become used to doing the work. He was not happy with this, he thought he was ready and worthy of driving one of the big rigs. Every time he doesn't like the task given to him, such as dragging cables here and there, he will walk off and leave. To me, this just screams spoiled little shit.
I could speak of other examples I have seen in the real world, but I will keep it civil. I only know both my boys benefit from having me around. Whereas mama wants to sit and coddle them, and hug them and insist they are each the most special things ever put on this green earth. I remind both of them they haven't accomplished anything other than eat my food and each is barely able to clean their own asses. Respect will come when they are productive members of society and that means making sure that the government isn't carrying your lazy ass.
I have never understood the need for a man, as a man, to carry on with jewelry, I find guys that do a little suspect. I will occasionally wear a watch, but I consider that functional. I tell my boys all the time, not every adult is worth respecting, they must respect themselves first, but definitely if standing before an authority such as a police officer or judge, shut up and listen.
The series I am currently hooked on Highway Thru Hell has a kid fixing to turn 19, and he is also a little shit. The owner of the towing company is his step-dad, and the kid just doesn't want to get it. There are clashes between the kid and almost every adult male on the show. For the third season, half of the crew has relocated 700 miles away near some oil fields. Of course, the kid has decided he is going to go over there and drive one of the tow trucks. This worries the hell out of the lead driver who has been made manager of the crew working over there. No way he wants to babysit the brat. The step-dad trying to help the kid out had him driving a regular city tow truck so he could learn the ropes and become used to doing the work. He was not happy with this, he thought he was ready and worthy of driving one of the big rigs. Every time he doesn't like the task given to him, such as dragging cables here and there, he will walk off and leave. To me, this just screams spoiled little shit.
I could speak of other examples I have seen in the real world, but I will keep it civil. I only know both my boys benefit from having me around. Whereas mama wants to sit and coddle them, and hug them and insist they are each the most special things ever put on this green earth. I remind both of them they haven't accomplished anything other than eat my food and each is barely able to clean their own asses. Respect will come when they are productive members of society and that means making sure that the government isn't carrying your lazy ass.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
10/25/16 Starting The Week Off Super Busy?
For the next few weeks I am supposed to be going to the Wound Care Clinic to have my wound tended to. When I went in there last week for initial visit, they told me to come by twice a week to have my dressings changed and I guess monitor the healing process. Today, I went in there at 8:30am, after dropping off Chubs at his school at 7:50am. There was more waiting than I wanted to do, but oh well. This facility is really for old people and half dead. Everyone is in worst shape than me, that I have seen come in, and that is not a compliment. But at least my gash is looking a lot better according to the nurse. As a consequence, I only have to show up once a week to change my dressings and have the wound looked at. After getting it all wrapped up, I rushed home to get back in bed, but I stopped by the Shell on the way home, I was down to 3.5 gallons judging by my miles left to empty. I filled it up, clenching my sphincter. There was a police officer looking at the cars in the body shop next to the gas station, and I have an expired sticker on my window. I was expecting him to walk on over and do me the favor of ticketing me. He did not, but I did not hang out to wave at him. I finally went home and got in bed right before 10:00am.
I then got up at 3:20pm to go pick up Chubs and go eat, when Wife called to re-arrange my day. She started harassing me to call Concentra, the urgent care place to get an itemized bill, this while I had already planned to go to the UPS store to return a bad cable box. I hated doing it, but I got Judas to call in my truck while I drove, then stood on hold for about fifteen minutes, while we drove to the UPS store. I finally talked to a lady right before getting into the parking lot to return the cable box. Since there was a McDonald's right there, we went inside to have lunch. Wife called right as I bit into my burger, I answered, told her nope, we are fixing to eat, I'll call you in a bit. I know it's kind of dick-ish, but I already was uncomfortable with the clientele eating/hanging out at the McDonald's. There were four homeless people by four different outlets charging their phones.
We finished eating before 4:00pm, ran home, I got ready for work, showered, covering my leg which takes longer and is such a nuisance. I was at work right before 6:00pm, and here I sit, at 2:30am, trying to stay awake by writing my little blog.
I then got up at 3:20pm to go pick up Chubs and go eat, when Wife called to re-arrange my day. She started harassing me to call Concentra, the urgent care place to get an itemized bill, this while I had already planned to go to the UPS store to return a bad cable box. I hated doing it, but I got Judas to call in my truck while I drove, then stood on hold for about fifteen minutes, while we drove to the UPS store. I finally talked to a lady right before getting into the parking lot to return the cable box. Since there was a McDonald's right there, we went inside to have lunch. Wife called right as I bit into my burger, I answered, told her nope, we are fixing to eat, I'll call you in a bit. I know it's kind of dick-ish, but I already was uncomfortable with the clientele eating/hanging out at the McDonald's. There were four homeless people by four different outlets charging their phones.
We finished eating before 4:00pm, ran home, I got ready for work, showered, covering my leg which takes longer and is such a nuisance. I was at work right before 6:00pm, and here I sit, at 2:30am, trying to stay awake by writing my little blog.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
10/24/16 What Do The Unemployables Do All Day?
I guess I got enough sleep last night, I did not mean to fall asleep, but I sat down in my bedroom to watch Selling Jets, (yes Gallegos peeps, I am buying a jet, lend me a million bucks, I'll pay you back) and I fell asleep before the first half hour episode finished. This had to be around midnight. I woke up around 3:00am and made my way to the bed, I am always nervous when I go to bed at night, I don't like sleeping in the dark. I then woke up with the alarm at 6:40am to make sure the boys got up and ate before school.
After dropping off Chubs, I came home and now without having to be asleep I am simply writing a few blogs for next few days (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) so I am not distracted when I should be with Wife. But seriously, what do people who have no schedule do? I can't imagine just watching TV all day, although I might sit and watch the last two episodes of Highway Thru Hell, they finally released the third season. It's about tow truckers in Canada pulling tractor trailers out after they crash with these giant tow trucks.
I opened the windows to let the house breath, it is cooler outside than inside with this little cold front, it feels so great. With the windows open though, I still can't hear anything. An hour ago, it got annoying with the neighbor to the right getting their grass cut, but they did it rather quick. Now I am sitting with the hum of the refrigerator about the only thing I can hear. People just stay in their houses doing chores waiting for their productive mates to get home? I know I should take out the trash, iron, fold clothes, vacuum, wash morning dishes, but is that all there is? If so, isn't it better if I work longer hours, at least I get paid more, rather than being locked at home doing manual labor for free?
I guess If I had friends, I might go have a lunch date, or go for a run, I did used to bike around town lake many moons ago. Boy stopped by a couple minutes ago, dropped off his backpack, drank a coffee from the fridge (cold peppermint coffee), and before I could think, he was out the door to go pick up his friend. I guess if I want to run around with a bro, I gotta wait for my mini-bro, not that he likes leaving the house once he makes it into his room afterschool.
I guess I should've just gotten home and laid down. I am starting to feel the laziness overcoming me. It is a couple minutes to noon, if I go upstairs now, I can still sleep 3.5 hours and then go pick up Chubs. If I follow this logic to its conclusion, people do what they do to fill the time they have.
After dropping off Chubs, I came home and now without having to be asleep I am simply writing a few blogs for next few days (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) so I am not distracted when I should be with Wife. But seriously, what do people who have no schedule do? I can't imagine just watching TV all day, although I might sit and watch the last two episodes of Highway Thru Hell, they finally released the third season. It's about tow truckers in Canada pulling tractor trailers out after they crash with these giant tow trucks.
I opened the windows to let the house breath, it is cooler outside than inside with this little cold front, it feels so great. With the windows open though, I still can't hear anything. An hour ago, it got annoying with the neighbor to the right getting their grass cut, but they did it rather quick. Now I am sitting with the hum of the refrigerator about the only thing I can hear. People just stay in their houses doing chores waiting for their productive mates to get home? I know I should take out the trash, iron, fold clothes, vacuum, wash morning dishes, but is that all there is? If so, isn't it better if I work longer hours, at least I get paid more, rather than being locked at home doing manual labor for free?
I guess If I had friends, I might go have a lunch date, or go for a run, I did used to bike around town lake many moons ago. Boy stopped by a couple minutes ago, dropped off his backpack, drank a coffee from the fridge (cold peppermint coffee), and before I could think, he was out the door to go pick up his friend. I guess if I want to run around with a bro, I gotta wait for my mini-bro, not that he likes leaving the house once he makes it into his room afterschool.
I guess I should've just gotten home and laid down. I am starting to feel the laziness overcoming me. It is a couple minutes to noon, if I go upstairs now, I can still sleep 3.5 hours and then go pick up Chubs. If I follow this logic to its conclusion, people do what they do to fill the time they have.
10/23/16 Chomp Chomp?
What is up with teeth? Some people have great teeth and never do anything special to them, other people have a mess in their mouths and they floss and brush three times a day. I know this only because this is Wife and I.
Back in junior high or high school my folks must have come upon a discount coupon or something, because all of a sudden we stopped going to Mexico to this one place with different rooms set up with different colored equipment. Seriously, mexico and their colors, but I remember one room had like a purple dentist chair, another one was green, and maybe another was red. The colors just popped. It was close to el Mercado, like an open flea market of sorts, except everyone sold the same crap. It seemed like everyone sold clay pots, pinatas, leather belts, Bingo cards, and the best, containers of cajeta de leche (like a soft gooey caramel), wonder why I had cavities in the first place.
Anyway, all of a sudden, we went to a dentist in Carrizo Springs, which is our neighboring town, I guess Crystal City was not big enough to get its own dentist. I am sure the work was done over some time, but it seems now like everything was done in one sitting. All of a sudden, every molar in my mouth had a filling. Surprisingly, all those molars are still holding strong. Since then, I have only had two small cavities which were taken care of as soon as they were discovered. One of the molars did have the silver filling wear down to the point the dentist suggested a crown. I hesitantly went along with it, it sucked when it was being done, I remember walking around a couple weeks with a temporary cap while the fitted one was being made.
Wife, on the other hand, has never had a cavity, only occasionally remembers to brush her teeth (when we about to make sweet love), yet her teeth are white and strong. I guess it helps she doesn't drink coffee, but still.
Both boys, sorry to say, have my teeth. Both are a mess in their mouths. Judas, with his broken tooth is fixing to cost me thousands. He is finally about old enough for his permanent tooth to be installed, needs wisdom teeth pulled, and some other stuff. Chubs is about as bad. a couple of his molars came out messed up, dentist said from too much penicillin from constant ear infections.
Probably as soon as I am done with my leg, I need to start looking into getting both boys seeing a dentist and spending money on that. But right now, I am on a twice a week rotation to go see the Wound Care people until my cut heals. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Why can't I just sit here and be visited by lost strippers just dying to take their clothes off while I fold clothes or I vacuum???
Back in junior high or high school my folks must have come upon a discount coupon or something, because all of a sudden we stopped going to Mexico to this one place with different rooms set up with different colored equipment. Seriously, mexico and their colors, but I remember one room had like a purple dentist chair, another one was green, and maybe another was red. The colors just popped. It was close to el Mercado, like an open flea market of sorts, except everyone sold the same crap. It seemed like everyone sold clay pots, pinatas, leather belts, Bingo cards, and the best, containers of cajeta de leche (like a soft gooey caramel), wonder why I had cavities in the first place.
