I was reading more on PT Barnum and I have to agree that it was easy to like the character in the movie as he was portrayed to us and then having the actor be the charismatic and good looking Wolverine guy, Hugh Jackman. PETA was/is trying to start shit that PT Barnum was in reality a bad guy who abused and profited off animals he kept imprisoned.
We were not there to say he was abusive or not but I am sure you can't control elephants and tigers the same way you control puppies, so more power and force will be needed. We have to look at life through the lens of the people living in those times. Barnum lived from 1810 to 1891, America was young and spread out over a lot of land. The television would not be invented until after Barnum passed away, so people in small towns were not introduced to new things very often. There were newspapers, but a black and white image does not compare to a living creature moving about. Someone bringing something you may have only heard about to your town along with hoopla and fanfare sounds exciting and I might pay a nickel to see that. It is sad that nowadays we can say the animals were treated unfairly, but even the people were sometimes treated badly too. It was a hard life and not everything had been figured out. A couple of koala bears probably died before it was figured out that they live off of eucalyptus leaves almost exclusively, but that was not learned until zoos and people like Barnum kept them in captivity long enough.
It is easy for PETA today to judge and look down on the goings on from 100 years ago today when all they have to do is look at their IPADS and phones. Life was not the same 100 years ago, people struggled to survive, let alone choose a life to not eat the most nutritious portion of their meal, the meat. Off topic, but again, if not for Barnum, maybe we don't have as many scientists. How many kids saw a giraffe or a hippo and decided they were going to become a zoologist, or contribute to science positively? This is a similar argument to people who hate zoos because they keep animals imprisoned. It is through these systems that we have learned the most of animal behavior, and even been able to keep certain animals from becoming extinct. Plus the truth is, most of us would not see 99% of the animals we see if not for zoos and circuses and that is of value in itself.
PETA may not like it, but we can't let all these animals just exist, specially the carnivores who might eat us, if we don't pay attention. I don't agree that we are all equal animals, if we try to build housing and there are hyenas or other predators that might take our children at any moment, fuck that, clean out the predators for one hundred miles. It sucks and it is selfish, but we are humans, it is what we do. It is not worth the risk, and the PETA types can suck it. They wouldn't live in a neighborhood where walking to Starbucks might mean possibly having to fight for their life from a tiger or other animal bigger than them. But they will whine if predators are taken out of an ecosystem right now to protect other people.
I have nothing against PETA,what they intend to do is noble, protecting animals that can't protect themselves is great, but trying to convert us all into vegetarians should not be in their job description. Sadly, we are omnivores, and we need the protein of meat to function properly. Looking at the past and judging it is also unfair, the rules were different. PT Barnum may not have been right on how he treated his animals, but the masses of the day showed up to support him, otherwise he would not have become rich and famous for doing things his way.
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Friday, December 29, 2017
12/30/17 The Greatest Showman (movie)
Wife was a hero again today (Thursday), she remembered we had won free tickets to watch a movie at any Cinemark Theater, and being we live closest to Southpark Meadows, well that is where we went, I was being my crotchety self saying I didn't want to go. Man, the last time we went it was like going to a dollar theater, everyone was on their phones, people jumping from one row to another, smells of food from the outside, screaming, cell phone flashlights while the movie was going on. We had said no more, but that was a good two years ago. I didn't realize we had been missing the upgrades. They have some nice seats, even my big ass fit in nicely and the feet came up with the push of a button. It has been really chilly outside, I was thinking about taking a small blanket, I didn't, but it would have been perfect to cover my legs. All I can say is bravo Cinemark, Alamo Drafthouse has made y'all bring up your game. I hate to see places fall to the animals, like when you could tell it was a matter of time before Highland Mall closed. At least this theater has fought back and it was looking good.
The movie we saw was very good, we have been watching so many movies and I hardly watch TV that I hadn't seen any commercials for it. It was a musical right from the beginning, it starts as PT Barnum as the son of a tailor, and they go to the house of a man where he falls in love with the daughter. They are so uptight that because the kid made the daughter laugh, they send her off to boarding school. Barnum keeps up with her by letters and when they become of age, marry each other and move to the city. He is still a dreamer and upon getting fired, takes a few documents, one being that his company had twelve ships out in the South seas which he uses as collateral to take out a loan to open a warehouse which he turns into his "circus". His first attempt being full of stuffed animals, like elephants and such does not do well, his daughters tell him he needs live things that move around and he gets the idea of loading up on "freaks" and it works. Before long, he is a rich man, buying the mansion next to his In-laws as he promised his wife, but he wants more. He wants the respect of the upper crust, the rich who still see him as a peanut seller and a scam artist. He stretches his abilities past his senses when he tries to become a tastemaker by bringing in a singer from Sweden, paying her upfront, and then she quit on him by some "controversy" that isn't clear to us. In the same night she quits, troublemakers burn his warehouse down, so he is left with nothing.
He befriends a guy, Carlyle, who has connections to the elites he so wishes to impress and it works out perfectly, in the movie. When he seems to have lost everything, he reminds Barnum that he had promised him 10% and he has been taking his 10% upfront, so Barnum may have been rich, but Carlyle is doing alright too, so he is able to support them and bring them back from bankruptcy, and this is when they finally make their move to the tent, moving away from an expensive city property and renting wherever land is cheap.
I was so intrigued by this that I looked up PT Barnum and found he lived between 1810 and 1891. In the movie, he has an open call for anybody with unique gifts, come one and all. I guess the term is whitewashed, in reality, according to some of the articles, Barnum bought his first "freak", an 80 year old black lady, and created a story that she was 160 years old and had been around the time of George Washington, claiming blacks live so long because they thrive in hot climates like those in Africa. There were many other stories about other slaves and then the animals involved, which the movie doesn't even get into.
Like I said, what we saw onscreen was pretty awesome, the coming together of the circus people, the newspaper columnist who coined the term "circus" in a moment of calm and admiring of the work done by Barnum, tells him something to the effect "a different columnist upon seeing all the different people working in unison would say this is a celebration of the human spirit." Plus, our eyes are so filled with extremes in this day and age, none of the "freaks" were that wow. We accepted all the characters and have heard or understand why they are how they are.
The movie we saw was very good, we have been watching so many movies and I hardly watch TV that I hadn't seen any commercials for it. It was a musical right from the beginning, it starts as PT Barnum as the son of a tailor, and they go to the house of a man where he falls in love with the daughter. They are so uptight that because the kid made the daughter laugh, they send her off to boarding school. Barnum keeps up with her by letters and when they become of age, marry each other and move to the city. He is still a dreamer and upon getting fired, takes a few documents, one being that his company had twelve ships out in the South seas which he uses as collateral to take out a loan to open a warehouse which he turns into his "circus". His first attempt being full of stuffed animals, like elephants and such does not do well, his daughters tell him he needs live things that move around and he gets the idea of loading up on "freaks" and it works. Before long, he is a rich man, buying the mansion next to his In-laws as he promised his wife, but he wants more. He wants the respect of the upper crust, the rich who still see him as a peanut seller and a scam artist. He stretches his abilities past his senses when he tries to become a tastemaker by bringing in a singer from Sweden, paying her upfront, and then she quit on him by some "controversy" that isn't clear to us. In the same night she quits, troublemakers burn his warehouse down, so he is left with nothing.
He befriends a guy, Carlyle, who has connections to the elites he so wishes to impress and it works out perfectly, in the movie. When he seems to have lost everything, he reminds Barnum that he had promised him 10% and he has been taking his 10% upfront, so Barnum may have been rich, but Carlyle is doing alright too, so he is able to support them and bring them back from bankruptcy, and this is when they finally make their move to the tent, moving away from an expensive city property and renting wherever land is cheap.
I was so intrigued by this that I looked up PT Barnum and found he lived between 1810 and 1891. In the movie, he has an open call for anybody with unique gifts, come one and all. I guess the term is whitewashed, in reality, according to some of the articles, Barnum bought his first "freak", an 80 year old black lady, and created a story that she was 160 years old and had been around the time of George Washington, claiming blacks live so long because they thrive in hot climates like those in Africa. There were many other stories about other slaves and then the animals involved, which the movie doesn't even get into.
Like I said, what we saw onscreen was pretty awesome, the coming together of the circus people, the newspaper columnist who coined the term "circus" in a moment of calm and admiring of the work done by Barnum, tells him something to the effect "a different columnist upon seeing all the different people working in unison would say this is a celebration of the human spirit." Plus, our eyes are so filled with extremes in this day and age, none of the "freaks" were that wow. We accepted all the characters and have heard or understand why they are how they are.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
12/29/17 The Great Wall (Movie)
I told Wife we needed a little variety, we've been catching up on our recorded shows, but there's only so many Lucifer episodes or Big Bang Theory I can watch before deciding I need other stimuli. Since we haven't bought movies in a long time, and Boy was not home to get us tickets at Alamo, we looked through our HBO on Demand and found "The Great Wall". It stars Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal as the European faces, along with Willem Dafoe in a very much Chinese cast, or that is what the actors are trying to represent as the story focuses on the great wall and why it exists. There is a small group of Europeans venturing to China in hopes of finding black powder, which would give them an advantage in fighting, but just traveling there, they lose all but the two main guys as a Taotie attacks them at their campsite. It turns out that the Matt Damon is a very skilled warrior (I mean, of course), along with the fact that he carries a piece of magnet which makes the Taotie just a little bit loopy, enough to slow them down so that Damon can kill them.
As usual, in a Chinese movie, the fighting and armies are choreographed splendidly. They fly through the air with precision, and the different groups that fight on the wall are all working like one, having full confidence in each other. The clearly most dangerous job is done by the women who tie themselves to a circular life float and dive down the wall to go spear individual Taotie, lizard like warrior dog things. All the fighting by the creatures is controlled by the Queen who is very carefully protected by a group of thick shelled larger lizard things.
At a certain point, the Willem Dafoe character says he has been a prisoner there for 20 plus years and has a plan to get out of there. The other guy likes the idea of not dying by the talons or fangs of these beasts and also wants to leave with an amount of black powder and go back to their shitty lives of fighting for their food, as he described himself to the beautiful girl general. She speaks perfect English, taught by the Willem Dafoe character which seems a little convenient, but we accept this for the sake of the movie. Damon's character feels for the people and wants to stay and help them which causes a rift between him and his friend. He is left behind and in the meantime the monsters (Taotie) have been digging under the great wall and have quietly gotten past the primary line of defense.
The fear is that if they get to the main city, there are a billion people and if the monsters start eating them, they will multiply uncontrollably leading them to overwhelm the planet. Of course, they have been battling them for thousands of years, but only every 60 years or so. The difference now is that there are Europeans now in the mix. A Matt Damon goes a long way to saving the planet. I am being sarcastic, but of course with the new guys they finally have all the pieces in place to battle them and challenge the queen Taotie and take her out.
As usual, in a Chinese movie, the fighting and armies are choreographed splendidly. They fly through the air with precision, and the different groups that fight on the wall are all working like one, having full confidence in each other. The clearly most dangerous job is done by the women who tie themselves to a circular life float and dive down the wall to go spear individual Taotie, lizard like warrior dog things. All the fighting by the creatures is controlled by the Queen who is very carefully protected by a group of thick shelled larger lizard things.