Anyway, all of a sudden, we went to a dentist in Carrizo Springs, which is our neighboring town, I guess Crystal City was not big enough to get its own dentist. I am sure the work was done over some time, but it seems now like everything was done in one sitting. All of a sudden, every molar in my mouth had a filling. Surprisingly, all those molars are still holding strong. Since then, I have only had two small cavities which were taken care of as soon as they were discovered. One of the molars did have the silver filling wear down to the point the dentist suggested a crown. I hesitantly went along with it, it sucked when it was being done, I remember walking around a couple weeks with a temporary cap while the fitted one was being made.
Wife, on the other hand, has never had a cavity, only occasionally remembers to brush her teeth (when we about to make sweet love), yet her teeth are white and strong. I guess it helps she doesn't drink coffee, but still.
Both boys, sorry to say, have my teeth. Both are a mess in their mouths. Judas, with his broken tooth is fixing to cost me thousands. He is finally about old enough for his permanent tooth to be installed, needs wisdom teeth pulled, and some other stuff. Chubs is about as bad. a couple of his molars came out messed up, dentist said from too much penicillin from constant ear infections.
Probably as soon as I am done with my leg, I need to start looking into getting both boys seeing a dentist and spending money on that. But right now, I am on a twice a week rotation to go see the Wound Care people until my cut heals. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Why can't I just sit here and be visited by lost strippers just dying to take their clothes off while I fold clothes or I vacuum???
Friday, October 21, 2016
10/22/16 Does Your Vehicle Define You?
Since looking at watches and other high end nice things on YouTube, it has suddenly started suggesting videos other than Passenger (I was stuck just listening to Him for awhile). One of the articles last night was Does The Car You Drive Have An Effect On How You Are Portrayed? I thought it was an interesting video because in my quest to be materialistic I would say off the top of my head "yes, what you drive tells others who you are trying to be." I know my counterparts at work and everyone I love arguing with would say "nope, nobody cares about what you drive, it's just a machine that transports you back and forth.
I have always considered myself to be utilitarian. Although I would love to drive a flashy sports car, maybe something like the Porsche Panamera, sporty but my family of four still fits. The truth is I am a truck guy. I need to own a truck just to be ready to move my boat or RV, not that I have in the last couple years. I was very nervous at suddenly having to move our RV and not having a proper vehicle at my disposal to do it, on my terms. In the twenty years I have been working and buying my own vehicles, I have owned three F-250s, two F-150s, the Excursion, and an Expedition. Because I love a sexy car we bought the Chrysler 300 when they were redesigned and seen as sexy for awhile. We have also had two convertibles which I loved, but they have been too small for us. I still think the Nissan Murano convertible would have been perfect for us, but it came and went in a window when we couldn't fit one in. I can only imagine there will be other convertibles even if they are niche automobiles, hopefully, we are better prepared next time.
The guy in the video brought up the point that in a small town where everybody knows you, they might not be as prone to judge you based on your vehicle, if they know you are a real good teacher, lawyer, etc. But in a bigger city where people don't always know each other or even in a big corporation where the executives or higher ups may not know you, what you drive may affect their perception. If upper management is a bunch of vegans driving electric cars, and you show up in a dualie with twin smoke stacks, you might be seen as public enemy #1. If your boss pulls a horse trailer and his boss has a 1000 acre farm, then your dualie might be appreciated for its ability to maybe help them out, in a pinch.
I just did the same thing there, equating the vegans with driving electric cars, maybe these two have gone hand in hand, but our next vehicle might be an electric vehicle and plenty of cow and other meats will be carried in the back. This is the beauty of having a wife who can drive the electric car to keep my man status. I shall keep chugging barrels of oil in my trucks for as long as the governemt allows Ford to sell them in this here great country of ours, 'Merica, Fuck Yeah!!!
I have always considered myself to be utilitarian. Although I would love to drive a flashy sports car, maybe something like the Porsche Panamera, sporty but my family of four still fits. The truth is I am a truck guy. I need to own a truck just to be ready to move my boat or RV, not that I have in the last couple years. I was very nervous at suddenly having to move our RV and not having a proper vehicle at my disposal to do it, on my terms. In the twenty years I have been working and buying my own vehicles, I have owned three F-250s, two F-150s, the Excursion, and an Expedition. Because I love a sexy car we bought the Chrysler 300 when they were redesigned and seen as sexy for awhile. We have also had two convertibles which I loved, but they have been too small for us. I still think the Nissan Murano convertible would have been perfect for us, but it came and went in a window when we couldn't fit one in. I can only imagine there will be other convertibles even if they are niche automobiles, hopefully, we are better prepared next time.
The guy in the video brought up the point that in a small town where everybody knows you, they might not be as prone to judge you based on your vehicle, if they know you are a real good teacher, lawyer, etc. But in a bigger city where people don't always know each other or even in a big corporation where the executives or higher ups may not know you, what you drive may affect their perception. If upper management is a bunch of vegans driving electric cars, and you show up in a dualie with twin smoke stacks, you might be seen as public enemy #1. If your boss pulls a horse trailer and his boss has a 1000 acre farm, then your dualie might be appreciated for its ability to maybe help them out, in a pinch.
I just did the same thing there, equating the vegans with driving electric cars, maybe these two have gone hand in hand, but our next vehicle might be an electric vehicle and plenty of cow and other meats will be carried in the back. This is the beauty of having a wife who can drive the electric car to keep my man status. I shall keep chugging barrels of oil in my trucks for as long as the governemt allows Ford to sell them in this here great country of ours, 'Merica, Fuck Yeah!!!
10/21/16 Finally, Wound Care To The Rescue?
I finally had the gash on my leg dealt with. I had gotten a referral a couple weeks ago, but as most things, they were too busy to see me right away. The best time I could decide on was 1:00pm (Thursday), and since I worked last night, and I get to drop off Chubs at 7:45am, I got about 3.5hours sleep before getting up, worried I would oversleep.
I got there early, hoping I could take care of all the paperwork before my time, but the receptionist actually told me they schedule time to do all the paperwork, so even though my appointment was for 1:00pm, I wouldn't be seen until 1:30pm. He was kind enough to say "I'm not gonna lie, this is gonna hurt, maybe a lot, depending on your pain tolerance." All of this is not a big deal other than, Chubs gets out at 3:40pm and I like to pick him up on time. I got through all the paperwork, why haven't all these medical facilities gotten on a universal online system where our information automatically follows us around anywhere we check in? I've been to Urgent Care, fill out paperwork. Then I went to Victory Medical, fill out similar paperwork. Now here, the Wound Care And Hyperbaric Treatment, and first thing, fill out paperwork. It is always the same dumb stuff. Don't they keep telling us, Big Brother is watching? Be useful, bro-bro and copy the info to everybody the first time. We gave up our freedoms a long time ago in the name of safety and security.
Anyways, they were a little efficient once I got called in. They had a technician take my vitals, she was friendly and introduced herself. After going back and forth on the need for the larger cuff, on account of my huge pythons you smaller people call arms, she moved onto preparing the cut on my leg for the nurse. At least the nurse was an RN, she introduced herself and said she had been a nurse for 20 plus years and been doing wound care for the last 12 years. All that is nice, but even she said "the lidocaine will numb the area, but it might still hurt, I'll go slower if I have to." I was expecting pain for an hour, in reality, it did not hurt except when I looked down and saw her cutting chunks of meat and black stuff with the scalpel. She kept me talking, which helped to distract me, and I just kept looking at the ceiling. Once she pulled away, I took a quick pic and noticed not much more black stuff, then she got the doctor to come in. I was nervous figuring if the doctor starts cutting deeper it will hurt because the nurse already took all the dead stuff. The doc did what any good doc would do, picked up the scalpel and touched here and there. I clumsily looked at her go into the hole and whimpered, but it didn't hurt, it just looked like it was supposed to hurt.
By 2:40pm they had wrapped my leg and I was on my way. I even had time to stop at HEB and get some food before picking up Chubs and getting back to normal. Although normal will be awhile, since I have to go back twice a week so they can change my dressings, at least until it starts looking better, then they might trust me to do it alone.
I got there early, hoping I could take care of all the paperwork before my time, but the receptionist actually told me they schedule time to do all the paperwork, so even though my appointment was for 1:00pm, I wouldn't be seen until 1:30pm. He was kind enough to say "I'm not gonna lie, this is gonna hurt, maybe a lot, depending on your pain tolerance." All of this is not a big deal other than, Chubs gets out at 3:40pm and I like to pick him up on time. I got through all the paperwork, why haven't all these medical facilities gotten on a universal online system where our information automatically follows us around anywhere we check in? I've been to Urgent Care, fill out paperwork. Then I went to Victory Medical, fill out similar paperwork. Now here, the Wound Care And Hyperbaric Treatment, and first thing, fill out paperwork. It is always the same dumb stuff. Don't they keep telling us, Big Brother is watching? Be useful, bro-bro and copy the info to everybody the first time. We gave up our freedoms a long time ago in the name of safety and security.
Anyways, they were a little efficient once I got called in. They had a technician take my vitals, she was friendly and introduced herself. After going back and forth on the need for the larger cuff, on account of my huge pythons you smaller people call arms, she moved onto preparing the cut on my leg for the nurse. At least the nurse was an RN, she introduced herself and said she had been a nurse for 20 plus years and been doing wound care for the last 12 years. All that is nice, but even she said "the lidocaine will numb the area, but it might still hurt, I'll go slower if I have to." I was expecting pain for an hour, in reality, it did not hurt except when I looked down and saw her cutting chunks of meat and black stuff with the scalpel. She kept me talking, which helped to distract me, and I just kept looking at the ceiling. Once she pulled away, I took a quick pic and noticed not much more black stuff, then she got the doctor to come in. I was nervous figuring if the doctor starts cutting deeper it will hurt because the nurse already took all the dead stuff. The doc did what any good doc would do, picked up the scalpel and touched here and there. I clumsily looked at her go into the hole and whimpered, but it didn't hurt, it just looked like it was supposed to hurt.
By 2:40pm they had wrapped my leg and I was on my way. I even had time to stop at HEB and get some food before picking up Chubs and getting back to normal. Although normal will be awhile, since I have to go back twice a week so they can change my dressings, at least until it starts looking better, then they might trust me to do it alone.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
10/20/16 Robin Williams, Actor For All Ages?
Today (Wednesday) was good, I had lunch with both boys. Boy is busy with labs on Mondays and Tuesdays, then rest of the week is more relaxed. We had lunch at Wendy's, we had not had a burger in more than a few days, and Chubs was Jonesing for a Baconator. We weren't discussing anything in particular, I was helping Chubs finish his math homework, Boy was trying to help by confusing him with terms he is not ready to hear, mathwise, but we got through it.
Boy then asked if I had just watched Good Will Hunting, I said no, because I didn't feel like crying, he said it must have been his buddy. I said it is a great movie, aside from the math, Robin Williams does an awesome job with the Matt Damon character, he even won a Best Supporting Actor for his role, his only Oscar. He should have won one for Genie, but I guess cartoons were not taken seriously back in the 90's. This just adds to his mystic. He was such a wonderful actor, always bringing so much energy, maybe too much, but he gave his all to leave you with a smile. I think he ran the full range from cartoons to dark and even weird.
Chubs was like "I don't know who that is.", then I mentioned he was the voice of Genie and he said oh yeah, then Boy said he was also Teddy Roosevelt from the Night At The Museum franchise. Again, Chubs was like "oh yeah, I liked that guy." I can say Wife liked him in Dead Poets Society, Hook, Popeye, The Birdcage, Patch Adams and on and on. Boy kind of grew up on Aladdin, Flubber, Jumanji, and even Fern Gully, we still have all those on VHS somewhere in the house. I loved him in all those movies, but I really liked Death To Smoochy, a dark comedy that did not get quite enough attention, it had everything to be a big hit, it just seemed a little dark. Another movie I really liked and I didn't see it until he passed away in 2014 was Good Morning Vietnam. He was really good in that, I'm glad Netflix keeps re-showing his work.