At a certain point, the Willem Dafoe character says he has been a prisoner there for 20 plus years and has a plan to get out of there. The other guy likes the idea of not dying by the talons or fangs of these beasts and also wants to leave with an amount of black powder and go back to their shitty lives of fighting for their food, as he described himself to the beautiful girl general. She speaks perfect English, taught by the Willem Dafoe character which seems a little convenient, but we accept this for the sake of the movie. Damon's character feels for the people and wants to stay and help them which causes a rift between him and his friend. He is left behind and in the meantime the monsters (Taotie) have been digging under the great wall and have quietly gotten past the primary line of defense.
The fear is that if they get to the main city, there are a billion people and if the monsters start eating them, they will multiply uncontrollably leading them to overwhelm the planet. Of course, they have been battling them for thousands of years, but only every 60 years or so. The difference now is that there are Europeans now in the mix. A Matt Damon goes a long way to saving the planet. I am being sarcastic, but of course with the new guys they finally have all the pieces in place to battle them and challenge the queen Taotie and take her out.
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
12/28/17 Be A Man?
I have come to the conclusion that for all the shit women talk about wanting equal rights, they know a good tug on the leash and a nice mess for them to clean once in a while is good for them. I have had now a few friends that I wholly respect as good guys and great people who fail around their women in my opinion by being too much of everything. They all seem to have the same MO, I like to clean the house so she can rest and take it easy. I do all the cooking so she can take some time to herself. Being on shift means I have a whole Friday or Monday where I can focus on cleaning the house to make her life easier. Everyone of these sentences makes me want to choke up my dinner and vomit on these guys' floors.
Why does an "equal" who barely work need any extra help with her job? You bring home the bacon, that other mofo in the relationship better know how to cut, cook it, and serve it in some homemade tortillas that she made while you were slaving away at work. My buddies constantly made excuses for their significant others lazy asses, and it always pissed me off. All those relationships pretty much ended the same way, the gals found other partners where their asses got to do their fair share of the housework.
I love Wife, but I would never do everything, even now that she is not living here during the week. She bitches and she moans about coming home and cleaning but those little shitbags are at least fifty percent her creations, why should I do all the cleaning? I have routines I kind of like doing, washing clothes, ironing, keeping the kitchen clean, cutting the grass, changing the sheets on our beds are some of them. I hate running the vacuum (it's loud), sweeping (doesn't seem to accomplish anything), or fixing the beds (we're just going to undo them in a few hours). Wife sometimes comes in from her three hour drive on Friday evenings with a head of steam, like she's been drinking Redbulls and smoking cigarettes (she does not smoke but has that nervous energy). Why haven't you done this and why is this dirty? I will let her bounce off the walls until she settles down, I figure it's her way of being the woman of the house and pissing on every corner so she knows she rules around here.
I do not apologize for not doing a better job, and I usually get into it with her that I do work a full schedule too. She can yell at her little shits if she wants to, and sometimes she does, but not too often. I don't know, but I guess if you are going to be a team, both members have to be equally involved. There is no reason for one participant to try and do all the shitty chores to make the other person's life easier. It is a nice gesture, but it sets you up as a second class citizen, and that isn't right. I have now seen it on yet more examples of good men I know. If anything positive can be said for my friends it's that they don't last single long, women know a good man and they will snag them up quickly. I do like, as an afterthought, that the women never seem to end up better than they were, and most usually seem to just screw themselves up for no gain.
Why does an "equal" who barely work need any extra help with her job? You bring home the bacon, that other mofo in the relationship better know how to cut, cook it, and serve it in some homemade tortillas that she made while you were slaving away at work. My buddies constantly made excuses for their significant others lazy asses, and it always pissed me off. All those relationships pretty much ended the same way, the gals found other partners where their asses got to do their fair share of the housework.
I love Wife, but I would never do everything, even now that she is not living here during the week. She bitches and she moans about coming home and cleaning but those little shitbags are at least fifty percent her creations, why should I do all the cleaning? I have routines I kind of like doing, washing clothes, ironing, keeping the kitchen clean, cutting the grass, changing the sheets on our beds are some of them. I hate running the vacuum (it's loud), sweeping (doesn't seem to accomplish anything), or fixing the beds (we're just going to undo them in a few hours). Wife sometimes comes in from her three hour drive on Friday evenings with a head of steam, like she's been drinking Redbulls and smoking cigarettes (she does not smoke but has that nervous energy). Why haven't you done this and why is this dirty? I will let her bounce off the walls until she settles down, I figure it's her way of being the woman of the house and pissing on every corner so she knows she rules around here.
I do not apologize for not doing a better job, and I usually get into it with her that I do work a full schedule too. She can yell at her little shits if she wants to, and sometimes she does, but not too often. I don't know, but I guess if you are going to be a team, both members have to be equally involved. There is no reason for one participant to try and do all the shitty chores to make the other person's life easier. It is a nice gesture, but it sets you up as a second class citizen, and that isn't right. I have now seen it on yet more examples of good men I know. If anything positive can be said for my friends it's that they don't last single long, women know a good man and they will snag them up quickly. I do like, as an afterthought, that the women never seem to end up better than they were, and most usually seem to just screw themselves up for no gain.
12/27/17 Living In A World Of Men?
I love the fact that I have two boys as my offspring. I believe life has been so much easier because of this and I wouldn't want it any other way. For a second or two, I'll admit, Girlie gave me the feeling that maybe having a girl would have been nice, but after interacting with her and looking around, I have made peace with life as is and decided this is cake.
Living in a world of men is just my way of saying we live in a biased world, men have an advantage, not because of me, I am just stating what seems like fact. On occasion, my mom wants to complain that my boys don't look presentable or that it looks like a cow chewed on them before heading out of the house. As boys, half the time, they don't notice and half the time they don't care. That right there is already an advantage that pays huge dividends. For a time, Boy was wanting to dress in suits and looking sharp was his thing in high school. I went along with it, mostly to assure myself he wasn't aligning himself with some shitty gang. He was an original and I liked it that way. As soon as he started college, he gave up the look and has settled into his current look of jeans and some sort of dark shirt. He looks the same pretty much every day, but since he is in college, I don't care and neither does he. Javalina has a dress code and this year it is a white polo with tan or navy shorts or pants. It is an easy look and neither is breaking the bank.
If either was a girl, they would be knee deep in make-up and what they looked like, not to mention shoes and clothes. Honestly, who gives a shit that Johnny thinks this or that? But that is how girls run their lives at a certain age, not all, but enough of them. I kind of worry for my niece, she is at that age, almost going into high school, asking for make-up for Christmas, wearing the same stuff that Girlie was obsessed with. Honestly, I liked Girlie's face better without all the clown shit, but nobody is going to convince a girl not to wear make-up once she starts on that path.
How can we expect the females to compete with the males when you throw in challenging shit like calculus or even physics and a gal is more worried if her hips look like a Kardashian's? As a perv, I appreciate all the effort, but is that it? Your goal is to look hot enough to make an old goat like me pay attention? Bravo. I don't think the same girl that is worried if her eyeliner is on fleek or whatever the idiots say is the same girl that also competes in the STEM world. As a modern day perv, I will look at the girls with the fancy make-up wonder where daddy failed you and fantasize what it would take for you to call me daddi. On the other hand, show me a lady who can succeed in a world of men and you have my respect and I am probably honored to work with you.
Living in a world of men is just my way of saying we live in a biased world, men have an advantage, not because of me, I am just stating what seems like fact. On occasion, my mom wants to complain that my boys don't look presentable or that it looks like a cow chewed on them before heading out of the house. As boys, half the time, they don't notice and half the time they don't care. That right there is already an advantage that pays huge dividends. For a time, Boy was wanting to dress in suits and looking sharp was his thing in high school. I went along with it, mostly to assure myself he wasn't aligning himself with some shitty gang. He was an original and I liked it that way. As soon as he started college, he gave up the look and has settled into his current look of jeans and some sort of dark shirt. He looks the same pretty much every day, but since he is in college, I don't care and neither does he. Javalina has a dress code and this year it is a white polo with tan or navy shorts or pants. It is an easy look and neither is breaking the bank.
If either was a girl, they would be knee deep in make-up and what they looked like, not to mention shoes and clothes. Honestly, who gives a shit that Johnny thinks this or that? But that is how girls run their lives at a certain age, not all, but enough of them. I kind of worry for my niece, she is at that age, almost going into high school, asking for make-up for Christmas, wearing the same stuff that Girlie was obsessed with. Honestly, I liked Girlie's face better without all the clown shit, but nobody is going to convince a girl not to wear make-up once she starts on that path.
How can we expect the females to compete with the males when you throw in challenging shit like calculus or even physics and a gal is more worried if her hips look like a Kardashian's? As a perv, I appreciate all the effort, but is that it? Your goal is to look hot enough to make an old goat like me pay attention? Bravo. I don't think the same girl that is worried if her eyeliner is on fleek or whatever the idiots say is the same girl that also competes in the STEM world. As a modern day perv, I will look at the girls with the fancy make-up wonder where daddy failed you and fantasize what it would take for you to call me daddi. On the other hand, show me a lady who can succeed in a world of men and you have my respect and I am probably honored to work with you.
Monday, December 25, 2017
12/26/17 Jumanji: Welcome ToThe Jungle? (movie)
I was so opposed to watching a remake of this movie, primarily because I thought it disrespectful of the late Robin Williams who I remembered starring in this weird little movie back in the 90s. I told Wife look at me, I have been up all day, I'd rather not watch this crap, and I generally acted like a baby the whole time driving and walking in.
It started with a bit of a nostalgia showing some random kid in the 90s, refusing the board game, having the board game convert magically to a video game, then the kid gets a hankering, plugs the now cartridge into his system and almost instantly gets sucked into the game. Fast forward to present day now and we are in a room with a random high school hot chick taking selfies, then an awkward teen boy playing video games and apparently finishing a homework assignment for a football player we find out later, used to be his best friend. These three end up in trouble, along with a fourth girl for various reasons and end up in detention. Detention happens to be in a basement, and as soon as the principal disappears, they find a video game console, plug it in and get sucked in.
They now find themselves in Jumanji, an island and they have also been transformed into game characters, such as the nerdy boy is now Dr. Smolder Bravestone (The Rock), all muscles and leader attitude, the old friend who was the black athletic type in real life is now the sidekick, Finbar, played by Kevin Hart, the best character swap is the bratty hot chick who finds herself playing the curator Professor Shelly Oberon, Masterfully portrayed by Jack Black, and finally the extra girl who joins them in detention is very shy and introverted, becomes Ruby Roundhouse, who is an expert at all sorts of fighting, played by the very attractive Karen Gillan.
The Rock and Kevin Hart obviously have chemistry as this is the 2nd or 3rd movie they have been working on together in the last couple years. Jack Black had kind of become predictable and seemed to only play the buffoon, but this role as a girl in man's clothing really works for Black's explosive energy. I was sure I was going to fall asleep as soon as the movie started, the weird pre-movie shows were not helping, but once the movie got going, the whole theater was on the edge of their seats. I am pretty sure this is the loudest a theater crowd has been, but in a good way. The comedy was very good, both in the jokes and the physical humor.
It seemed almost weird, but they run into the kid that had disappeared in the 90's, he tells them he has been there just a couple of months, but from his references, mentioning Cindy Crawford as the hottie, they figure he is from another time. He is instrumental in getting them home, as they learn, they must all work together to succeed. I don't like giving the endings away, but I think this is a pretty good movie, I might even enjoy watching it a second time, we won't because there is always something new, but it was good enough to consider that possibility.
They now find themselves in Jumanji, an island and they have also been transformed into game characters, such as the nerdy boy is now Dr. Smolder Bravestone (The Rock), all muscles and leader attitude, the old friend who was the black athletic type in real life is now the sidekick, Finbar, played by Kevin Hart, the best character swap is the bratty hot chick who finds herself playing the curator Professor Shelly Oberon, Masterfully portrayed by Jack Black, and finally the extra girl who joins them in detention is very shy and introverted, becomes Ruby Roundhouse, who is an expert at all sorts of fighting, played by the very attractive Karen Gillan.
The Rock and Kevin Hart obviously have chemistry as this is the 2nd or 3rd movie they have been working on together in the last couple years. Jack Black had kind of become predictable and seemed to only play the buffoon, but this role as a girl in man's clothing really works for Black's explosive energy. I was sure I was going to fall asleep as soon as the movie started, the weird pre-movie shows were not helping, but once the movie got going, the whole theater was on the edge of their seats. I am pretty sure this is the loudest a theater crowd has been, but in a good way. The comedy was very good, both in the jokes and the physical humor.
It seemed almost weird, but they run into the kid that had disappeared in the 90's, he tells them he has been there just a couple of months, but from his references, mentioning Cindy Crawford as the hottie, they figure he is from another time. He is instrumental in getting them home, as they learn, they must all work together to succeed. I don't like giving the endings away, but I think this is a pretty good movie, I might even enjoy watching it a second time, we won't because there is always something new, but it was good enough to consider that possibility.
12/25/17 T'was The Weekend Leading Up To Christmas? (poem)
T'was the Weekend Leading Up To Christmas
T'was the Friday before Christmas, Wife was still gone
changing lives in La Pryor, she'd be here before long.
Bringing goodies and snacks, like she stole a whole party
Javalina and I ate the brisket with sauce, let me tell you, fucking hearty.
Boy was gone, nothing new, with his friends to see Star Wars
Us three left on to shopping at some of the small stores.
We seem to always be in a rush, just having got to World Marketplace
Boy called, he had tickets for us at 9:00pm, it meant of course time to race.
On through the aisles, I refused to just leave
I love that place, not seeing new stuff is a real pet peeve.
We still left early, I bitched in the car, "I hate being in a rush all the time!"
It was your idea to see Jumanji, said Wife, "and it starts here at nine."
I sat there pissed drinking soda with my popcorn, getting ready to nap
but that movie was actually really great, throughout I just laughed and it even made me clap.
Afterwards, we got home, you think we could relax and take it easy
but Wife had other plans, "we're getting up early", I hate those words, they make me queasy.
There we are, before noon picking up blankets for the poor,
I want to bitch, but I shouldn't, this is the time to celebrate the birth of our Savior.
Let's just salvage this getting up early, head to Central Market, buy some fancy snacks for x-mas eve
I could not believe the crowds, people in line to checkout standing by the meat made me heave.
We headed home, told Wife I am done shopping, I really want some more sleep
but first she made tacos, eggs, bacon, potatoes, and chorizo all in a heap
I slept good woken by the smell of a new credit card we got in the mail
Shoot, let's go spend some more on our boys, in their eyes I can't seem like I fail.
Finally, it is Christmas Eve, all day we have been home enjoying the smells of Big Girl baking
I have only ate and napped all day, then watching the Griswold X-mas Vacation with more napping.
Now it is 4:00am and not a pain in the ass is stirring, not even the Wife
I get to Santa'ing, setting up the gifts, making it look magical, even a plate of cookies has lost its life.
I can't ask for more, plenty of napping, snacks are all around, maybe a glass of Sprite
but as Santa would say Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Sunday, December 24, 2017
12/24/17 Thirty Years And Counting?
I thought I had written about this last month, but I did not see any self reflection writings, so here goes. Wife and I are going strong at thirty plus years together. Our first date was on November 13 1987. Well, there was a little grab assery on a bus a couple weeks before, but we hardly talked, it was mostly me poking my fingers through her knitted sweater in an attempt to touch her perky 14 year old boobies. Relax, I was sixteen at the time and this was fun enough for me. Not so much fun the following weekend when I was still with my girlfriend and kind of ran into her at a carnival downtown. Forced to shit or get off the pot, I had to man up and break up with the other girlfriend and quick. It was some of the harder shit I have done in my life, I have never liked hurting people and taking me away from your life is going to hurt you, a lot. I kid.
It being a small town, I was already familiar with her mom, I frequently went and "conversed" with her, she worked at the local drug store and it was one of the only places in that shitty town to buy cassettes. They used to keep the cassettes in a locked case with holes big enough to stick your hand, take out the cassettes from the wall holder and look at the song list on the back and the cover art, but I guess they got stolen so much you couldn't walk around with them. They also sold guitars and other stuff, not just drug store stuff.
We have been together a long time, but we have not been together together long enough, I think. After two years of high school, I went to the Junior college, she spent the two years finishing high school, then she went to the junior college, and I went to UT in Austin. We were dating for two years, almost broke up, then when it seemed like I might actually go to medical school, we were "blessed" by Boy. That gave her a free ride to Austin and for about a year we were together all the time, but I was working in a dead end job at a warehouse that normally worked me 60-70 hours. Upon quitting, I ended up at AMD where we were normal more or less for a year, then I went to nights and I have been on nights for about twenty two years, then to add insult to injury, now Wife is not even in town during the week as she has been working three hours away for the last two years.
If we have a secret to keeping the relationship alive it's we have only been together about 4 of those years and the first two she was still living at her folks, so really we have been living together two years and twenty years of weekends and holidays. She asked me if we were codependent on each other, I said no. We live apart from each other five days a week, and I am not calling you every five minutes to see if I should make eggs or take out the trash. We have separate lives during the week and we find a way to get through it until the weekend. I really think the time apart helps, I am a pain in the ass and she can be quite difficult too, especially when she thinks it helps to get on our boys if they aren't doing great in each class.
Hopefully, we can see another thirty or fifty years together, I do feel like you are my perfect partner, giving me plenty of leash to feel like I am free to run around and do as I like, but also being there the minute I need something right by my side. I love you, Big Girl.
It being a small town, I was already familiar with her mom, I frequently went and "conversed" with her, she worked at the local drug store and it was one of the only places in that shitty town to buy cassettes. They used to keep the cassettes in a locked case with holes big enough to stick your hand, take out the cassettes from the wall holder and look at the song list on the back and the cover art, but I guess they got stolen so much you couldn't walk around with them. They also sold guitars and other stuff, not just drug store stuff.
We have been together a long time, but we have not been together together long enough, I think. After two years of high school, I went to the Junior college, she spent the two years finishing high school, then she went to the junior college, and I went to UT in Austin. We were dating for two years, almost broke up, then when it seemed like I might actually go to medical school, we were "blessed" by Boy. That gave her a free ride to Austin and for about a year we were together all the time, but I was working in a dead end job at a warehouse that normally worked me 60-70 hours. Upon quitting, I ended up at AMD where we were normal more or less for a year, then I went to nights and I have been on nights for about twenty two years, then to add insult to injury, now Wife is not even in town during the week as she has been working three hours away for the last two years.
If we have a secret to keeping the relationship alive it's we have only been together about 4 of those years and the first two she was still living at her folks, so really we have been living together two years and twenty years of weekends and holidays. She asked me if we were codependent on each other, I said no. We live apart from each other five days a week, and I am not calling you every five minutes to see if I should make eggs or take out the trash. We have separate lives during the week and we find a way to get through it until the weekend. I really think the time apart helps, I am a pain in the ass and she can be quite difficult too, especially when she thinks it helps to get on our boys if they aren't doing great in each class.
Hopefully, we can see another thirty or fifty years together, I do feel like you are my perfect partner, giving me plenty of leash to feel like I am free to run around and do as I like, but also being there the minute I need something right by my side. I love you, Big Girl.
Friday, December 22, 2017
12/23/17 Alexa/Echo, Helper or Silently Plotting?
Ole Walking had been pretty quiet as of late but yesterday (Thursday) he came in all excited like it was Christmas morning and Santa had delivered exactly what he wanted. He told me about his new Alexa device which he had installed and spent the last few days getting to know intimately. I had vaguely heard about these things and thought they were nice for ambience, to get some music going from the internet. According to my buddy, it does so much more. He said he hadn't touched his remote controls, he has a smart TV and it is connected to this thing, which he just asks and it changes the channels for him. He said it does the music, but it will also turn on and off lights around the house. I couldn't get from him clearly if it took rewiring new outlets or if the bulbs themselves were "smart", but the Alexa device was able to communicate with the newer locations he had installed new bulbs. He could get the back patio light to be turned off and on by asking his computer gal pal. He also said he was able to control his heating/cooling because his thermostat was a smart device.
As it happens when you like something and want to spread the good word, he said he started buying a couple of these things as gifts for his mom and mother in-law and other people. Because he was involved in setting up his mother-in-laws unit, he knew a couple of the passwords (if I understood this correctly), he was then able to "check in" from his home to the Alexa unit at his mother-in-law's house by having the one unit call the other, and he could go as far as turning on/off her lights, music, TV and everything else without even being at her home. This is the part that scared me. If he could do it that easily, how hard would it be for a "hacker" to take control of a house via remote access and mess around, maybe make it super cold or super hot while the homeowners are gone. I believe there are door locking devices with "smart" features, could a door be easily unlocked with one of these? Redbull said he wouldn't add his smart doorlock to the Alexa device, but what if it just existing there was enough for a would be hacker to take over and remotely open the front door?
I was kind of liking the idea of the unit controlling the TV and music choices, but I am not sure about letting it have so much power. What if it decides it wants to play haunted house with you, start flickering the lights, slowly chilling you out in the morning, giving you a nice oooohhh through the speakers in your sleep to freak you out...
As it happens when you like something and want to spread the good word, he said he started buying a couple of these things as gifts for his mom and mother in-law and other people. Because he was involved in setting up his mother-in-laws unit, he knew a couple of the passwords (if I understood this correctly), he was then able to "check in" from his home to the Alexa unit at his mother-in-law's house by having the one unit call the other, and he could go as far as turning on/off her lights, music, TV and everything else without even being at her home. This is the part that scared me. If he could do it that easily, how hard would it be for a "hacker" to take control of a house via remote access and mess around, maybe make it super cold or super hot while the homeowners are gone. I believe there are door locking devices with "smart" features, could a door be easily unlocked with one of these? Redbull said he wouldn't add his smart doorlock to the Alexa device, but what if it just existing there was enough for a would be hacker to take over and remotely open the front door?
I was kind of liking the idea of the unit controlling the TV and music choices, but I am not sure about letting it have so much power. What if it decides it wants to play haunted house with you, start flickering the lights, slowly chilling you out in the morning, giving you a nice oooohhh through the speakers in your sleep to freak you out...
12/22/17 On Christmas Music?
I just needed to listen to Charlie Brown's Christmas song and can anything beat O Tannenbaum by Vince Guaraldi to set the feeling of Christmas? It has been a few years since I have seen the cartoon but it is a simple presentation and sits as a reminder that it is not the stuff but us that make Christmas special. I don't think it even feeds into any religious tones, it just makes the case that even when things seem bad (the shitty little tree), does it matter, if you are with the people that matter?
There are so many masterful songs to enjoy, Metallica tore into Carol Of The Bells, which y'all may not realize you enjoy, it is the one houses that light up use most often. It starts out calm and like any Metallica song turns into a frenzy of energy but by the end calms down as it takes you on a ride and leaves you feeling glad for it.