There are few actors which have such a huge range, he even played creepy well, if you saw One Hour Photo. His career is how you do it, starting with a bit part in Happy Days as Mork, being so over the top, he gets his own show spun off, then he was off and running.
Boy then asked if I had just watched Good Will Hunting, I said no, because I didn't feel like crying, he said it must have been his buddy. I said it is a great movie, aside from the math, Robin Williams does an awesome job with the Matt Damon character, he even won a Best Supporting Actor for his role, his only Oscar. He should have won one for Genie, but I guess cartoons were not taken seriously back in the 90's. This just adds to his mystic. He was such a wonderful actor, always bringing so much energy, maybe too much, but he gave his all to leave you with a smile. I think he ran the full range from cartoons to dark and even weird.
Chubs was like "I don't know who that is.", then I mentioned he was the voice of Genie and he said oh yeah, then Boy said he was also Teddy Roosevelt from the Night At The Museum franchise. Again, Chubs was like "oh yeah, I liked that guy." I can say Wife liked him in Dead Poets Society, Hook, Popeye, The Birdcage, Patch Adams and on and on. Boy kind of grew up on Aladdin, Flubber, Jumanji, and even Fern Gully, we still have all those on VHS somewhere in the house. I loved him in all those movies, but I really liked Death To Smoochy, a dark comedy that did not get quite enough attention, it had everything to be a big hit, it just seemed a little dark. Another movie I really liked and I didn't see it until he passed away in 2014 was Good Morning Vietnam. He was really good in that, I'm glad Netflix keeps re-showing his work.
There are few actors which have such a huge range, he even played creepy well, if you saw One Hour Photo. His career is how you do it, starting with a bit part in Happy Days as Mork, being so over the top, he gets his own show spun off, then he was off and running.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
10/19/16 Dash Cam, Good Or Bad?
I don't know how new the phenomenon of capturing video of what happens in front of your car is, but some people seem to be using it to act as Nosey Nelly's. There are hundreds of hours of footage of bad accidents, funny events, even fatalities, if you look around You Tube. I was looking at the New Tesla X cars which boast 0-60 times of 2.5 sec. This is on par with supercars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Sure enough, I found plenty of videos where these family vehicles running on nothing but battery power are "smoking" the crap out of cars worth two to three times as much. Wife liked the idea of getting one when she gets back in town, of course, she is too far in the middle of nowhere to rely on battery power and they are pricey. I doubt she would be trying to get the fastest power plants, those are over $120,000. They do start out in the $70,000 range, so they are an interesting thing to consider.
Getting back to the videos, most of the youtube clips exist because more and more people have dashboard cameras or dash cams. My brother who is into anything conspiracy related said they are as normal as a stereo in a car in Russia because people are so aggressive at driving and trying to blame others for their weird behaviors. I can only agree that what sounds like Russian to my ears is usually followed by traffic situations that don't make sense. Maybe it is good to protect your investment, the family car is usually the second most valuable thing we own, next to our homes, so we should keep an eye on it at all times.
A guy who was talking in one of the clips about having the dash cam in his Lamborghini explains how what he thought was driver error when he let one of his friends drive his car, because of having the dash cam, he was able to prove that the car on its own lifted off the ground as it cleared a hilly road, this caused the driver to overcorrect and he crashed into some side barriers. There was another instance where another car he owned, before dash cams were common, was keyed. Newer dash cams can be set to turn on when the car is touched or bumped. The offending person scratching the car could be caught in the act.
The problems I noticed with these cameras is when then these people start chasing interesting situations. Two knuckleheads might be bumping each other, but because you want to record it on your dash cam, you stay too close to the action and become part of it. Another instance I didn't like is the person doing the shitty driving is running stop signs, and in your interest of catching them you do the same thing. So now, it isn't one drunk person or inattentive driver, it is a group of idiots moving down the road. On a few situations, I said to myself, "why don't you just slow down and let the assholes get some distance?" The worst part I think is once the idiots crash, you become a necessary eyewitness and who has time to stop and help the Stupids who couldn't keep their cool while driving? Worst of all, you might get cursed at or punched for trying to be a good Samaritan.
Getting back to the videos, most of the youtube clips exist because more and more people have dashboard cameras or dash cams. My brother who is into anything conspiracy related said they are as normal as a stereo in a car in Russia because people are so aggressive at driving and trying to blame others for their weird behaviors. I can only agree that what sounds like Russian to my ears is usually followed by traffic situations that don't make sense. Maybe it is good to protect your investment, the family car is usually the second most valuable thing we own, next to our homes, so we should keep an eye on it at all times.
A guy who was talking in one of the clips about having the dash cam in his Lamborghini explains how what he thought was driver error when he let one of his friends drive his car, because of having the dash cam, he was able to prove that the car on its own lifted off the ground as it cleared a hilly road, this caused the driver to overcorrect and he crashed into some side barriers. There was another instance where another car he owned, before dash cams were common, was keyed. Newer dash cams can be set to turn on when the car is touched or bumped. The offending person scratching the car could be caught in the act.
The problems I noticed with these cameras is when then these people start chasing interesting situations. Two knuckleheads might be bumping each other, but because you want to record it on your dash cam, you stay too close to the action and become part of it. Another instance I didn't like is the person doing the shitty driving is running stop signs, and in your interest of catching them you do the same thing. So now, it isn't one drunk person or inattentive driver, it is a group of idiots moving down the road. On a few situations, I said to myself, "why don't you just slow down and let the assholes get some distance?" The worst part I think is once the idiots crash, you become a necessary eyewitness and who has time to stop and help the Stupids who couldn't keep their cool while driving? Worst of all, you might get cursed at or punched for trying to be a good Samaritan.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
10/18/16 Father Knows Best, Still?
We are tasked with providing guidance and the right path for our children. This can mean different things to different people. Being the capitalist pig I am, I have always preached make your path through the sciences and you will have increased your potential to make more money than any other easier pathway. This is what I know, not necessarily the only way or the best way. I cannot guarantee happiness this way, but if my children are what I have raised and they like living life the way we've done it, they are going to need money.
The median price of a new house in Austin looking at Google right now is in the $300,000 and climbing range. Boy loves the nicer things in life. There is no way he will live a satisfied life by not having a house nicer than what he currently lives in. He is not even entertaining a girl right now, saying he would rather focus on finishing his degree than getting trapped like daddy did. We joke about it now, and Wife has turned out to be a perfect partner for me, but that does not guarantee that the same thing and outcome happens for him.
Thinking about it, I cannot think how I could have made Boy's life easier. I guess I could have made him get an easier degree, or even no degree, but then? Without a degree, he would be forced to take whatever minimum wage job happened to be available. Boy has a weak lung, it would not be good for him to work doing physical labor, his quality and even quantity of life would be greatly reduced. Boy needs him a thinking man's job, so he can keep himself clean.
This line of thought was brought about by Mr. Monster Energy Drink who I hadn't seen in a while, but he showed up to work a little bit tonight. He tried correcting my thinking, but we are vastly different. He was saying that my kids don't need money to be happy, I looked at him like he was drunk, I know my kids, and we are cut of the same cloth. My reasoning for being the way I am is that we live in this capitalist wasteland. It is not the best system in the world, and he argued it's not even a true capitalist system, but I say it is still better to be of value and have skills needed within this way of life, and the sciences are always going to be needed for more technical jobs. I agree with him, I told him even with my chemistry degree, I didn't know anything when I started here, much like any new engineer, I was given my opportunity because I had gone through the trouble of getting the degree. I understand that upon starting anywhere, either of my boys is, are going to have to learn to operate within the rules of whatever entity they join.
I always like arguing with Monster Energy Drink, because he insists whatever I am doing is wrong, but he doesn't give me a better solution than whatever I have to say.
The median price of a new house in Austin looking at Google right now is in the $300,000 and climbing range. Boy loves the nicer things in life. There is no way he will live a satisfied life by not having a house nicer than what he currently lives in. He is not even entertaining a girl right now, saying he would rather focus on finishing his degree than getting trapped like daddy did. We joke about it now, and Wife has turned out to be a perfect partner for me, but that does not guarantee that the same thing and outcome happens for him.
Thinking about it, I cannot think how I could have made Boy's life easier. I guess I could have made him get an easier degree, or even no degree, but then? Without a degree, he would be forced to take whatever minimum wage job happened to be available. Boy has a weak lung, it would not be good for him to work doing physical labor, his quality and even quantity of life would be greatly reduced. Boy needs him a thinking man's job, so he can keep himself clean.
This line of thought was brought about by Mr. Monster Energy Drink who I hadn't seen in a while, but he showed up to work a little bit tonight. He tried correcting my thinking, but we are vastly different. He was saying that my kids don't need money to be happy, I looked at him like he was drunk, I know my kids, and we are cut of the same cloth. My reasoning for being the way I am is that we live in this capitalist wasteland. It is not the best system in the world, and he argued it's not even a true capitalist system, but I say it is still better to be of value and have skills needed within this way of life, and the sciences are always going to be needed for more technical jobs. I agree with him, I told him even with my chemistry degree, I didn't know anything when I started here, much like any new engineer, I was given my opportunity because I had gone through the trouble of getting the degree. I understand that upon starting anywhere, either of my boys is, are going to have to learn to operate within the rules of whatever entity they join.
I always like arguing with Monster Energy Drink, because he insists whatever I am doing is wrong, but he doesn't give me a better solution than whatever I have to say.
Monday, October 17, 2016
10/17/16 Chubs, Man In Child Disguise?
Chubs is supposed to be a kid, but I guess because we have raised him as an adult he thinks differently. Yesterday, after my sister in laws remarriage, we ended up at my in-laws and of course, I quickly went to sleep, in return for the nap, I did drive both ways, so Wife was happy. But back to Chubs, he overheard my in-laws talking about Trump and asked if they were daring to speak of the man. I was asleep, but Wife says he actually had opinions on the man. He told his Grandma that Trump said he would get rid of all the Mexicans which is no good. It is funny that all his friends discuss the issues and figure out opinions that are their own. He sat there "bitching" about Trump being the wrong choice.
You might think he is just mimicking Wife and I, but I don't see either candidate being better than the other. I have usually thought of myself a Democrat, for being liberal on social issues, but as I get older, I seem to be getting more financially conservative. Wife and I, year in and year out, work our asses off, yet, we see and we know of people that put in a minimal effort, and are on constant assistance from the government, and I am starting to be bothered by that. I want everyone that can, to work their fair share. I don't know where that leaves me. I certainly don't want to be associated with the conservatives of the Midwest, but I also am tired of backing a group that bleeds money to anyone who stubs their toe.
Getting back to Chubs and his adult behavior. Today (sunday), we went to get some food for the week at Target, and he noticed they had a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Only because I had a $5 bill in my pocket, I said OK. I went over with him so he would order and stay under $5. As soon as he got his drink, he says he wants a picture, I thought to show his Mom. I was even helping, telling him to point the camera down to include the drink, not just the top of it. A second later he was laughing his ass off. He sent the pic to his friends and referenced the one white kid in his crew "Hey "friend's name", I guess I look like you now!" I believe he heard a joke earlier in the weekend to the effect that only white people bother stopping at Starbucks regularly, so he redirected the joke, which to me requires thinking like an older person. His friend got all pissy, and even Judas and myself were telling him that wasn't cool. He called him and apologized, the kid said it was cool, he was going along with it, acting pissed.