Some of you may not have had the luck or the stomach to have listened to South Park's: Mr. Hanky's Christmas Classics where the boys really go to town reinventing some of those Christmas traditional songs into some real pieces of work. It is hosted by a talking turd, so put away that smoking pipe and relax a while. Two songs that just pop to mind is the aforementioned O Tannenbaum, sitting in hell, Hitler is crying for want of a tannenbaum (Christmas tree), Satan sees him sad and decides to make with the merry for one day. The name drops are surprising and shocking, but it moves at a very merry click. The dirtiest song luckily is mumbled by Kenny through his sweater but involves the Virgin Mary and a way for her to have kept her virgin status while still being popular with the boys, or managing to find a way to pay for that manger without any money.
My folks were here a couple weeks ago and my mom mentioned the Hawaiian song, Mele Kalikimaka, was around since her youth, it always sends her back to a dance at her highschool. I love that song in Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation, when he is looking out the window imagining the pool of his dreams for his family, made a little better by the hottie in the highcut undies in the mall, then a little worse by that scene stealer Eddie. That is such an awesomely perfect Christmas movie, it seems beside the point, but Chevy Chase is obsessed with making his family's life just perfect, as he sees things in his mind's eye. He just carries on like a buffoon, but he means well, ole Sparky. We should all try to be like him on this holiday.
There are so many masterful songs to enjoy, Metallica tore into Carol Of The Bells, which y'all may not realize you enjoy, it is the one houses that light up use most often. It starts out calm and like any Metallica song turns into a frenzy of energy but by the end calms down as it takes you on a ride and leaves you feeling glad for it.
Some of you may not have had the luck or the stomach to have listened to South Park's: Mr. Hanky's Christmas Classics where the boys really go to town reinventing some of those Christmas traditional songs into some real pieces of work. It is hosted by a talking turd, so put away that smoking pipe and relax a while. Two songs that just pop to mind is the aforementioned O Tannenbaum, sitting in hell, Hitler is crying for want of a tannenbaum (Christmas tree), Satan sees him sad and decides to make with the merry for one day. The name drops are surprising and shocking, but it moves at a very merry click. The dirtiest song luckily is mumbled by Kenny through his sweater but involves the Virgin Mary and a way for her to have kept her virgin status while still being popular with the boys, or managing to find a way to pay for that manger without any money.
My folks were here a couple weeks ago and my mom mentioned the Hawaiian song, Mele Kalikimaka, was around since her youth, it always sends her back to a dance at her highschool. I love that song in Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation, when he is looking out the window imagining the pool of his dreams for his family, made a little better by the hottie in the highcut undies in the mall, then a little worse by that scene stealer Eddie. That is such an awesomely perfect Christmas movie, it seems beside the point, but Chevy Chase is obsessed with making his family's life just perfect, as he sees things in his mind's eye. He just carries on like a buffoon, but he means well, ole Sparky. We should all try to be like him on this holiday.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
12/21/17 Help Me Santa, Help, Help Me Santa?
It seems a weird thing to have Christmas on a Sunday night. Usually, the kids are given two full weeks off, instead of this mess we have been presented with here. Javalina started his Christmas break today (Wednesday), while Wife starts hers on Friday. I prefer them to be the same, but instead our boy will have to start school in the middle of the week (in two weeks) while Wife hangs out for a few more days. Javalina is older, so it doesn't hurt as much, but still, it seems like families should be together when there is no school. Wife works in a school district so far away that they don't look to AISD to align with it. I am proud of Boy who finished his classes and told us he was going to work as much as possible this Christmas break. He told me yesterday he was already at 45 hours for the week and had until Thursday to get more OT hours. Last year he talked about it, but never got going, thank goodness for the success of Star Wars, it keeps people going to the expensive theatres.
This whole week has seemed like an exercise in self preservation. I am feeling run down, there is barely any work, our big bosses did not commit to any type of party, but people are bringing food and getting together during the day. Most of us have been working together at least twenty years, of course there is some semblance of family and love for each other around here. We just go through the motions of doing work, but I think even the managers know this is a time to slow down and reflect a bit. Wife says they are basically the same going from one party with the teachers to one with the administrators, to food being taken and served for this and that, there is no learning going on this week.
All this is fine, except Wife should be here already, she is the one who makes it feel like the holidays. She will buy a Swiss Colony Beef Log and tear into if only because it is what you do this time of year. I will buy the Ritz crackers but by myself I will only go as far as eating them with peanut butter. Wife knows a proper sit down with one of those sausage things requires cheese and olives and some Christmas movie we've seen ten times. Two more days!
At least it looks like it will be cold, forecast is calling for highs in the 50's and lows in the low 30's. That is perfect for me. We have had some Christmas times when it is 80 degrees and that just sucks balls. I understand Texans rarely get snow, even if we did get some last week, but man, at least let it be cool enough to enjoy heating food in the oven without having to blast the air conditioner.
This whole week has seemed like an exercise in self preservation. I am feeling run down, there is barely any work, our big bosses did not commit to any type of party, but people are bringing food and getting together during the day. Most of us have been working together at least twenty years, of course there is some semblance of family and love for each other around here. We just go through the motions of doing work, but I think even the managers know this is a time to slow down and reflect a bit. Wife says they are basically the same going from one party with the teachers to one with the administrators, to food being taken and served for this and that, there is no learning going on this week.
All this is fine, except Wife should be here already, she is the one who makes it feel like the holidays. She will buy a Swiss Colony Beef Log and tear into if only because it is what you do this time of year. I will buy the Ritz crackers but by myself I will only go as far as eating them with peanut butter. Wife knows a proper sit down with one of those sausage things requires cheese and olives and some Christmas movie we've seen ten times. Two more days!
At least it looks like it will be cold, forecast is calling for highs in the 50's and lows in the low 30's. That is perfect for me. We have had some Christmas times when it is 80 degrees and that just sucks balls. I understand Texans rarely get snow, even if we did get some last week, but man, at least let it be cool enough to enjoy heating food in the oven without having to blast the air conditioner.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
12/20/17 Fog, The Saddest Cloud?
We have not had fog lately, but tonight (Monday) was sort of scary, dreary and different. Add to that the fact that the lights were not on along the freeway and it really felt like we were in isolated groups. I felt going in a comparison to Lord Of The Rings The Twin Towers, going in to battle, not knowing what is on the other side of the fog. It felt like line up and hit it to get on the freeway, seeing only a handful of cars in your immediate pocket of visibility. I am not sure why the lights were out, maybe from the construction going on, but around the motor mile where all the dealerships are at, the highway was just dark and ominous. I really didn't want to have to climb up and go over the flyovers when all you can see is the pavement slowy ascending and breaking to the right.
Down at the surface level, I saw a numbskull approach the intersection at the same time I did, but he clearly did not have intentions of doing a complete stop. Why? In this weather, where you can't see clearly, and I almost end you, why do you still not make a full stop and look around? Must be nice to have a lizard brain, only reacting to outside stimuli. Usually, I am running around half asleep, but in this weather, my body knows it has to be alert, I am sitting up, using my fog lights, being careful not to get close to any idiot in front of me.
As bad as I might think it is here, it is way worse for Wife who has to drive between small towns. Usually, it is great, light traffic, makes it in great time, but when it gets foggy, usually coincides with deer season and they like to cross the highway, and usually in pairs. You might miss the first bigger one, but the stupider slower one still has to run through, and that is the one one usually hits.
To me, fog has always been a cloud, too fat to climb up into the sky where it belongs. It is full of rain, but it lacks something to lift it. I was glad that after my lunch break, it had done whatever it needed and it was gone, leaving a heavy mist in its place, but at least everything was visible.
Down at the surface level, I saw a numbskull approach the intersection at the same time I did, but he clearly did not have intentions of doing a complete stop. Why? In this weather, where you can't see clearly, and I almost end you, why do you still not make a full stop and look around? Must be nice to have a lizard brain, only reacting to outside stimuli. Usually, I am running around half asleep, but in this weather, my body knows it has to be alert, I am sitting up, using my fog lights, being careful not to get close to any idiot in front of me.
As bad as I might think it is here, it is way worse for Wife who has to drive between small towns. Usually, it is great, light traffic, makes it in great time, but when it gets foggy, usually coincides with deer season and they like to cross the highway, and usually in pairs. You might miss the first bigger one, but the stupider slower one still has to run through, and that is the one one usually hits.
To me, fog has always been a cloud, too fat to climb up into the sky where it belongs. It is full of rain, but it lacks something to lift it. I was glad that after my lunch break, it had done whatever it needed and it was gone, leaving a heavy mist in its place, but at least everything was visible.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
12/19/17 Chestnuts Roasting By The Mall Heaters?
Whoever is in charge of the mall heaters should be kicked in the balls every half hour from September through April. There is no freaking reason to run the heat the way they do, specially you, Macy's. First off, we start the day at our house, not in one of your bed stores. We all bundle up because it is slightly cool outside. I was even wearing shorts, but I did put on my light sweater, just in case. We head to the mall because that is where we find everything, but that means that Christmas time is really the only time the malls fill up with stinky warm people. Back when the boys were small, we could at least take off the jackets and shove them into the stroller, one of the few things kids are good for. Without a stroller, we are left to either carry the jacket in our arms, like we are fancy, wrap them around our waist, like we are animals, or hang them off our shoulders, like we own a fancy anything. What are they thinking? We dress to go outdoors, there is not a single person walking around the mall in a bikini or any kind of summer wear, for that matter. Turn off the heat, once 9:00 or 10:00am rolls around and the mall is at 90% capacity.
I kind of like Macy's, they tend to have good coupons and decent sections with purses and other crap for other people. But if it is 90 degrees in there, I can't focus on anything other than the heat. I managed to take my sweater off and hang it from my shoulders, instantly feeling like a douche, but it still captured too much heat. They would be doing themselves a favor as heat costs money in the winter if they paid attention and turned it off. Sorry to say, but we didn't buy anything at Macy's and the credit card was at 0 balance, so it was perfect for Wife to attack.
Oh well, we had better luck at Abercrombie actually, the whole store was 50% off, making everything just affordable enough, to me. The store wasn't cranking any heat, so I was a tad more relaxed too. I noticed on our way out, Dillard's was actually cool, I guess that is where the smart people work.
I noticed at home, we installed one of those thermostats that you can monitor with your phone, and it is supposed to be smart, but the past few days the heater upstairs has been running at 75. The boys keep insisting it is not them, and Wife prefers to have the windows open even if it is freezing, so it is not her. Maybe our heaters are becoming sentient, maybe they are trying to cook us alive, like the frog in the pot where you slowly raise the temperature and it doesn't realize it is being cooked. That's how I felt at the mall anyways, on Sunday.
I kind of like Macy's, they tend to have good coupons and decent sections with purses and other crap for other people. But if it is 90 degrees in there, I can't focus on anything other than the heat. I managed to take my sweater off and hang it from my shoulders, instantly feeling like a douche, but it still captured too much heat. They would be doing themselves a favor as heat costs money in the winter if they paid attention and turned it off. Sorry to say, but we didn't buy anything at Macy's and the credit card was at 0 balance, so it was perfect for Wife to attack.
Oh well, we had better luck at Abercrombie actually, the whole store was 50% off, making everything just affordable enough, to me. The store wasn't cranking any heat, so I was a tad more relaxed too. I noticed on our way out, Dillard's was actually cool, I guess that is where the smart people work.