I do worry about my Chubs having to grow up faster than normal, specially with mama not around during the week. He has to conduct himself like a grown up, I don't want to sit there and coddle him, during the week, I have very little time to sit there and act like a mother. I am happy to have him here with me, but that is conditional and only works if he is going to be a big boy. He has done a great job, so far.
You might think he is just mimicking Wife and I, but I don't see either candidate being better than the other. I have usually thought of myself a Democrat, for being liberal on social issues, but as I get older, I seem to be getting more financially conservative. Wife and I, year in and year out, work our asses off, yet, we see and we know of people that put in a minimal effort, and are on constant assistance from the government, and I am starting to be bothered by that. I want everyone that can, to work their fair share. I don't know where that leaves me. I certainly don't want to be associated with the conservatives of the Midwest, but I also am tired of backing a group that bleeds money to anyone who stubs their toe.
Getting back to Chubs and his adult behavior. Today (sunday), we went to get some food for the week at Target, and he noticed they had a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Only because I had a $5 bill in my pocket, I said OK. I went over with him so he would order and stay under $5. As soon as he got his drink, he says he wants a picture, I thought to show his Mom. I was even helping, telling him to point the camera down to include the drink, not just the top of it. A second later he was laughing his ass off. He sent the pic to his friends and referenced the one white kid in his crew "Hey "friend's name", I guess I look like you now!" I believe he heard a joke earlier in the weekend to the effect that only white people bother stopping at Starbucks regularly, so he redirected the joke, which to me requires thinking like an older person. His friend got all pissy, and even Judas and myself were telling him that wasn't cool. He called him and apologized, the kid said it was cool, he was going along with it, acting pissed.
I do worry about my Chubs having to grow up faster than normal, specially with mama not around during the week. He has to conduct himself like a grown up, I don't want to sit there and coddle him, during the week, I have very little time to sit there and act like a mother. I am happy to have him here with me, but that is conditional and only works if he is going to be a big boy. He has done a great job, so far.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
10/16/16 I Do?
Today was interesting. Wife's sister decided they were getting remarried and thus we spent the day in San Antonio. I don't really understand the idea of renewing vows with someone you already promised "for better or for worse..." As far as I know, it doesn't wear off the first time. This is the second time we go to a "renewal of the vows" for people we know. All I see from my perspective is the meal because as far as I was concerned both times those people were married and thus already belonged to each other. There was a thing about some knot involving three strands one for the chick, one for the dude, and the other for Him. Then there were vows and crying. Soon enough we were on our way to lunch at El Chaparral. That is one of my favorite Mexican Restaurants over there. The best part of the whole day was that the happy couple paid for the food. At this point, I was ready to head back home to catch the Longhorn game at 6:00pm. But no, just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
Wife's brother and wife bought a house in my in-law's neighborhood so even though it was about twenty miles in the wrong direction, we headed back to go see the house. It is a nice house for those two breeders. They have four kids and this house has five bedrooms, two living areas, a loft area upstairs, even a pool in the back yard. Currently, they are in the process of changing out the floors before moving in. The house is three blocks away from my in-laws, so we were there before we knew it.
I looked for the game on TV, but they don't have the Longhorn network over there, I don't believe, so I did what I do best, took a nap. Apparently, all the kids were having fun at my expense because I was snoring it up super loud. Eventually, I woke up, had some coffee and pan dulce, sat and joined the conversation for awhile, and was a little impressed by Chubs working on a story he is writing on paper. He has a solid idea for a beginning, we told him he needs to continue with it, see where it goes.
We didn't head back to Austin until about 10:40pm, which means we got back to Austin close to midnight. We usually spend a little time at Buc-ee's, but we got there at the same time four busses full of band students arrived, so it got super busy and loud up in there. We decided not to compete with them, the kitchen quickly announced it would be an hour before food would be ready.
We left and continued home. We got some tamales from my in-laws which we decided we would eat while we watched some of our shows. We only saw a couple shows, eating the tamales until we said no more. I don't know if the tamales are just visiting my stomach or moving permanently in until they get done but they were probably not a good idea for a midnight snack. There was way too much spice and activity for them not to bother me the rest of the night. I even took some Pepto Bismal as soon as I washed the dishes. I am sitting here at 4:30am with the slightest bit of nausea trying to hold back the burp that will give me that tamale after taste in my mouth for the rest of the night. Oh well, it was a good day, and a rare one that didn't cost me any in food, just gas.
Wife's brother and wife bought a house in my in-law's neighborhood so even though it was about twenty miles in the wrong direction, we headed back to go see the house. It is a nice house for those two breeders. They have four kids and this house has five bedrooms, two living areas, a loft area upstairs, even a pool in the back yard. Currently, they are in the process of changing out the floors before moving in. The house is three blocks away from my in-laws, so we were there before we knew it.
I looked for the game on TV, but they don't have the Longhorn network over there, I don't believe, so I did what I do best, took a nap. Apparently, all the kids were having fun at my expense because I was snoring it up super loud. Eventually, I woke up, had some coffee and pan dulce, sat and joined the conversation for awhile, and was a little impressed by Chubs working on a story he is writing on paper. He has a solid idea for a beginning, we told him he needs to continue with it, see where it goes.
We didn't head back to Austin until about 10:40pm, which means we got back to Austin close to midnight. We usually spend a little time at Buc-ee's, but we got there at the same time four busses full of band students arrived, so it got super busy and loud up in there. We decided not to compete with them, the kitchen quickly announced it would be an hour before food would be ready.
We left and continued home. We got some tamales from my in-laws which we decided we would eat while we watched some of our shows. We only saw a couple shows, eating the tamales until we said no more. I don't know if the tamales are just visiting my stomach or moving permanently in until they get done but they were probably not a good idea for a midnight snack. There was way too much spice and activity for them not to bother me the rest of the night. I even took some Pepto Bismal as soon as I washed the dishes. I am sitting here at 4:30am with the slightest bit of nausea trying to hold back the burp that will give me that tamale after taste in my mouth for the rest of the night. Oh well, it was a good day, and a rare one that didn't cost me any in food, just gas.
Friday, October 14, 2016
10/15/16 Perv Done Found A Snapchat Peephole?
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10/14/16 Wife Is Back In Town?
A couple weeks ago I was starting to feel like maybe it was a mistake for Wife to take the job so far away from us. Things are looking better, all of a sudden. She took a personal day last week on Friday and because she was in San Antonio for a conference, was able to get up here Thursday night. Apparently I don't listen very good, because this week she was again in San Antonio for a different conference and she came up Thursday afternoon, which allowed us to have a late lunch together, even Boy joined us, it was nice even though it was just Whataburger.
She does have to go back today to San Antonio for the rest of her conference, but she will head right back up here and there is a feeling and a flow like she is with us, so that is nice. The fact that she gets right on the basket of dirty clothes and starts cleaning the kitchen and stuff is just a cherry on top. I didn't care for Boy, Judas from now on, whining to Mama how I don't go and buy food. Judas with the "love you Daddy" every night and even a hug stuck a shiv in my ribs for no reason as I was trying to enjoy my burger at Whataburger. This is the same child I invite to eat every day, but decides he would rather sit with his friends in his room during the week, the same snot nose I ask just about every day if he has money to eat. I'm not going to throw money at him, we pay for his SUV and gas, but if he needs a $20 spot here and there, I understand. He does work and he is supposed to be feeding himself with his money sometimes.
Wife of course took his side and all of a sudden I'm the dirty animal who doesn't understand that Judas is not like me and Chubs who will eat anything that can be heated in a microwave. No, backstabbers only eat fresh salads and foods from other countries like Chinese food. I tried saying he is welcome to come to the store with me, and he usually says "nah, I'm fine, get whatever."
The Turd Nugget was even ballsy enough to point out to Mama that he prefers Coke to the crappy Pepsi products I keep buying. Wife, like the puppet she is, took this info and tried getting after me. At least I know what I'm getting Wife for Christmas, a nice foldaway soap box. She can carry it under her arm and any time she wants to break into a lecture, she can pop it open and stand above us.
Seriously though, her nagging is music to my ears, I'll buy Boy a bag of rocky mountain oysters for all his troubles. The holidays are almost upon us, so we should be seeing more and more of Wife over the next two months.
She does have to go back today to San Antonio for the rest of her conference, but she will head right back up here and there is a feeling and a flow like she is with us, so that is nice. The fact that she gets right on the basket of dirty clothes and starts cleaning the kitchen and stuff is just a cherry on top. I didn't care for Boy, Judas from now on, whining to Mama how I don't go and buy food. Judas with the "love you Daddy" every night and even a hug stuck a shiv in my ribs for no reason as I was trying to enjoy my burger at Whataburger. This is the same child I invite to eat every day, but decides he would rather sit with his friends in his room during the week, the same snot nose I ask just about every day if he has money to eat. I'm not going to throw money at him, we pay for his SUV and gas, but if he needs a $20 spot here and there, I understand. He does work and he is supposed to be feeding himself with his money sometimes.
Wife of course took his side and all of a sudden I'm the dirty animal who doesn't understand that Judas is not like me and Chubs who will eat anything that can be heated in a microwave. No, backstabbers only eat fresh salads and foods from other countries like Chinese food. I tried saying he is welcome to come to the store with me, and he usually says "nah, I'm fine, get whatever."
The Turd Nugget was even ballsy enough to point out to Mama that he prefers Coke to the crappy Pepsi products I keep buying. Wife, like the puppet she is, took this info and tried getting after me. At least I know what I'm getting Wife for Christmas, a nice foldaway soap box. She can carry it under her arm and any time she wants to break into a lecture, she can pop it open and stand above us.
Seriously though, her nagging is music to my ears, I'll buy Boy a bag of rocky mountain oysters for all his troubles. The holidays are almost upon us, so we should be seeing more and more of Wife over the next two months.
Thursday, October 13, 2016
10/13/16 Hold On?
It started as a simple job. You two will work together, like it or not, you will be bound and be one. Being the times it was, neither had a choice. Their first challenge was going to be the elements, for they were assigned on an outpost out in the open, if it was hot, they would be hot, if it was cold, they would shiver together, if it was wet, and it always was, well, that is when they had their fun, that is when they were really tested to see what they were made of. Dogs were always a problem. They came and did their worst, he always protected her as best he could. Even when he failed, she would hold him up and keep him in her best light, for he was not made for that express purpose, he did it anyway.
His real task was to keep her looking her best and protect her, he unequivocally was top notch. If he had graduated from some school, it would have been like Quantico, where the best marines are turned into FBI servicemen. He believed in no short cuts, he was totally old school. Just apply yourself to your job and be there. You don't dance, you don't party, you simply provide protection and cover for as long as you can.
Although she was of nobility, coming from a rare woodland area and surrounded by her kin, she was never able to produce children. Not that she wanted to, she had seen many of her kind perish, she felt this world was never going to understand her kind, rather they were just going to be used for man's folly. If that was what was in store, fine, she would accept it and just live in anonymity amongst her remaining peeps.
He, on the other hand, was purely a city dweller, born in an industrial complex surrounded by high technology. It was their differences that made them work together so well. For fifty years they lived together, one could say they had an impenetrable bond. He lost his strength and his shine always protecting her. He knew all along his would be a shorter life, but he hoped that if he did good enough, she would maybe even get another twenty or even forty years of life. And so it goes, eventually he was removed from her sight, buried nearby, and eventually she took another, if not out of love, then surely for the protection the first coat of paint had provided. This little picket fence would do whatever she needed to do to ensure she remained on the fence for as long as possible.
His real task was to keep her looking her best and protect her, he unequivocally was top notch. If he had graduated from some school, it would have been like Quantico, where the best marines are turned into FBI servicemen. He believed in no short cuts, he was totally old school. Just apply yourself to your job and be there. You don't dance, you don't party, you simply provide protection and cover for as long as you can.
Although she was of nobility, coming from a rare woodland area and surrounded by her kin, she was never able to produce children. Not that she wanted to, she had seen many of her kind perish, she felt this world was never going to understand her kind, rather they were just going to be used for man's folly. If that was what was in store, fine, she would accept it and just live in anonymity amongst her remaining peeps.
He, on the other hand, was purely a city dweller, born in an industrial complex surrounded by high technology. It was their differences that made them work together so well. For fifty years they lived together, one could say they had an impenetrable bond. He lost his strength and his shine always protecting her. He knew all along his would be a shorter life, but he hoped that if he did good enough, she would maybe even get another twenty or even forty years of life. And so it goes, eventually he was removed from her sight, buried nearby, and eventually she took another, if not out of love, then surely for the protection the first coat of paint had provided. This little picket fence would do whatever she needed to do to ensure she remained on the fence for as long as possible.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
10/12/16 Pseudo Single Parenting Can Be Challenging?
This stupid injury on my leg is slowing me down in ways I didn't even think it would. It turns out Wife has a secondary insurance, kind of like Aflac which she only realized she had because it is from Bastrop, her old work place, and in order for the coverage to continue she had to make a payment which was on top of our bills. Since I have now gone to the doctor three times, she thinks it might be worthwhile to make a claim, so here we go. The first thing they want is an itemized list of what they have done to me. Honestly, not much, other than prescribe antibiotics, but nevertheless, send the fatman to run around and collect paperwork from the clinics I've been to. That is such a great idea and such a good use of my time. I didn't go Monday because many of you (even those of you that know I work 20 years on nights) don't realize I have to sleep during the day if I am going to be up all night, it just becomes messy to pick an hour to get up. I may be sleepy like y'all at 10pm, but if I wake up after sleeping a couple hours, I will not be sleepy and that is when I run into some of my problems. I can easily and usually do stay up until 6am Sunday night, then I sleep in on Monday.
Monday was an in-service day for Chubs, so we had no reason to get up in the morning. I stayed up watching crappy TV, ironing and washing clothes and folding and putting away everything for the week, my usual routine. I then went through our bills and paid some that were falling through the cracks. Chubs woke me Monday around 2:00pm and we went and ate lunch, I decided to clean the tub afterwards while I was fixing to shower as it was looking pretty bad (Wife had even bought a new box of SOS pads, hint hint), by the time I finished, it was time for work. Once I start my work week it becomes pretty standard where everything needs to be like clockwork. I come home at 6:40am, wake up the boys, feed Chubs and myself, shower while he finishes eating, he changes, I change, I take him to school around 7:40, get back around 8:00am. Get in bed, sleep until 3:00, wake up, get ready to go pick him up around 3:50, we eat, do whatever homework he needs help with, I come home shower, head to work (most of the time running late 6:00-6:30pm, lately), then work my 12 hour shift. Repeat for however many days I work this week.
It is a little annoying when I talk to Wife or my Mom and they say go, take care of your leg, when all this other stuff is going on. Today, I needed to run to Target. Over the weekend our old freezer gave out, we noticed everything was thawed, so all the hot pockets and pizzas we keep for the boys had to be thrown away. I needed to run and get them more food for the times I am not home. This is more important than anything else. I still made time to run and get the forms for Wife and even call the place I was supposed to call about my leg. I cannot demand more than that as my mom tells me to do. Things would be easier if I wasn't messing with my gimpy leg. wahh!!
Monday was an in-service day for Chubs, so we had no reason to get up in the morning. I stayed up watching crappy TV, ironing and washing clothes and folding and putting away everything for the week, my usual routine. I then went through our bills and paid some that were falling through the cracks. Chubs woke me Monday around 2:00pm and we went and ate lunch, I decided to clean the tub afterwards while I was fixing to shower as it was looking pretty bad (Wife had even bought a new box of SOS pads, hint hint), by the time I finished, it was time for work. Once I start my work week it becomes pretty standard where everything needs to be like clockwork. I come home at 6:40am, wake up the boys, feed Chubs and myself, shower while he finishes eating, he changes, I change, I take him to school around 7:40, get back around 8:00am. Get in bed, sleep until 3:00, wake up, get ready to go pick him up around 3:50, we eat, do whatever homework he needs help with, I come home shower, head to work (most of the time running late 6:00-6:30pm, lately), then work my 12 hour shift. Repeat for however many days I work this week.
It is a little annoying when I talk to Wife or my Mom and they say go, take care of your leg, when all this other stuff is going on. Today, I needed to run to Target. Over the weekend our old freezer gave out, we noticed everything was thawed, so all the hot pockets and pizzas we keep for the boys had to be thrown away. I needed to run and get them more food for the times I am not home. This is more important than anything else. I still made time to run and get the forms for Wife and even call the place I was supposed to call about my leg. I cannot demand more than that as my mom tells me to do. Things would be easier if I wasn't messing with my gimpy leg. wahh!!
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
10/11/16 The Imitation Game (Movie)
I just finished watching The Imitation Game on Netflix and it was a great movie on a man not given enough credit for the work he did. Alan Turing, according to the movie, volunteered himself to work on the "enigma" project, not for love of country, but because it was a puzzle and he fancied himself able to solve the puzzle.
He carried with him a secret which unfortunately, back in the day, was punishable by prison, and that is that he was gay. The movie follows him simultaneously through some sort of all boys school in his youth, during World War 2, and about twelve years later after everything has passed. In his school days we see that he is very different from the other boys, and because of this, gets tormented and bullied until he befriends another boy. They become very close, and even get into solving puzzles and ciphers. They have their own secret code and can write notes to each other and not worry about getting caught. At some point, the headmaster calls him to his office and informs Turing that his friend has passed away from bronchitis or something like that, there were no clues that I could see that the kid was sick, but still.
During World War 2, he finds himself working a top secret mission where they are decoding or trying to decode messages from the Germans. It is easy enough to catch a message, but everything is sent out encoded. Turing then develops the first computer that allows the English to figure out what is being done by the Germans and by employing statistical analysis, they determine whether to intersect or not. This ultimately helps topple the Germans, estimates say by two years and at a savings of 14 million people. Turing should have been labeled a hero and given a "Do Not Fuck With" badge or something.
In his life after the war, we catch up to him calling the cops because his house was broken into, but then he changes his mind. The detective is not satisfied, goes prying, and does a most important task of labeling Turing "Indecent". This in turn makes him have to go before a judge who gives him the option of two years in prison or take some pills that will make you "not gay". In the closing credits, we read he ended up committing suicide in part from the pills he was taking.
Again, we let religion guide the way for too long. Genius, many times is found in people who are different. Joe Six Pack is not going to be the guy who creates flying cars or space travel to other galaxies possible. It's going to be some weird little person who thinks differently than the rest of us. We need to embrace all the different people we live on this planet with. We keep wanting everyone to be like us, but most of us are boring bricks who provide little, if anything to the rest of society. Most of us are here to take care of our own selfish needs. I know times have changed, but it is a shame for a hero of this type to have lived his life in shame and then for his life to have been cut so short, he barely made it to 41.
He carried with him a secret which unfortunately, back in the day, was punishable by prison, and that is that he was gay. The movie follows him simultaneously through some sort of all boys school in his youth, during World War 2, and about twelve years later after everything has passed. In his school days we see that he is very different from the other boys, and because of this, gets tormented and bullied until he befriends another boy. They become very close, and even get into solving puzzles and ciphers. They have their own secret code and can write notes to each other and not worry about getting caught. At some point, the headmaster calls him to his office and informs Turing that his friend has passed away from bronchitis or something like that, there were no clues that I could see that the kid was sick, but still.
During World War 2, he finds himself working a top secret mission where they are decoding or trying to decode messages from the Germans. It is easy enough to catch a message, but everything is sent out encoded. Turing then develops the first computer that allows the English to figure out what is being done by the Germans and by employing statistical analysis, they determine whether to intersect or not. This ultimately helps topple the Germans, estimates say by two years and at a savings of 14 million people. Turing should have been labeled a hero and given a "Do Not Fuck With" badge or something.
In his life after the war, we catch up to him calling the cops because his house was broken into, but then he changes his mind. The detective is not satisfied, goes prying, and does a most important task of labeling Turing "Indecent". This in turn makes him have to go before a judge who gives him the option of two years in prison or take some pills that will make you "not gay". In the closing credits, we read he ended up committing suicide in part from the pills he was taking.
Again, we let religion guide the way for too long. Genius, many times is found in people who are different. Joe Six Pack is not going to be the guy who creates flying cars or space travel to other galaxies possible. It's going to be some weird little person who thinks differently than the rest of us. We need to embrace all the different people we live on this planet with. We keep wanting everyone to be like us, but most of us are boring bricks who provide little, if anything to the rest of society. Most of us are here to take care of our own selfish needs. I know times have changed, but it is a shame for a hero of this type to have lived his life in shame and then for his life to have been cut so short, he barely made it to 41.
Monday, October 10, 2016
10/10/16 Ode To My Gash (On My Leg) (poem)
Gashy, I thought you were cute at first sight
yes you hurt but I thought it'd be alright
Now here we are five weeks later, you got to go
you're healing way too fucking slow.
I'm supposed to be lifting weights and walking many miles a night
all I have managed is sleeping when left out of sight
four different antibiotics and You look the same
what's with the black crud, what is your game?
Are you trying to kill me or just take my leg?
Either way, cut it out, please I beg.
For some weird reason you haven't given me any pain
you're black and huge, sympathy is easy to gain.
For you, I've been told I'm getting Wound Care,
looking on YouTube, on de-batement, all I did was stare.
Most of the people with injuries on their legs that heal real slow
are diabetics or their lymph nodes barely flow
They made me pee in a cup and took 8 vials of blood
no more a stud am I, just a cow who feels like a dud.
You are more a nuisance than an injury at this point
I don't even remember to bandage or anoint.
There is still some discharge coming out
at the end of the day I just sit there and pout
I wrap you at night, just so I won't get crap on my bed
all the seepage would just leave a big wet spot, color red.
I am out of antibiotic pills and fear it could get re-infected
maybe I should take matters in my own hands and start to dissect it.
I've poked and prodded and like I mentioned, it doesn't hurt
I would just hate to poke a hole and make some pus spurt
This week I promise I'll get back to being active
after a month it's back to square one on my path to Mr. Attractive.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
10/9/16 Domain, My New Favorite Shopping Place?
We've been to the Domain a couple of times and I think maybe we just weren't seeing it right. Maybe we didn't go down the right streets last time, or maybe they just have added so many stores in the last year, that it feels like a new place. We had a slow Saturday afternoon with nothing planned after Chub's had a sleepover and all his buddies left, and I watched yet another game where the Longhorns just left me feeling naked and wore out. It is very frustrating to watch schools like Baylor that have always underperformed finding success, and even A&M going to the SEC and winning against supposedly the best competition. yet the Longhorns for all their resources and opportunities to recruit the best in the state still falling short. Enough about that.