I noticed at home, we installed one of those thermostats that you can monitor with your phone, and it is supposed to be smart, but the past few days the heater upstairs has been running at 75. The boys keep insisting it is not them, and Wife prefers to have the windows open even if it is freezing, so it is not her. Maybe our heaters are becoming sentient, maybe they are trying to cook us alive, like the frog in the pot where you slowly raise the temperature and it doesn't realize it is being cooked. That's how I felt at the mall anyways, on Sunday.
Monday, December 18, 2017
12/18/17 Tamales and Fantastical Rides?
We spent Saturday making tamales in San Antonio, well Wife did, I mostly slept and ate and slept some more, it was a good lazy day for me. One of the conditions of going was that I wanted to stop at the store where they sell jetskis, dirtbikes, 4-wheelers, and other goodies. I had heard that prices can be better in the winter months, as these places have inventory from last year they want to get rid of for the newer stuff coming with the new calendar year. Last time we went to Woods Fun Center which I believe is a sister store to this one in New Braunfels, almost across the highway from Buc-ees, they had something like 10-15 jetskis, half in the store, half out back. This store had one and it was a racing one, so it was not in any kind of sale price, so we mostly just walked around looking at the bikes and stuff for about half an hour.
Javalina, in his new title as cranky teenager was sitting in the back seat with his shitty "I don't want to get off" and "why are we wasting time here?" I shoved my head in the back seat area and told him thickly to "stop being a fucking douchebag and just shut up and stay there." I hate negative attitudes specially when he doesn't even know what they sell there. He seemed surprised when I yelled at him, looking up from his phone. We really need to start limiting his time on that phone, but then he ends up talking too much. Once he walked in the store and checked his attitude he declared this was the coolest store and he didn't want to leave.
Not that I have the money to buy one of these toys right now, but my question has always been "where do you get to enjoy these toys, if they are not licensed for public roads? In the movies there are always cool places to go, like an open desert or even beaches where they are allowed, but to my knowledge, they are not allowed on Texas beaches, they are also not allowed on any of the state parks. Other than these two places, I don't know where you can find big open spaces to run around. We have a nice long greenbelt that connects to a local city park, so if people didn't cry at the slightest of someone else having fun, we could maybe use some dirt bikes back there, but I know any of the post 60yr olds would report us the minute they saw the bikes getting unboxed at the house.
Wife keeps saying I can buy a Can-Am Spyder, which is a three wheeled motorcycle, but I don't believe her.
They also have this three wheel car that almost looks like the Batmobile with the new roof top they have added to it this year.
Javalina, in his new title as cranky teenager was sitting in the back seat with his shitty "I don't want to get off" and "why are we wasting time here?" I shoved my head in the back seat area and told him thickly to "stop being a fucking douchebag and just shut up and stay there." I hate negative attitudes specially when he doesn't even know what they sell there. He seemed surprised when I yelled at him, looking up from his phone. We really need to start limiting his time on that phone, but then he ends up talking too much. Once he walked in the store and checked his attitude he declared this was the coolest store and he didn't want to leave.
Not that I have the money to buy one of these toys right now, but my question has always been "where do you get to enjoy these toys, if they are not licensed for public roads? In the movies there are always cool places to go, like an open desert or even beaches where they are allowed, but to my knowledge, they are not allowed on Texas beaches, they are also not allowed on any of the state parks. Other than these two places, I don't know where you can find big open spaces to run around. We have a nice long greenbelt that connects to a local city park, so if people didn't cry at the slightest of someone else having fun, we could maybe use some dirt bikes back there, but I know any of the post 60yr olds would report us the minute they saw the bikes getting unboxed at the house.
Wife keeps saying I can buy a Can-Am Spyder, which is a three wheeled motorcycle, but I don't believe her.
They also have this three wheel car that almost looks like the Batmobile with the new roof top they have added to it this year.
Sunday, December 17, 2017
12/17/17 On The Topic Of Boats?
What has happened in the boating world over the last few years? I told Wife I would like to consider buying a boat in a couple years, after we get some credit card issues fixed up. In the meantime, I have been looking around, for example, at Bass Pro Shops, the prices are reasonable, a pontoon boat as long as 24 feet, for under $32,000 is totally possible, going with the Suntracker brand. If you want anything a little nicer, think double that price, for an equivalent sized pontoon boat. The Regency line, which is the nicer pontoon boats at Bass ProShops list for $39,000 to $73,000. I honestly don't want a pontoon but I am keeping my mind open to it.
Maybe it is the magazine I subscribed to, ten years or so ago, I had a subscription to Trailer Boats, and all the boats in those pages were at least only as big as could be towed by a big truck. There were boats in the $100K range, but that was not an every day thing. I did not find that magazine, so I got Boating, thinking it would be similar, but nope. Most boats go for$400,000 and up in that magazine, so I can't even afford to fantasize about most of those boats. I tell myself, maybe if Wife ends up as Superintendent somewhere, then maybe something in the $200,000 for this fat boy.
They tend to favor larger boats, such as on the latest cover a Carver 34. These boats are basically yachts and out of my league. So, where does that leave me? Even the pontoon boats in this magazine are blown out with 350-400HP engines. When the motors start out at $40,000, you know the boat is going to be at least $100,000.
Maybe it is all a fantasy and I won't ever be able to own another boat. I tell Wife I would be happy with some PWC. I think it would be cool to go fishing on some jetskis, could get into some real shallow water, plus the boys will be done with us in a couple years. I can see Wife and I in a couple of beet red Yamaha jetskis fishing somewhere on the coast, just the two of us. The boys could join but they must leave the negativity at home and Boy has not liked this idea since I first thought of it. I thought of it when I saw Seadoo selling some new low powered ones for $5000. Of course, you can't be a fat ass and expect 60HP to move you around.
This is where we say new diet starts at the start of the year. Why not? 2017 was easily the shittiest year we have had since we married. Things should be better from here on out, but life has a way to prove you wrong, so again, we shall see. Maybe we win the lottery in the next week, then 2017 might be the best year ever, right?
Maybe it is the magazine I subscribed to, ten years or so ago, I had a subscription to Trailer Boats, and all the boats in those pages were at least only as big as could be towed by a big truck. There were boats in the $100K range, but that was not an every day thing. I did not find that magazine, so I got Boating, thinking it would be similar, but nope. Most boats go for$400,000 and up in that magazine, so I can't even afford to fantasize about most of those boats. I tell myself, maybe if Wife ends up as Superintendent somewhere, then maybe something in the $200,000 for this fat boy.
They tend to favor larger boats, such as on the latest cover a Carver 34. These boats are basically yachts and out of my league. So, where does that leave me? Even the pontoon boats in this magazine are blown out with 350-400HP engines. When the motors start out at $40,000, you know the boat is going to be at least $100,000.
Maybe it is all a fantasy and I won't ever be able to own another boat. I tell Wife I would be happy with some PWC. I think it would be cool to go fishing on some jetskis, could get into some real shallow water, plus the boys will be done with us in a couple years. I can see Wife and I in a couple of beet red Yamaha jetskis fishing somewhere on the coast, just the two of us. The boys could join but they must leave the negativity at home and Boy has not liked this idea since I first thought of it. I thought of it when I saw Seadoo selling some new low powered ones for $5000. Of course, you can't be a fat ass and expect 60HP to move you around.
This is where we say new diet starts at the start of the year. Why not? 2017 was easily the shittiest year we have had since we married. Things should be better from here on out, but life has a way to prove you wrong, so again, we shall see. Maybe we win the lottery in the next week, then 2017 might be the best year ever, right?
Saturday, December 16, 2017
12/16/17 A Week Until Christmas?
Why doesn't it feel more like Christmas time? Maybe it's because we don't go to the mall as much as we used to, but I swear I don't feel any holiday spirit, and I don't mean in a humbug way, I love Christmas music, probably have 25-30 different CDs from funny to instrumental, but even in the stores, I haven't heard much of it. I used to load the CD deck and carry 6 discs in rotation but then it broke and I didn't think when I bought the replacement stereo, it only has one disk and I just don't have time to be constantly changing it. I've also been stuck between my two newest favorite stations, Lithium, which plays 90s alternative and Boneyard, which is Ozzy's station and plays heavy metal. I know XM has a Christmas station or two, need to figure out the numbers for this week.
It seemed like a great idea once we got to the summer and we hadn't taken down the tree to just leave it up. With Wife gone, it's not like we have many visitors, so nobody sees it, normally. We just plugged it back in starting the day after Thanksgiving. If I had gotten off my ass, this would have been genius, although I did hurry up and took down 95% of the Halloween decorations, I left the lights on the rails and now that is slowing me down. I need to take my nippers and cut the zip ties holding them in place, find the red and white lights and do a replacement. That was the urge that got me out of bed, but here I am, on the computer, not doing the reason I got up at noon (on Friday) for. I just hate when the day wants to end, Wife is here, and I feel I need to do this, instead of taking care of the little Mando. I promised myself I would attack tonight, so no late snacks in the room.
The boys always carry me in the right direction, and maybe with Boy done for the semester with school and Javalina only going next week on Monday and Tuesday will release the Season's Greetings within me. The gifts might be a little tight, but the boys seem to understand and their requests seem to coincide with whatever credit cards we have. They are helpful that way. Boy knows I have a Lowe's card, so he has a project for his room requiring some lighting, I say good. Javalina, with such a cool nickname, still has his Santa list, which I think is more Wife trying to keep him her baby one more year, but her baby weighs what a good NFL linebacker weighs, I don't want him getting into fights at school over Santa and his existence and us being on the lame side of that argument.
I think this is good, blog is done for tomorrow, I think I'll go work on the lights on my stair rails and decorate the front like I do, it'll be a nice surprise for Wife when she gets here tonight. We are supposed to go make tamales tomorrow, not that I am looking forward to that, but Wife said I can go sleep on my in-law's bed while they make the things. I will probably end up at Bass Pro Shops, I want a new boat, maybe Santa will put one under the tree for me.
It seemed like a great idea once we got to the summer and we hadn't taken down the tree to just leave it up. With Wife gone, it's not like we have many visitors, so nobody sees it, normally. We just plugged it back in starting the day after Thanksgiving. If I had gotten off my ass, this would have been genius, although I did hurry up and took down 95% of the Halloween decorations, I left the lights on the rails and now that is slowing me down. I need to take my nippers and cut the zip ties holding them in place, find the red and white lights and do a replacement. That was the urge that got me out of bed, but here I am, on the computer, not doing the reason I got up at noon (on Friday) for. I just hate when the day wants to end, Wife is here, and I feel I need to do this, instead of taking care of the little Mando. I promised myself I would attack tonight, so no late snacks in the room.
The boys always carry me in the right direction, and maybe with Boy done for the semester with school and Javalina only going next week on Monday and Tuesday will release the Season's Greetings within me. The gifts might be a little tight, but the boys seem to understand and their requests seem to coincide with whatever credit cards we have. They are helpful that way. Boy knows I have a Lowe's card, so he has a project for his room requiring some lighting, I say good. Javalina, with such a cool nickname, still has his Santa list, which I think is more Wife trying to keep him her baby one more year, but her baby weighs what a good NFL linebacker weighs, I don't want him getting into fights at school over Santa and his existence and us being on the lame side of that argument.
I think this is good, blog is done for tomorrow, I think I'll go work on the lights on my stair rails and decorate the front like I do, it'll be a nice surprise for Wife when she gets here tonight. We are supposed to go make tamales tomorrow, not that I am looking forward to that, but Wife said I can go sleep on my in-law's bed while they make the things. I will probably end up at Bass Pro Shops, I want a new boat, maybe Santa will put one under the tree for me.
Friday, December 15, 2017
12/15/17 MAGA Means Lying Every Day?