I felt like getting out of the house and since lately I have been obsessing over watches and learning that Ben Bridge at the Domain has a much larger collection of watch brands, that is where we headed. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the low 80s and falling. We parked in one of the parking garages and did some walking. We turned down a couple of streets, and even walked in the Macy's to use their bathrooms. When we finally found Ben Bridge, it did not disappoint. They had a whole section of Cartier watches, starting from the low $3000 to a lot. I liked the story the sales guy had of the tank watch. He said it was given to tank commanders and from above it has a distinct square look like looking at a tank from above. They also had Breitling watches which Boy wants one, Baume and Mercier, Panerei, IWC, Raymond Weil, and some others. Of course, the biggest display are was for the Rolex watches which are still my favorite. After many questions and looking at some prices, the sales guy gave me a magazine, probably to run me off.
We walked around and found other interesting stores like Tiffany and Co., and Coach, and there was a huge Nordstrom's and Neiman Marcus. I don't recall these stores as recently as last year when we went with my folks.
The most interesting store by far was the Tesla store. It honestly only had two cars , but to my surprise, Wife was excited to be there. She was asking questions and getting information much like I would. Turns out the 7 seat Model X is something Wife would love to drive, one day. It had the rear doors open up, storage in the back and front where the gas engine would go. The best feature is its acceleration 0-60 in as little as 2.5 seconds. The fact that it will fit seven people might be reason enough to finally trade in my Excursion. It would be an amazing exchange, to go from my Excursion which gives us 12mpg to an SUV which runs on batteries, and with us trying to get solar cells installed on our house, we might be going to great lengths to improve our carbon footprint.
I felt like getting out of the house and since lately I have been obsessing over watches and learning that Ben Bridge at the Domain has a much larger collection of watch brands, that is where we headed. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the low 80s and falling. We parked in one of the parking garages and did some walking. We turned down a couple of streets, and even walked in the Macy's to use their bathrooms. When we finally found Ben Bridge, it did not disappoint. They had a whole section of Cartier watches, starting from the low $3000 to a lot. I liked the story the sales guy had of the tank watch. He said it was given to tank commanders and from above it has a distinct square look like looking at a tank from above. They also had Breitling watches which Boy wants one, Baume and Mercier, Panerei, IWC, Raymond Weil, and some others. Of course, the biggest display are was for the Rolex watches which are still my favorite. After many questions and looking at some prices, the sales guy gave me a magazine, probably to run me off.
We walked around and found other interesting stores like Tiffany and Co., and Coach, and there was a huge Nordstrom's and Neiman Marcus. I don't recall these stores as recently as last year when we went with my folks.
The most interesting store by far was the Tesla store. It honestly only had two cars , but to my surprise, Wife was excited to be there. She was asking questions and getting information much like I would. Turns out the 7 seat Model X is something Wife would love to drive, one day. It had the rear doors open up, storage in the back and front where the gas engine would go. The best feature is its acceleration 0-60 in as little as 2.5 seconds. The fact that it will fit seven people might be reason enough to finally trade in my Excursion. It would be an amazing exchange, to go from my Excursion which gives us 12mpg to an SUV which runs on batteries, and with us trying to get solar cells installed on our house, we might be going to great lengths to improve our carbon footprint.
10/8/16 Give Me My Money Back, Please?
About a month ago, Boy decided he needed new boots and to be different, he said he would buy the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Boots. I thought I was just walking along for the ride, but upon checkout he got all suave and lured me in with how about I pay half and you pay half? Ehh, I figured at least it's a step in the right direction. The only problem was that he needed size 11 and we would have to get them mailed to the house. I didn't like this, but Boy gets stuff mailed to him almost daily sometimes. We paid our halves, him paying $80 and I of course $80 plus taxes. This was when Chubs was still with Wife in Crystal City, so when he saw them, he decided it would be cool to also get a pair.
We went back to the mall to see which ones to get, there are four Ninja Turtles, after all. As luck would have it, and even though Boy is ten years older, they both wear size 11 and they were still out. I said ok, if big bro can get his by mail, so can you. I paid the full amount this time, because Chubs doesn't work, little Moocher. When we got them home, of course we noticed how pretty and ooh and aah, but when he tried to put them on, they wouldn't fit. I kind of forced him to do it again and I got his foot in, but he was in pain. We finally said forget it, and just threw our hands up. Wife said "just give them to Boy." Boy, of course, has no problem taking free stuff. Yesterday, he finally tried them on and he was surprised they fit him so tight. He very dryly said "they're the wrong size, I needed 11s." I looked at the tongue, and first of all, this is the United Fucking States Of Fucking America, we don't need the shoe size in Europe and why do men and women have different sizes? We should all be on the same system, women if you got a cow foot, calling it a smaller size ain't making it cuter. I wear a 13, if I see a heel in a size 13, it should be made for my foot, I don't understand why we play these games. There were four different sizes on the tongue, I get why Chubs would have been confused. The Purchase order said size 11, I never looked at the shoe.
Oh well, instead of just eating it like we do on so many other things, I decided to make it right by returning the shoes. Turned out, Chubs couldn't even wear them to school, so it becomes a harder pill to swallow. The girl working for Journeys quickly started pushing a new pair of shoes, but since I know Chubs is already forced to swap shoes daily for gym (he's wearing Nike shoes and Doc Martens on alternating days), I said no thanks. She tried talking me into re-ordering the right size, I said "nope, this is why I don't trust online stuff." She apologized a couple times, I said no problem, he'll need shoes later, we'll get them then. She said she would be there.
I hated the whole exchange there. The taking stuff back to the mall, but those shoes were not going to help nobody. He has another pair of black Nikes, but they have a red tongue and according to the school dress code, he can't wear them. We bought these on a closeout, no exchange deal at JCPenney, so we are out $40. Maybe Chubs can wear them outside of school, or maybe I can give them to my father. I do feel pretty good though, returning the shoes is like paying down an extra $162 or something like that to the credit card.
We went back to the mall to see which ones to get, there are four Ninja Turtles, after all. As luck would have it, and even though Boy is ten years older, they both wear size 11 and they were still out. I said ok, if big bro can get his by mail, so can you. I paid the full amount this time, because Chubs doesn't work, little Moocher. When we got them home, of course we noticed how pretty and ooh and aah, but when he tried to put them on, they wouldn't fit. I kind of forced him to do it again and I got his foot in, but he was in pain. We finally said forget it, and just threw our hands up. Wife said "just give them to Boy." Boy, of course, has no problem taking free stuff. Yesterday, he finally tried them on and he was surprised they fit him so tight. He very dryly said "they're the wrong size, I needed 11s." I looked at the tongue, and first of all, this is the United Fucking States Of Fucking America, we don't need the shoe size in Europe and why do men and women have different sizes? We should all be on the same system, women if you got a cow foot, calling it a smaller size ain't making it cuter. I wear a 13, if I see a heel in a size 13, it should be made for my foot, I don't understand why we play these games. There were four different sizes on the tongue, I get why Chubs would have been confused. The Purchase order said size 11, I never looked at the shoe.
Oh well, instead of just eating it like we do on so many other things, I decided to make it right by returning the shoes. Turned out, Chubs couldn't even wear them to school, so it becomes a harder pill to swallow. The girl working for Journeys quickly started pushing a new pair of shoes, but since I know Chubs is already forced to swap shoes daily for gym (he's wearing Nike shoes and Doc Martens on alternating days), I said no thanks. She tried talking me into re-ordering the right size, I said "nope, this is why I don't trust online stuff." She apologized a couple times, I said no problem, he'll need shoes later, we'll get them then. She said she would be there.
I hated the whole exchange there. The taking stuff back to the mall, but those shoes were not going to help nobody. He has another pair of black Nikes, but they have a red tongue and according to the school dress code, he can't wear them. We bought these on a closeout, no exchange deal at JCPenney, so we are out $40. Maybe Chubs can wear them outside of school, or maybe I can give them to my father. I do feel pretty good though, returning the shoes is like paying down an extra $162 or something like that to the credit card.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
10/7/16 A New Obsession, Watches?
I am just now discovering a world I did not even know existed. I'm talking about becoming a horophile, or one who loves watches. I have been learning from youtube videos and by reading and looking up different brands. I used to think a Citizen or Bulova is what one wears day to day and when you have some success, maybe treat yourself to a Rolex. Turns out Rolex isn't even the most expensive, or even have the highest ranking in quality. There are brands I haven't even heard about yet, some are exclusive and only make a set amount of a given watch, some I just heard about and am trying to figure out how to even pronounce. Be that as it may, I know I want one of each, if I can make it happen.
The most elite brand as it appears from one list to another is Patek Philippe. Founded in 1855, it makes some of the most complicated watches. These watches go for as much as over a million dollars, but they do have some that start under $10,000. A watch brand Boy loved when he saw recently was Breitling. They specialize in aviator and diving watches. Nowadays, most calculations on a plane are done by computer, but there was a time when a pilot had to have a trustworthy watch to figure things out. These watches are more "affordable", starting in the upper $2000 range and up. Boy also had mentioned the Omega watches, worn by the astronauts when they went to the moon. These have a price from between $2000 to a max around $20,000.
There are so many other brands, I have only scratched the surface. Honestly, I don't even know where in Austin one would go and look for brands such as Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Sohne. But after seeing them I can appreciate their beauty. Not to mention there are "lower levels" of watches that are equally as nice. For example, Tudor is a lower end watch brand supported by Rolex. Their watches tend to cost as much as half as much, but still have the same look and style.
I don't know how far I'll go down the rabbit hole, but I am entranced right now. There was a time I was thinking I wanted a handful of Rolexes by the time I die, but with so many brands out there, it would be foolish to stick with one brand and not sample all the variety out there. All I need is some money, and I'm ready to start buying.
The most elite brand as it appears from one list to another is Patek Philippe. Founded in 1855, it makes some of the most complicated watches. These watches go for as much as over a million dollars, but they do have some that start under $10,000. A watch brand Boy loved when he saw recently was Breitling. They specialize in aviator and diving watches. Nowadays, most calculations on a plane are done by computer, but there was a time when a pilot had to have a trustworthy watch to figure things out. These watches are more "affordable", starting in the upper $2000 range and up. Boy also had mentioned the Omega watches, worn by the astronauts when they went to the moon. These have a price from between $2000 to a max around $20,000.
There are so many other brands, I have only scratched the surface. Honestly, I don't even know where in Austin one would go and look for brands such as Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Sohne. But after seeing them I can appreciate their beauty. Not to mention there are "lower levels" of watches that are equally as nice. For example, Tudor is a lower end watch brand supported by Rolex. Their watches tend to cost as much as half as much, but still have the same look and style.
I don't know how far I'll go down the rabbit hole, but I am entranced right now. There was a time I was thinking I wanted a handful of Rolexes by the time I die, but with so many brands out there, it would be foolish to stick with one brand and not sample all the variety out there. All I need is some money, and I'm ready to start buying.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
10/6/16 Red And Blue, I Thank You?
Finally, a cop when and where I needed one. Last night, I was coming back to work minding my own business, figuring how soon and which watch I would buy first, if I had a bag of cash (shut it family, just dreaming). Suddenly, on Slaughter Lane some idiot honked at me and he came over so much into my lane I think the jerk riding passenger hit my rearview mirror with his hand. I had just turned and knew the other lane was empty so I threw my truck over enough to avoid the trucks bumping. Normally, I would cuss and throw the finger but this was a very aggressive move and it wasn't one asshole, but two in the truck. A move like that, they are either drunk and incapable of reasoning or looking for trouble which again, you can't reason with that. I slowed down to let him get away from me, but the fucking light changed and he stopped, and I had to go and stop by his side.
I purposely stopped about five feet from where we would be lined up, I wanted to say what the fuck, but again, I am smarter than that. A few seconds later he puts his truck in reverse and moves back to line up our windows, I didn't want to but I lowered my window figuring if I didn't they were going to yell and get my attention one way or another. I quickly looked at their hands, and they didn't seem to be holding any type of weapons or something they could throw. I casually said "howdy", they said "hey, what are you up to?" I said "headed back to work." It caught the passenger by surprise and he gave a half sympathetic query like "aw man, that sucks." Trying to keep them talking while waiting for the light to change I added "yeah, going on twenty years of working the night shift. What are you fellas up to?" The driver says "I was trying to race that Porsche (on my right), but he wouldn't bite." At this point, the light changed, I said a final "take care" and they sped off. I let them get distance from me, although it appeared they slowed down on the ramp to the freeway. I noticed the car behind me come aggressively on me, but not passing me. I said to myself "fuck, here comes his buddy, more assholes to avoid." As soon as we were on the freeway, he went over to the inside lane hard and fast, but it was a police SUV. I instantly did a "whew" to myself and mumbled "get him!!!" He got on their ass, and you could see the a-hole not liking it, he changed lanes a few too many times and by the time they reached Ben White, they were pulled over. The trailing smell of burning oil and their slurred speech makes me think right about now (half an hour after this happened), they are sitting in a well lit police station.
I purposely stopped about five feet from where we would be lined up, I wanted to say what the fuck, but again, I am smarter than that. A few seconds later he puts his truck in reverse and moves back to line up our windows, I didn't want to but I lowered my window figuring if I didn't they were going to yell and get my attention one way or another. I quickly looked at their hands, and they didn't seem to be holding any type of weapons or something they could throw. I casually said "howdy", they said "hey, what are you up to?" I said "headed back to work." It caught the passenger by surprise and he gave a half sympathetic query like "aw man, that sucks." Trying to keep them talking while waiting for the light to change I added "yeah, going on twenty years of working the night shift. What are you fellas up to?" The driver says "I was trying to race that Porsche (on my right), but he wouldn't bite." At this point, the light changed, I said a final "take care" and they sped off. I let them get distance from me, although it appeared they slowed down on the ramp to the freeway. I noticed the car behind me come aggressively on me, but not passing me. I said to myself "fuck, here comes his buddy, more assholes to avoid." As soon as we were on the freeway, he went over to the inside lane hard and fast, but it was a police SUV. I instantly did a "whew" to myself and mumbled "get him!!!" He got on their ass, and you could see the a-hole not liking it, he changed lanes a few too many times and by the time they reached Ben White, they were pulled over. The trailing smell of burning oil and their slurred speech makes me think right about now (half an hour after this happened), they are sitting in a well lit police station.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
10/5/16 Wife Is Finally Being Appreciated?
I am glad someone decided to throw Wife's name in the ring and kick start her career. In my opinion, she had been wasting away in Bastrop for very little pay, specially after she went and got her Master's Degree back in 2007, right as we went into that little recession. Maybe it wasn't all a waste as she was there almost ten years and she was able to learn a lot from the other administrators and higher ups. I just wish those sons of bitches had given her the promotion she deserved so she could be here where she belongs. No problem, this distance thing is just going to fortify us and make us stronger.
I feel like my career took off when I started here. First, they sent me to classes and allowed me to take all sorts of classes that in the beginning were just offered for free. They sent me to special trainings in California and Pennsylvania, not that they made me any better, but it did tell me they liked me enough to spend the money on my lame ass. It has been awhile since any special treatment, but at this point we know what we know and we function at a pretty high level.
Wife now is finally beginning to get sent to training conferences. She is in San Antonio for one, and I was trying to get her to sleep over in Austin and commute from over here, it being only about an hour away. She said she couldn't because there were three or four of them and they were supposed to travel together. She was thinking they were done for the day around 6:30pm when she was told they were being treated to a concert where the Beach Boys were playing. I thought this was a cool perk, for her.
She is keeping her ears open and her mouth shut when it comes to learning what she has to. One of the ladies training her said she is impressed with her already, but that she has taken on too much. She was hired as Director of Federal Grants, then given the title of Director of Human Resources, Director of Special Education, she is assuming the role of Homeless Coordinator, Migrant Coordinator, and working with the Gifted and Talented program to get it off the ground. On top of that, she is the point of contact for the task of turning the school around and getting them off the list of poor performing schools. Each one of those positions in a big school would easily be making $70k-$90k, and she is handling at least seven of those titles, there might be others, it's hard to keep track of everything when she is going on and on.
The lady helping to train her right now said it should take about three years to really learn and understand what you are doing, she wants to keep all the positions, first so she can request a hefty raise next year after she shows she can handle all the responsibilities, then to build experience so she can do any and or all of those jobs when she comes back to Central Texas. If they refuse to throw more money her way, she'll start looking for jobs closer to her family, not a problem. I can put up with the distance as long as she is being compensated and appreciated. If that stops, Babe, bring that big butt back home to Daddy.
I feel like my career took off when I started here. First, they sent me to classes and allowed me to take all sorts of classes that in the beginning were just offered for free. They sent me to special trainings in California and Pennsylvania, not that they made me any better, but it did tell me they liked me enough to spend the money on my lame ass. It has been awhile since any special treatment, but at this point we know what we know and we function at a pretty high level.
Wife now is finally beginning to get sent to training conferences. She is in San Antonio for one, and I was trying to get her to sleep over in Austin and commute from over here, it being only about an hour away. She said she couldn't because there were three or four of them and they were supposed to travel together. She was thinking they were done for the day around 6:30pm when she was told they were being treated to a concert where the Beach Boys were playing. I thought this was a cool perk, for her.
She is keeping her ears open and her mouth shut when it comes to learning what she has to. One of the ladies training her said she is impressed with her already, but that she has taken on too much. She was hired as Director of Federal Grants, then given the title of Director of Human Resources, Director of Special Education, she is assuming the role of Homeless Coordinator, Migrant Coordinator, and working with the Gifted and Talented program to get it off the ground. On top of that, she is the point of contact for the task of turning the school around and getting them off the list of poor performing schools. Each one of those positions in a big school would easily be making $70k-$90k, and she is handling at least seven of those titles, there might be others, it's hard to keep track of everything when she is going on and on.
The lady helping to train her right now said it should take about three years to really learn and understand what you are doing, she wants to keep all the positions, first so she can request a hefty raise next year after she shows she can handle all the responsibilities, then to build experience so she can do any and or all of those jobs when she comes back to Central Texas. If they refuse to throw more money her way, she'll start looking for jobs closer to her family, not a problem. I can put up with the distance as long as she is being compensated and appreciated. If that stops, Babe, bring that big butt back home to Daddy.
10/4/16 What Good Are PTO Days If You Never Use Them?
This is really a non-problem, more of a philosophical thought. Wife is in a new role and I fully support her doing everything she needs to do to become great in her new capacity, but like anyone in any job, you do get a set amount of days to use to take time off, we call ours PTO, or Personal Time Off. What is the harm in taking a day or two off here and there? My folks were here this past weekend and my mom sort of took Wife's side describing that one gets so busy in the day to day shenanigans of dealing with things, that you need all the time in a given week, just to get everything needed done.
I guess I can see that, but from my perspective, my greatest thought or worry coming back to work tonight (Monday) was how soon I could get online to finish watching the last few episodes of the third season of The Blacklist. My work is much different than Wife's. I don't have to deal with people, just samples, and like I've said, we've been slow most of the year. I would consider taking days off or like we had planned I could run to Crystal on Thursday mornings, but Chubs came back to Austin, so we can't go nowhere when he has to go to school through Friday. I'm not saying I need Wife or I miss her so much, but part of our planning when she took the job was in this long stretch, between September and November, she could maybe take a Friday here and a Monday there to increase the amount of time we hang out.
Once we get to November, we see her very possibly on Halloween night and the day after for a conference, and that makes it a short work week, then two full weeks of work, then she gets a full week off to be up here with us for Thanksgiving break, then three full weeks of work, then it is two weeks off for Christmas.
She's looked into it and whatever she has at the end of the year does not carry over. The best she can do is cash out the days at like $75 a day. I don't know that I like that deal, considering she makes quite a bit more than that per day. I won't be happy unless she ends the year and only has one or two days left.
We'll see, normally I don't believe in missing work either, but we are working in extreme conditions. A couple days in October would be a fine start, if she can find the days to play hooky and not fall too far behind on her quest to be number 1 at everything.
I guess I can see that, but from my perspective, my greatest thought or worry coming back to work tonight (Monday) was how soon I could get online to finish watching the last few episodes of the third season of The Blacklist. My work is much different than Wife's. I don't have to deal with people, just samples, and like I've said, we've been slow most of the year. I would consider taking days off or like we had planned I could run to Crystal on Thursday mornings, but Chubs came back to Austin, so we can't go nowhere when he has to go to school through Friday. I'm not saying I need Wife or I miss her so much, but part of our planning when she took the job was in this long stretch, between September and November, she could maybe take a Friday here and a Monday there to increase the amount of time we hang out.
Once we get to November, we see her very possibly on Halloween night and the day after for a conference, and that makes it a short work week, then two full weeks of work, then she gets a full week off to be up here with us for Thanksgiving break, then three full weeks of work, then it is two weeks off for Christmas.
She's looked into it and whatever she has at the end of the year does not carry over. The best she can do is cash out the days at like $75 a day. I don't know that I like that deal, considering she makes quite a bit more than that per day. I won't be happy unless she ends the year and only has one or two days left.
We'll see, normally I don't believe in missing work either, but we are working in extreme conditions. A couple days in October would be a fine start, if she can find the days to play hooky and not fall too far behind on her quest to be number 1 at everything.
Monday, October 3, 2016
10/3/16 Fall Coming Around?
I finally think I feel Fall in the air. There have been a couple of cool nights which are always lovely and make me start thinking of sweaters and jackets. Normally, we start decorating the house for Halloween in September, but given our current situations with my shitty leg and Wife only here on the weekends, I just started decorating tonight. I doubt I will be able to break everything out, but at least I will put some effort into what I do.
Another sign we are in Fall season is the shorter days. The sun is gone by about 7:30pm. Even in the morning, I notice the sun taking longer to come out. The biggest sign of Fall should be the weekly football games, but with another shitty season lining up for the Longhorns, it becomes harder and harder to sit and enjoy the games. This weekend, they just forgot to play defense, and what the hell with three missed PAT attempts. They have now had two blocked PAT blocked and run back for two points. What do you say to that when you can't even celebrate a touchdown until you sit there and cross your fingers and hope for the extra point before you can relax.
As far as decorating, it involves wrapping the stair rails with Halloween colored lights, hanging an assortment of spiders, followed by demons and whatever else we keep buying. I then wrap everything with the fake spider web to give it a unified theme. This is for the entryway/foyer. The rest of the house is tamer, but the kitchen, for example, we have plastic knives and axes and some scythes. I'll hang these all around. The living room gets clown heads and other scary creature heads hung up high. Normally, the kitchen and living room are open to each other through these big "arches", but a couple years ago, I bought fabric and had my mom sew some black curtains with Halloween creatures in gold foil. The real reason for the curtains is that if we end up watching a UT game during the day, the curtains help darken the living room.
I have the stuff for the upstairs balcony all lined up, I just need to go out there and work on placing the stuff and securing it so the wind does not make it fall. Zip ties work perfectly for holding things in place. I am not sure about doing the yard in the usual way we do. I hate worrying abour my stuff getting stolen. The forst or second year we were here, some jerk took one of our snowmen and then connected it three houses down, on a house that was for sale.