I am completely dumbfounded with those who supported Alabama Senate candidate Moore. That they can sit there with a straight face and call themselves conservative is asinine. Morons? yes. Suckers? Definitely. But come on, don't say he has more anything (dignity, class, intelligence) in his pinky finger than all of congress put together. That sentence just shows your bias and stupidity.
A group of 15-20 conservatives from Alabama were gathered in a café and answered questions about Moore and it was slightly ominous. These people sounded like the people who support Trump, when everything he has done so far has been a selfish move that benefits him, people still say he will do for them. Why? People, the conservatives in charge have already rolled out their Cadillac plan to overhaul the tax system and guess who it benefits? The rich, not you. Y'all can see this, most of you are retired and have time to do this kind of research, even outside analysis says this. Yes, you are going to see a couple hundred dollars this year and maybe next (if you make over $80,000), but eventually the noose will be tightened and your body will be used to pull more money for them. Unless you own a golf course, there is a big deduction coming if you own one of those. How many of you local yokels own golf courses?
I am in agreement with Moore, 18-24 year old girls are like shrimp, everyone wants to eat them up, but this fucking ped was actually out on "dates" with them. He doesn't deny it, claiming he always had their mama's permission or some stupid shit like that. Except that Moore didn't stop at 18, in one interview he shot back that the age of consent in Alabama is 14, so joke's on you. I can't be the only one who has heard this. Maybe these people need a reminder of what a 14 year old looked like back in the late 70's and what a 30-35 man looks like. Would they be ok with a 35 year old gentleman caller taking out their 14 year old granddaughter (to the group of mostly old fucks defending him)? What do you think a man wants with a girl this age? I can think of a couple of things, but I am a creepy liberal, this guy is a man of god, Idiots!
Why tie yourself so close to a group that you must eat whatever shit they throw at you? Man, the women especially who supported this from Trump to Moore, you need a swift kick in the ass when you turn around and agree that Al Franken and any other liberal should resign. You should almost expect this from a liberal, it goes with the name. A conservative should be a man who is not tempted by pleasures of the flesh.
We will get past these four or eight years of lunacy but I don't see how the conservative right will survive him. What, they are going to call themselves the side of right when their choice for leader is "grab them by the pussy!" A man who when he doesn't get his way screams into his phone his feelings like a teenage girl via Tweeter? Maybe that is why these two idiots are attracted to each other. Maybe they can be the side of the fiscally responsible? Nope, this new tax overhaul is going to cost trillions, by analysts estimates, not numbers out of my ass. I know you conservatives will find a way to hold your head high, even if it has been stuck in the sand for the past year.
A group of 15-20 conservatives from Alabama were gathered in a café and answered questions about Moore and it was slightly ominous. These people sounded like the people who support Trump, when everything he has done so far has been a selfish move that benefits him, people still say he will do for them. Why? People, the conservatives in charge have already rolled out their Cadillac plan to overhaul the tax system and guess who it benefits? The rich, not you. Y'all can see this, most of you are retired and have time to do this kind of research, even outside analysis says this. Yes, you are going to see a couple hundred dollars this year and maybe next (if you make over $80,000), but eventually the noose will be tightened and your body will be used to pull more money for them. Unless you own a golf course, there is a big deduction coming if you own one of those. How many of you local yokels own golf courses?
I am in agreement with Moore, 18-24 year old girls are like shrimp, everyone wants to eat them up, but this fucking ped was actually out on "dates" with them. He doesn't deny it, claiming he always had their mama's permission or some stupid shit like that. Except that Moore didn't stop at 18, in one interview he shot back that the age of consent in Alabama is 14, so joke's on you. I can't be the only one who has heard this. Maybe these people need a reminder of what a 14 year old looked like back in the late 70's and what a 30-35 man looks like. Would they be ok with a 35 year old gentleman caller taking out their 14 year old granddaughter (to the group of mostly old fucks defending him)? What do you think a man wants with a girl this age? I can think of a couple of things, but I am a creepy liberal, this guy is a man of god, Idiots!
Why tie yourself so close to a group that you must eat whatever shit they throw at you? Man, the women especially who supported this from Trump to Moore, you need a swift kick in the ass when you turn around and agree that Al Franken and any other liberal should resign. You should almost expect this from a liberal, it goes with the name. A conservative should be a man who is not tempted by pleasures of the flesh.
We will get past these four or eight years of lunacy but I don't see how the conservative right will survive him. What, they are going to call themselves the side of right when their choice for leader is "grab them by the pussy!" A man who when he doesn't get his way screams into his phone his feelings like a teenage girl via Tweeter? Maybe that is why these two idiots are attracted to each other. Maybe they can be the side of the fiscally responsible? Nope, this new tax overhaul is going to cost trillions, by analysts estimates, not numbers out of my ass. I know you conservatives will find a way to hold your head high, even if it has been stuck in the sand for the past year.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
12/14/17 The More Skill You Show, The More Work They Assign You?
I am realizing lately that I am working harder than I ever have before. If not for the pay cut and the barren land of no overtime in months, I would be quite happy. I am in a pretty good group, I am not saying anyone is stupid around me, those of us left, have survived as many as ten layoffs over the years, so we are mostly a good hard working group. I guess my complaint, not that I am complaining, is that for all my abilities to learn the next part of my job, is all just leading me into a painted corner. The more techniques I learn, the easier it is to be assigned so and so and make sure and try to get this done. I remember when I started, I would just sit at the tool and run samples, now I can run most of the stuff I have been trained on and so guess who is being spun like a top every night?
In comparison, if one is inept, my experience until recently, was that you just get moved to where you can do the least damage. It is like I see everywhere, even at home. Boy sucks at cutting the grass, leaves strips where he doesn't get to with the mower, and the trimmer doesn't even make it out unless I am right on top of him. I can tell the difference now that I have been doing it the last few weeks, it just looks sharper.
I guess I like that I can be trusted at work, what I am doing is not hard, but it is not for everybody either. When I started, the smallest details were caught, such as not wearing gloves correctly in the acid hoods, the data would show higher readings of Na, sodium. We have to act like we are in a clean room environment without actually being in one. We do all sorts of wafers for many different customers, as well as liquids, and other solid objects. Our tools can tell you if there are trace metals you don't expect to find. I am sort of locked in with the wafers section, helping my trainer and mostly easing her load. It has been a long period of training, and I am sure there is still a ton of stuff I don't know, but that won't keep my nights from being busy to the hilt. My trainer did say this might be a push from the requestors to get their projects done before the Christmas break coming, so maybe it'll be a tad more relaxing after the new year.
In comparison, if one is inept, my experience until recently, was that you just get moved to where you can do the least damage. It is like I see everywhere, even at home. Boy sucks at cutting the grass, leaves strips where he doesn't get to with the mower, and the trimmer doesn't even make it out unless I am right on top of him. I can tell the difference now that I have been doing it the last few weeks, it just looks sharper.
I guess I like that I can be trusted at work, what I am doing is not hard, but it is not for everybody either. When I started, the smallest details were caught, such as not wearing gloves correctly in the acid hoods, the data would show higher readings of Na, sodium. We have to act like we are in a clean room environment without actually being in one. We do all sorts of wafers for many different customers, as well as liquids, and other solid objects. Our tools can tell you if there are trace metals you don't expect to find. I am sort of locked in with the wafers section, helping my trainer and mostly easing her load. It has been a long period of training, and I am sure there is still a ton of stuff I don't know, but that won't keep my nights from being busy to the hilt. My trainer did say this might be a push from the requestors to get their projects done before the Christmas break coming, so maybe it'll be a tad more relaxing after the new year.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
12/13/17 Thought About A Shotgun?
We still live in a nice neighborhood and zombies aren't running around like TV wants us to believe, but somehow over the last 10-20 years I have been changed from being anti-gun to wanting to carry a gun like a cowboy on my belt. Maybe that is still a little extreme, but if we pay attention to the news almost daily, somewhere in the US there is a need to be carrying some sort of "force multiplier" as I have heard them called. If we were in Brazil, it looks like you need armed gunmen just to go buy a soda, shit really sucks down there, according to YouTube videos.
Point is, I went looking, just for curiosity at what kinds of shotguns I could get my hands on. There are three main sizes in ammunition. The sizes are .410 (very small shell, looks like a cigarette), 12 gauge, medium size, and 20 gauge, the largest sized shells. I really want to like the tiny shells. There are even some of the larger handguns that instead of a bullet, will shoot a slug or a shell composed of buckshot or many other things. That is another choice to make. What do you load a gun with? Should it just be filled with legal killing ammo or should I try something like a rubber slug? I got a surprising but reasonable answer from one of the sales guys at Cabela's. He said "
if you make the decision to buy a gun to shoot somebody to protect yourself, then you have to shoot to kill." In this shitty times of lawyers ruin everything, if somebody breaks into your house, intends to steal and possibly harm you, you maim them to protect yourself, but you want to be nice and spare their life, they might come back and sue you for way more than they could have carried in both arms." Truthfully, we live in shitty times, when the bad guys have rights comparable to the good guys and everyone has their fair day in court.
I actually found the rubber bullets I was thinking about, I hate the idea of taking someone's life or Javalina picking up the gun and accidentally shooting himself or another loved one, but what the sales guy said hit really close to my wallet. I guess I can wait on getting a weapon. I love the look of the .50 caliber revolver, it is just huge, but I am afraid it would kick itself out of my hands and this is a handgun. I'd like a shotgun that is only as long as my shoulders, so I can tuck it towards myself yet move around the house, if I should decide to go this route. Javalina thinks it should be a shotgun for the both of us since he is "protecting" the house more time than me. He says he is ready to sleep with a shotgun next to him. I don't know about that, he looks scary enough when we get home and he is pacing around with a sword. With a gun, he might shoot first and ask questions second.
Point is, I went looking, just for curiosity at what kinds of shotguns I could get my hands on. There are three main sizes in ammunition. The sizes are .410 (very small shell, looks like a cigarette), 12 gauge, medium size, and 20 gauge, the largest sized shells. I really want to like the tiny shells. There are even some of the larger handguns that instead of a bullet, will shoot a slug or a shell composed of buckshot or many other things. That is another choice to make. What do you load a gun with? Should it just be filled with legal killing ammo or should I try something like a rubber slug? I got a surprising but reasonable answer from one of the sales guys at Cabela's. He said "
if you make the decision to buy a gun to shoot somebody to protect yourself, then you have to shoot to kill." In this shitty times of lawyers ruin everything, if somebody breaks into your house, intends to steal and possibly harm you, you maim them to protect yourself, but you want to be nice and spare their life, they might come back and sue you for way more than they could have carried in both arms." Truthfully, we live in shitty times, when the bad guys have rights comparable to the good guys and everyone has their fair day in court.
I actually found the rubber bullets I was thinking about, I hate the idea of taking someone's life or Javalina picking up the gun and accidentally shooting himself or another loved one, but what the sales guy said hit really close to my wallet. I guess I can wait on getting a weapon. I love the look of the .50 caliber revolver, it is just huge, but I am afraid it would kick itself out of my hands and this is a handgun. I'd like a shotgun that is only as long as my shoulders, so I can tuck it towards myself yet move around the house, if I should decide to go this route. Javalina thinks it should be a shotgun for the both of us since he is "protecting" the house more time than me. He says he is ready to sleep with a shotgun next to him. I don't know about that, he looks scary enough when we get home and he is pacing around with a sword. With a gun, he might shoot first and ask questions second.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
12/12/17 Holiday Shopping?