We are already discussing Christmas and what kind of budget we'll be spending on family gifts, so yeah, time keeps a marching. It would be great if we could turn off the A/C, but not with highs in the 90's still. Finally, Fall isn't complete without planning and going to the Texas Renaissance Festival. We have about eight weeks to choose from up to the weekend of Thanksgiving. I like to wait until November to improve the chances of going on a cool weekend, but with Texas weather that is never a given.
Another sign we are in Fall season is the shorter days. The sun is gone by about 7:30pm. Even in the morning, I notice the sun taking longer to come out. The biggest sign of Fall should be the weekly football games, but with another shitty season lining up for the Longhorns, it becomes harder and harder to sit and enjoy the games. This weekend, they just forgot to play defense, and what the hell with three missed PAT attempts. They have now had two blocked PAT blocked and run back for two points. What do you say to that when you can't even celebrate a touchdown until you sit there and cross your fingers and hope for the extra point before you can relax.
As far as decorating, it involves wrapping the stair rails with Halloween colored lights, hanging an assortment of spiders, followed by demons and whatever else we keep buying. I then wrap everything with the fake spider web to give it a unified theme. This is for the entryway/foyer. The rest of the house is tamer, but the kitchen, for example, we have plastic knives and axes and some scythes. I'll hang these all around. The living room gets clown heads and other scary creature heads hung up high. Normally, the kitchen and living room are open to each other through these big "arches", but a couple years ago, I bought fabric and had my mom sew some black curtains with Halloween creatures in gold foil. The real reason for the curtains is that if we end up watching a UT game during the day, the curtains help darken the living room.
I have the stuff for the upstairs balcony all lined up, I just need to go out there and work on placing the stuff and securing it so the wind does not make it fall. Zip ties work perfectly for holding things in place. I am not sure about doing the yard in the usual way we do. I hate worrying abour my stuff getting stolen. The forst or second year we were here, some jerk took one of our snowmen and then connected it three houses down, on a house that was for sale.
We are already discussing Christmas and what kind of budget we'll be spending on family gifts, so yeah, time keeps a marching. It would be great if we could turn off the A/C, but not with highs in the 90's still. Finally, Fall isn't complete without planning and going to the Texas Renaissance Festival. We have about eight weeks to choose from up to the weekend of Thanksgiving. I like to wait until November to improve the chances of going on a cool weekend, but with Texas weather that is never a given.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
10/2/16 How Many Animals Can Pappadeaux Stuff You With At One Sitting?
My folks are here, for the weekend and as usual, we went out to eat. I say we, but it was without the old man. My Dad is kind of a party pooper in that he doesn't want to leave the house, opting to stay home and watch old Longhorns football games on TV. The party must go on we always say, so we went off and after finding that Johnny Carino's appears to have closed down in Southpark Meadows Wife decided she wanted something other than Longhorn Steakhouse. I headed north and remembered Pappadeaux which we do enjoy a lot, but it is pricey.
To our surprise, we got there around 9:00pm and there was plenty of parking and no wait inside, for once. We sat quickly and the bread was brought out in no time. We ordered drinks and appetizers first, then a little later, our main course. It sucked that everything was brought out at once is my only complaint.
The appetizer we ordered was a trio with alligator, salmon, and a shrimp and crawfish fondeaux. My mom ordered an appetizer of calamari. I then ordered swordfish with a loaded baked potato (included butter, cream, and bacon), Chubs ordered a plate with chicken and shrimp, Wife ordered a seafood platter (two fried tilapia fillets, shrimp, blue crab cake, stuffed shrimp and stuffed crab). My mom ordered a seafood platter but with catfish instead of tilapia, and my brother ordered Moroccan salmon and shrimp with crab couscous.
If we accept the butter and cream as cow, the bacon as pig, then I ate about twelve different animals at one sitting. Vegan, we are not. We cannot afford to eat here more than a couple times a year, but Pappadeaux is a special and delicious place, for sure. The last time we ate here was for Boy's birthday back in March. That time we had both sides of the family and we were there about three or four hours. Tonight was especially fast, compared to most times we have come, we were done in about an hour and a half.
The only place I enjoy more than this restaurant is Estancia Churrascaria with the all you can eat Brazilian concept. But if we add up amount of animals, Estancia still has less variety. I can count about half as many animals, but you do get a lot more of each animal, in fact, all you can eat.
This turned out to be a real nice day, after getting up early to watch the Longhorn football game at 11:00am. It is turning into another heartbreaking season where they are just not getting it done, but I guess we are getting used to it. After halftime, I took a shower, Wife had bought breakfast tacos and barbacoa for the start of the game, so after a small nap in the second half of the game, we headed to the mall to walk around. We are seeing a ton of Halloween stuff and normally we would have the house looking awesome, it has been hard with Wife only here on the weekends and my leg hurt.
To our surprise, we got there around 9:00pm and there was plenty of parking and no wait inside, for once. We sat quickly and the bread was brought out in no time. We ordered drinks and appetizers first, then a little later, our main course. It sucked that everything was brought out at once is my only complaint.
The appetizer we ordered was a trio with alligator, salmon, and a shrimp and crawfish fondeaux. My mom ordered an appetizer of calamari. I then ordered swordfish with a loaded baked potato (included butter, cream, and bacon), Chubs ordered a plate with chicken and shrimp, Wife ordered a seafood platter (two fried tilapia fillets, shrimp, blue crab cake, stuffed shrimp and stuffed crab). My mom ordered a seafood platter but with catfish instead of tilapia, and my brother ordered Moroccan salmon and shrimp with crab couscous.
If we accept the butter and cream as cow, the bacon as pig, then I ate about twelve different animals at one sitting. Vegan, we are not. We cannot afford to eat here more than a couple times a year, but Pappadeaux is a special and delicious place, for sure. The last time we ate here was for Boy's birthday back in March. That time we had both sides of the family and we were there about three or four hours. Tonight was especially fast, compared to most times we have come, we were done in about an hour and a half.
The only place I enjoy more than this restaurant is Estancia Churrascaria with the all you can eat Brazilian concept. But if we add up amount of animals, Estancia still has less variety. I can count about half as many animals, but you do get a lot more of each animal, in fact, all you can eat.
This turned out to be a real nice day, after getting up early to watch the Longhorn football game at 11:00am. It is turning into another heartbreaking season where they are just not getting it done, but I guess we are getting used to it. After halftime, I took a shower, Wife had bought breakfast tacos and barbacoa for the start of the game, so after a small nap in the second half of the game, we headed to the mall to walk around. We are seeing a ton of Halloween stuff and normally we would have the house looking awesome, it has been hard with Wife only here on the weekends and my leg hurt.
10/1/16 Deep Conversations With Chubs?
One of the reasons I liked having Chubs around and I'm glad he is back is because of his love of discussing things with me. I picked him up after school and we ran a couple of errands, first to get pan dulce, then to Home Depot to replace the air filters for the house A/C and finally to eat at Bill Miller.
At Bill Miller while we were eating, he asked would I still be able to eat an animal if we could talk in the same language? I said wow, that would suck, the cow pleading "don't kill me, I thought we were friends. I guess that would be a good way to make everyone a vegan. I don't think I have a problem eating anything, but I would rather not hear it talking to me. He then added "what if you were locked in the house, and you couldn't escape and all you had with you was grandma's Winnie dog (since we don't have a dog of our own). Would you eat it? I said probably, that is why we say life is a "dog eat dog world to be corny.
Anytime I think of eating extremes, I remember about the team of rugby players who crashed in the Andes mountains and ended up doing a little cannibalism. I told him if we ended up crashing and he didn't survive, and we had no choice, we might eat him. He agreed that that would be the smart thing to do. It would be stupid to bury the dead if there was no meat and the dead were being buried when they could be used for sustenance.
While walking through Home Depot, we were also having the discussion about being smart and learning. He was complaining about a handful of kids who don't seem interested in learning at school. I told him, learning is not for everyone. I told him probably 20% of the people he knows will end up getting a degree from a college, then I thought that sounded low and said maybe 30%. I was looking it up a while ago and it turns out that according to a study done by Harvard, only 6.7% of the world has a college degree, in the US population the percentage increases closer to 30%.
In my quest to be right though, since we are Hispanic, if I look at the data, as of 2015, a Pew Research study says only 15% of Hispanics have a college degree, so since I live in a brown world, I am close to being right when I tell Chubs, given most of his friends are Hispanic, expect only about 20% of your friends to get degrees by the time you grow up. Those numbers are improving yearly and at this point, Hispanics have the highest enrollment in college, surpassing the white population in 2013. This is a good sign as we are finally understanding that the only way to move it on up is to get more schooling than the next person.
I am doing all I can, I am a big believer in college and expanding your knowledge base. Anybody who I notice with an interest, I will push them to get some college. Just last week, at Whataburger, our receptionist, a black husky kid was showing a lot of interest in the homework that Chubs was doing. He mentioned how he had graduated high school out in Oklahoma and he was missing school, he couldn't wait for it to end, but now finds life a little less than exciting. I told him it sounded like he needed to get back to school, to look into it at ACC. He seemed genuinely interested and said he was already thinking about it. I told him the best way to attend is to go to one of the campuses and talk to an advisor, he said he wasn't familiar with Austin yet, he had just moved here, I then told him to look it up online, they do have a decent website. He said he would, guess we'll see.
At Bill Miller while we were eating, he asked would I still be able to eat an animal if we could talk in the same language? I said wow, that would suck, the cow pleading "don't kill me, I thought we were friends. I guess that would be a good way to make everyone a vegan. I don't think I have a problem eating anything, but I would rather not hear it talking to me. He then added "what if you were locked in the house, and you couldn't escape and all you had with you was grandma's Winnie dog (since we don't have a dog of our own). Would you eat it? I said probably, that is why we say life is a "dog eat dog world to be corny.
Anytime I think of eating extremes, I remember about the team of rugby players who crashed in the Andes mountains and ended up doing a little cannibalism. I told him if we ended up crashing and he didn't survive, and we had no choice, we might eat him. He agreed that that would be the smart thing to do. It would be stupid to bury the dead if there was no meat and the dead were being buried when they could be used for sustenance.
While walking through Home Depot, we were also having the discussion about being smart and learning. He was complaining about a handful of kids who don't seem interested in learning at school. I told him, learning is not for everyone. I told him probably 20% of the people he knows will end up getting a degree from a college, then I thought that sounded low and said maybe 30%. I was looking it up a while ago and it turns out that according to a study done by Harvard, only 6.7% of the world has a college degree, in the US population the percentage increases closer to 30%.
In my quest to be right though, since we are Hispanic, if I look at the data, as of 2015, a Pew Research study says only 15% of Hispanics have a college degree, so since I live in a brown world, I am close to being right when I tell Chubs, given most of his friends are Hispanic, expect only about 20% of your friends to get degrees by the time you grow up. Those numbers are improving yearly and at this point, Hispanics have the highest enrollment in college, surpassing the white population in 2013. This is a good sign as we are finally understanding that the only way to move it on up is to get more schooling than the next person.
I am doing all I can, I am a big believer in college and expanding your knowledge base. Anybody who I notice with an interest, I will push them to get some college. Just last week, at Whataburger, our receptionist, a black husky kid was showing a lot of interest in the homework that Chubs was doing. He mentioned how he had graduated high school out in Oklahoma and he was missing school, he couldn't wait for it to end, but now finds life a little less than exciting. I told him it sounded like he needed to get back to school, to look into it at ACC. He seemed genuinely interested and said he was already thinking about it. I told him the best way to attend is to go to one of the campuses and talk to an advisor, he said he wasn't familiar with Austin yet, he had just moved here, I then told him to look it up online, they do have a decent website. He said he would, guess we'll see.
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