Holiday shopping is a beast unto itself. Luckily, we kind of have a system, or at least a good credit card in the Target card. I try to avoid using it all year, but come Christmas time, I know that card is going to be the little engine that could. As usual, we went in there and charged up a good $700 to get most of the "second tier" gifts, that is our parents are primary in that my mother has told me to make with the nice gift and don't be a cheap-o. Then there is the Santa responsibility which has been wide open but we're trying to corral that in to a manageable level. I don't want to outright say there is no Santa, it kind of ruins the magic of the holiday, but I also don't want two dopes in their twenties believing in a guy who can deliver gifts to all on the planet. Next thing you know, they'll start believing in a guy who died for our sins (that he happened to give us in the first place).
Anyways, Boy said he didn't need much to both of our surprise. Then he turned around and gave me a few ideas that would easily go past $500. He suggested new shoes, and maybe some jeans, but something he really wants is track lighting. He has been buying art and we kind of have poor lighting in our rooms, because they are kind of big and the ceiling fan is not designed to illuminate. By installing track lighting, he will then be able to add small spotlights exactly where he needs them. I am kind of looking forward to this project. We're not talking Monet or Picasso, Boy is obsessed with any comic with a number on it. If they tell him there are only 20 in existence of a Batman pose, he really needs it. I roll my eyes a little bit, but at least it's not drugs, and they could end up being worth something, who knows.
I managed to take care of Wife in the lamest way, she chose her gift, then I took it and got it wrapped at Dillard's, but that way I know she at least will like it and not just say she likes it. Javalina got the PS4 for his birthday a couple weeks ago, so he is just asking for a handful of video games and some Nerf guns to try and shoot his cousins. I can't say I can think of anything I want this year. Maybe, some generic $100 credit cards so I can buy some private Snapchat accounts to see some of these girls I've been previewing get it on, that would be cool, but also a waste of money. Honestly, I am feeling burned out, I want a week off, pronto!
Anyways, Boy said he didn't need much to both of our surprise. Then he turned around and gave me a few ideas that would easily go past $500. He suggested new shoes, and maybe some jeans, but something he really wants is track lighting. He has been buying art and we kind of have poor lighting in our rooms, because they are kind of big and the ceiling fan is not designed to illuminate. By installing track lighting, he will then be able to add small spotlights exactly where he needs them. I am kind of looking forward to this project. We're not talking Monet or Picasso, Boy is obsessed with any comic with a number on it. If they tell him there are only 20 in existence of a Batman pose, he really needs it. I roll my eyes a little bit, but at least it's not drugs, and they could end up being worth something, who knows.
I managed to take care of Wife in the lamest way, she chose her gift, then I took it and got it wrapped at Dillard's, but that way I know she at least will like it and not just say she likes it. Javalina got the PS4 for his birthday a couple weeks ago, so he is just asking for a handful of video games and some Nerf guns to try and shoot his cousins. I can't say I can think of anything I want this year. Maybe, some generic $100 credit cards so I can buy some private Snapchat accounts to see some of these girls I've been previewing get it on, that would be cool, but also a waste of money. Honestly, I am feeling burned out, I want a week off, pronto!
Monday, December 11, 2017
12/11/17 Justice League? (Movie)
I really had no interest in watching this movie after the bullshit they did with the last one last year. I had avoided the commercials and knew very little of what it was about. The idea that the two greatest superheroes in the DC universe would go head to head and that Superman would end up dead just seemed ridiculous. The we had to endure the same bullshit with the Avengers when half sided with Captain America and half sided with Iron Man, why break up the team?
The only thing that kept me mildly interested was that newest of hotties, Gal Gadot. She is a wonderful Wonder Woman, and I used to enjoy Linda Carter back in the cheesy 70's edition. Gal makes the character sexy and in control, yet as powerful as any of the supermen on the screen. The new additions were interesting on their own merits. The Flash was played by a younger kid, who looked like a newbie trying to fit in with some of the greatest heroes, Aquaman, who they finally got right, I think. Instead of him looking geeky like in the Saturday morning cartoon version, he looked muscular and good looking. Instead of commanding the fish like he used to in the cartoon, they (there are other aqua people) can manipulate the water around them. There was a third new guy joining the team, Cyborg, which I had not noticed, but in this day and age, he makes sense. He has been somehow infected by one of the square power sources that the bad guy is looking for through his dad who is some sort of scientist. The kid starts out as human but the infection has slowly been making him a robot.
The bad guy is called Steppenwolf and he is "the world ender". He is some sort of god, and his mom was Chaos. He had tried to take over the Earth 5000 years ago but the humans fought alongside the aquamen and the Amazons and other beings at the time. Steppenwolf retreated via help from his mom to wait for his chance when the Earth was weaker. With Superman recently dying, hope was missing, and Steppenwolf saw it as an opportunity to attack.
As he retreated the first time, his power source was taken and broken into three pieces, the amazonians took one, the aquamen, took another piece and humans took the third. He showed up and pretty easily defeated the amazons even though they put their lives on the line. It was the same thing with the aquamen, once he knew where to go, he just showed up and took it. Humans had rediscovered it recently and that is how Cyborg was born and through serendipity they were able to use it to give Superman a boost of life and get him going again.
It took a minute, but Superman coming back to life made the circle complete, now they would be ready to fight. I didn't expect to like the movie, they tend to take themselves so seriously, compared to the Avengers, but the Flash was funny as a newbie hero, Aquaman took some funny stabs at Batman and Batman shot back asking innocently enough if he could actually talk to fish. Wonder Woman was just the shiny bow on top that made the package that much prettier to look at.
The only thing that kept me mildly interested was that newest of hotties, Gal Gadot. She is a wonderful Wonder Woman, and I used to enjoy Linda Carter back in the cheesy 70's edition. Gal makes the character sexy and in control, yet as powerful as any of the supermen on the screen. The new additions were interesting on their own merits. The Flash was played by a younger kid, who looked like a newbie trying to fit in with some of the greatest heroes, Aquaman, who they finally got right, I think. Instead of him looking geeky like in the Saturday morning cartoon version, he looked muscular and good looking. Instead of commanding the fish like he used to in the cartoon, they (there are other aqua people) can manipulate the water around them. There was a third new guy joining the team, Cyborg, which I had not noticed, but in this day and age, he makes sense. He has been somehow infected by one of the square power sources that the bad guy is looking for through his dad who is some sort of scientist. The kid starts out as human but the infection has slowly been making him a robot.
The bad guy is called Steppenwolf and he is "the world ender". He is some sort of god, and his mom was Chaos. He had tried to take over the Earth 5000 years ago but the humans fought alongside the aquamen and the Amazons and other beings at the time. Steppenwolf retreated via help from his mom to wait for his chance when the Earth was weaker. With Superman recently dying, hope was missing, and Steppenwolf saw it as an opportunity to attack.
As he retreated the first time, his power source was taken and broken into three pieces, the amazonians took one, the aquamen, took another piece and humans took the third. He showed up and pretty easily defeated the amazons even though they put their lives on the line. It was the same thing with the aquamen, once he knew where to go, he just showed up and took it. Humans had rediscovered it recently and that is how Cyborg was born and through serendipity they were able to use it to give Superman a boost of life and get him going again.
It took a minute, but Superman coming back to life made the circle complete, now they would be ready to fight. I didn't expect to like the movie, they tend to take themselves so seriously, compared to the Avengers, but the Flash was funny as a newbie hero, Aquaman took some funny stabs at Batman and Batman shot back asking innocently enough if he could actually talk to fish. Wonder Woman was just the shiny bow on top that made the package that much prettier to look at.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
12/10/17 Microsoft Problems Always Solved With A Reboot?
We had an ongoing problem with my Boy's heater in his 2014 Edge. It is too new to have problems, and I don't think we have ever had problems with a car's heater. Be that as it may, these last few days sucked, when we got the snow, there was no way he was going to be able to drive his car and have that snow and ice melt. Wife, trying to stay ahead of the problem, was texting and calling me to take him to his friends apartment in San Marcos, so he could ride the bus, I was hoping the school would have been shut down like most every other school around here was. Either his friend's really care about him or Wife called them and pleaded them to come pick him up, so he would be within a bus ride in the morning. While I kept hoping to hear that the University was closed, I suggested I could take him halfway, maybe meet at Cabela's. Boy then said not to worry about it, they would come pick him up. I felt a little bad, I didn't want to go out in the shitty weather, but I also didn't want these poor kids going out and freezing on my account, but hey, they are younger and apparently stronger than I.
Today is Saturday morning and Boy took Wife's vehicle, mostly because it has heaters and thus should be safer to ride. I finally got curious and went out and looked at the vehicle, turning it on while I looked at the manual, hoping it would mention that there is a specific fuse for the heater coil or something and to find it blown out. I did not, and I was going to give up, but I had YouTube open and tried s generic se2013 arch "bad thermostat 2014 Ford Edge". A guy popped up with a 2013 Ford Edge and looked very much like ours. It was a short 2-3 minute video but he seemed aware that things like this should have access to a self diagnostic tool, internally. In his video, he pressed power and defrost at the same, this got something going internally and we could see the fan speed going up and starting over as if counting down. After it stopped it read 88 88. He said he read somewhere that this indicated everything was reset to factory standard. His heater started working after this. Cool beans!
What did I have to lose, I was already lubed up and expecting for Ford to once again give me that good loving without permission in the rear? Do you think the guys at Ford would say "hey, this one is on us. It just needed a quick reboot." No, they would have found a way for their conscious to be ok with charging me $200-300. Anyways, I went and did what the guy did and Voila!, Heat is restored to my son's vehicle.
Not only do I look like a badass that can fix shit, I also saved me the $200-$300 or maybe more, and I got a blog story out of it. Reminds me of that song by the great DJ Khaled "All I do is win."
Today is Saturday morning and Boy took Wife's vehicle, mostly because it has heaters and thus should be safer to ride. I finally got curious and went out and looked at the vehicle, turning it on while I looked at the manual, hoping it would mention that there is a specific fuse for the heater coil or something and to find it blown out. I did not, and I was going to give up, but I had YouTube open and tried s generic se2013 arch "bad thermostat 2014 Ford Edge". A guy popped up with a 2013 Ford Edge and looked very much like ours. It was a short 2-3 minute video but he seemed aware that things like this should have access to a self diagnostic tool, internally. In his video, he pressed power and defrost at the same, this got something going internally and we could see the fan speed going up and starting over as if counting down. After it stopped it read 88 88. He said he read somewhere that this indicated everything was reset to factory standard. His heater started working after this. Cool beans!
What did I have to lose, I was already lubed up and expecting for Ford to once again give me that good loving without permission in the rear? Do you think the guys at Ford would say "hey, this one is on us. It just needed a quick reboot." No, they would have found a way for their conscious to be ok with charging me $200-300. Anyways, I went and did what the guy did and Voila!, Heat is restored to my son's vehicle.
Not only do I look like a badass that can fix shit, I also saved me the $200-$300 or maybe more, and I got a blog story out of it. Reminds me of that song by the great DJ Khaled "All I do is win."
Friday, December 8, 2017
12/9/17 Small Change?
Being home last night made me realize everything we do is large scale. I didn't want to turn on the projector just to watch if AISD was going to shut down because of the snow. The other option is the plasma TV but then I can't be in the kitchen and I prefer sitting on the kitchen table, so what to do? Since we bought Boy a new TV a couple months ago, this happened before my pay cut, just saying. I moved his nice 42" TV to DD's room and took that "small 32" TV and stood it against the wall. I wasn't sure what to do with it, it is over ten years old, so I don't think I could sell it. All the other rooms have larger TVs already.
I had thought about putting one in the kitchen before, but running cable to it seemed like work. We could get a wireless cable box, and that would solve that problem, but they also don't seem to work that well. They stream to a point, then stop, possibly until they upload another portion of whatever programming we are watching. A third option I just realized was using just a stand alone TV with regular rabbit ears to just get the local channels to see the activities happening here in Austin. This is what I went with. I used the old TV, got new rabbit ears for $9.95 at Home Depot, and hung the TV above our trash can. There is very little open wall in the kitchen so this was good. The only other position was behind where I like to seat, so no, that wasn't going to work.
I had the frame to hang it on the wall and brackets, but the screws that go into the wall were missing. I went to Home Depot to look for the long heavy duty screws, which I found and along with that I also got what I needed to do a tune-up on the lawn mower. It has been awhile and the way it sounds makes me think it really needs one. I went directly home with my new tune-up set and screws. Hanging the TV was easy, I have hung them all over the house, all you need is a good stud or two, depending on the weight of the TV.
I chose where I did primarily because I prefer sitting in the corner of the room. I could have hung the TV in that corner and it might have been better for viewing from the kitchen and the other chairs, but that would not have helped me. Now I feel better prepared for a snow day or whatever the weather may throw at us.
I had thought about putting one in the kitchen before, but running cable to it seemed like work. We could get a wireless cable box, and that would solve that problem, but they also don't seem to work that well. They stream to a point, then stop, possibly until they upload another portion of whatever programming we are watching. A third option I just realized was using just a stand alone TV with regular rabbit ears to just get the local channels to see the activities happening here in Austin. This is what I went with. I used the old TV, got new rabbit ears for $9.95 at Home Depot, and hung the TV above our trash can. There is very little open wall in the kitchen so this was good. The only other position was behind where I like to seat, so no, that wasn't going to work.
I had the frame to hang it on the wall and brackets, but the screws that go into the wall were missing. I went to Home Depot to look for the long heavy duty screws, which I found and along with that I also got what I needed to do a tune-up on the lawn mower. It has been awhile and the way it sounds makes me think it really needs one. I went directly home with my new tune-up set and screws. Hanging the TV was easy, I have hung them all over the house, all you need is a good stud or two, depending on the weight of the TV.
I chose where I did primarily because I prefer sitting in the corner of the room. I could have hung the TV in that corner and it might have been better for viewing from the kitchen and the other chairs, but that would not have helped me. Now I feel better prepared for a snow day or whatever the weather may throw at us.
12/8/17 Snow Day?
This is indeed a rare event specially that Crystal City experienced it first. Yesterday morning on my drive home from work at 7:00am, I talked to Wife like I do every morning, both our commutes are about 15 minutes long, so we have the perfect amount of time to say hi and if anything happened during my lunch going home or the rest of my shift. She was all excited that it was snowing down there. I was hard pressed to believe her, we were sitting at 46 degrees and we sit much farther up north than they do. She had some pictures and even some short videos on her Snapchat, managing to make a ten inch snowman on the hood of a car. I came home, did my usual routine, took Javalina to school and came back to bed. I woke up to him calling me to hurry up and pick him up, he was extremely cold and hungry. We ate a burger at Fuddrucker's, noticed it was cloudy and the temperature had dropped into the 30's by the afternoon. I thought there were some snowflakes when we got back in the car, but they were real light.
We went home, I showered and stuff and I was dreading heading out back into the cold, but I opened the front door only to see we were being bombarded by snow and it looked like a lot of it, I mean, for us. KVUE said 1.3 inches, I would say about two inches, but either way, it looked beautiful. As a result, I did the right thing and stayed home. I was pretty sure driving would be fine heading in to work, it's at night coming home for lunch, then coming back in the morning that I was thinking and worrying about. It is pretty simple for me, I can just make up the day next week, as we work a long week and a short week, and with our new manager he lets us swap that out rather easily.
Boy was a concern, his heater has been broken but he needs his car every day to go to school, so with all that built up snow and ice, we weren't sure how he was going to deal. Wife suggested I take him to school in the morning which I hated the idea immediately. Since Boy's friend had texted her earlier, Wife asked her if they would pick him up so he would be in San Marcos and ride the bus in the morning, and they ended up doing that. The last hurdle of responsibility to tackle was Javalina which by looking outside and how conservative their decisions have been with a little moisture on the roads, I knew they would close, and at 9:30pm they finally called and sent out emails that classes were cancelled. Wife had been a pain prior to that to poor Javalina about going to bed, talking to his teacher about a low grade, about tutoring, about eating. I wouldn't complain if I wasn't attached and my phone wasn't pinging like it's a radar on a submarine nearing the coast.
Once we got the release from AISD, the rest of the night was a foggy mix of sleep and wanting to turn on the laptop, just not quite making it. I woke up at 6:00am, just finished writing this at 7:00am and with nothing else to do today, I may even go get in bed and watch me some porn, I mean the news.
We went home, I showered and stuff and I was dreading heading out back into the cold, but I opened the front door only to see we were being bombarded by snow and it looked like a lot of it, I mean, for us. KVUE said 1.3 inches, I would say about two inches, but either way, it looked beautiful. As a result, I did the right thing and stayed home. I was pretty sure driving would be fine heading in to work, it's at night coming home for lunch, then coming back in the morning that I was thinking and worrying about. It is pretty simple for me, I can just make up the day next week, as we work a long week and a short week, and with our new manager he lets us swap that out rather easily.
Boy was a concern, his heater has been broken but he needs his car every day to go to school, so with all that built up snow and ice, we weren't sure how he was going to deal. Wife suggested I take him to school in the morning which I hated the idea immediately. Since Boy's friend had texted her earlier, Wife asked her if they would pick him up so he would be in San Marcos and ride the bus in the morning, and they ended up doing that. The last hurdle of responsibility to tackle was Javalina which by looking outside and how conservative their decisions have been with a little moisture on the roads, I knew they would close, and at 9:30pm they finally called and sent out emails that classes were cancelled. Wife had been a pain prior to that to poor Javalina about going to bed, talking to his teacher about a low grade, about tutoring, about eating. I wouldn't complain if I wasn't attached and my phone wasn't pinging like it's a radar on a submarine nearing the coast.
Once we got the release from AISD, the rest of the night was a foggy mix of sleep and wanting to turn on the laptop, just not quite making it. I woke up at 6:00am, just finished writing this at 7:00am and with nothing else to do today, I may even go get in bed and watch me some porn, I mean the news.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
12/7/17 Curious Topic I Shan't Bring Up To The Boys?
The fall concert came and went and all is well except for one stirred emotion which I can't tamp back down. Before the concert, we went and ate and usually I talk with Javalina about his day and we joke around and what not. My mom was with us and we were talking about the concert and she asked me in a serious tone if I pushed Javalina in band, to be like me. I quickly assured her that I did not, and that if he is interested he needs to make his own wave and ride it. I am not going to expect him or anyone to put the kind of efforts I did when I was in high school.
I understand my Mom's position, but I don't like it. Since when is the person who works the hardest supposed to tone it down because I am laying down a "bad example" for my following siblings or kids? It turns out that my two brothers both tried band and they did not have as great an experience as I did. They were constantly compared to me and were expected to work harder to come up to my standard. Honestly, I don't think I am the most talented or smartest or anything you could hang your hat on, but nobody works at something harder than me to one up the person next to him/her. I hated the fact that my brother was naturally talented at any sports we went and played in the summers. Sometimes, it was tennis, sometimes, it was basketball, it all came easy to him. He could stand out in the perimeter and just shoot nice jump shots all day, I would spend hours outside by myself so we could be comparable. I didn't need to be told that in order to get better, one must put in more effort than the next guy.
Because I have the history of my brothers being miserable in my shadow, I cannot even preach the idea of a strong work ethic for fear I am pushing too much. This is one of those things where I bite my lip all the time. I remind the boys that the world is there for those who take it, there is no such bullshit as the meek shall inherit the earth. If you want to be successful, you better work harder than the guy sitting next to you, but that is as far as I can go. When Boy was in high school, I saw glimpses of an incredible work ethic, he loved working on the rockets, and I could see it. He was at school early, he stayed until way past 10:00pm at times. He would make me go to Home Depot and buy him fiberglass resin and stuff if they were running low and he had an idea. He takes great pride in telling me how he led his teams and most everyone around him sucked because they wouldn't carry their fair share. I know the boys have some fire in their bellies, but as baby dragons, they must huff and puff and make their own fire breathing spectacles. I accept that I am merely here to give them my DNA and lend support when they ask for it.
I understand my Mom's position, but I don't like it. Since when is the person who works the hardest supposed to tone it down because I am laying down a "bad example" for my following siblings or kids? It turns out that my two brothers both tried band and they did not have as great an experience as I did. They were constantly compared to me and were expected to work harder to come up to my standard. Honestly, I don't think I am the most talented or smartest or anything you could hang your hat on, but nobody works at something harder than me to one up the person next to him/her. I hated the fact that my brother was naturally talented at any sports we went and played in the summers. Sometimes, it was tennis, sometimes, it was basketball, it all came easy to him. He could stand out in the perimeter and just shoot nice jump shots all day, I would spend hours outside by myself so we could be comparable. I didn't need to be told that in order to get better, one must put in more effort than the next guy.
Because I have the history of my brothers being miserable in my shadow, I cannot even preach the idea of a strong work ethic for fear I am pushing too much. This is one of those things where I bite my lip all the time. I remind the boys that the world is there for those who take it, there is no such bullshit as the meek shall inherit the earth. If you want to be successful, you better work harder than the guy sitting next to you, but that is as far as I can go. When Boy was in high school, I saw glimpses of an incredible work ethic, he loved working on the rockets, and I could see it. He was at school early, he stayed until way past 10:00pm at times. He would make me go to Home Depot and buy him fiberglass resin and stuff if they were running low and he had an idea. He takes great pride in telling me how he led his teams and most everyone around him sucked because they wouldn't carry their fair share. I know the boys have some fire in their bellies, but as baby dragons, they must huff and puff and make their own fire breathing spectacles. I accept that I am merely here to give them my DNA and lend support when they ask for it.
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
12/6/17 Javalina's Fall Recital?
" Tonight was Javalina's fall band recital at his school. They were originally going to split it, having the 6th graders play tonight and the various 7th and 8th grade bands play on Thursday. I think it would have been better, at least for the crowd. It was the first time all the bleachers in the gym were used. People were also standing along the walls and everywhere they could fit. As a result, it became very warm by the time the last bands played. I'm not sure if it was from the heaters or just too many humans in one room. It was nice to escape from there afterwards to the cool night air.
My folks came up for the concert. It was nice, now that my mom is retired again, they have theoretically more time to hang out up here, but of course they have to be in Crystal in case my sister needs help making toast, or my brother forgets where the fridge is. I don't understand why they won't stay longer, but probably has something to do with my ranking below the dog in favorite son, maybe.
Either way, it was a good afternoon. My folks were here just in time to pick up Javalina after school, my Mom came along and we went and ate at Whataburger. This was almost too much food, I did not want to get home and go shower and dressed up. Wife got home as we were finishing eating at Whataburger, so she decided to just meet us at home. She knows how to run around, she left Monday morning to a meeting in San Antonio, slept in Crystal, went to work in La Pryor and was back in Austin before 5:00pm Tuesday. She will be heading back in the morning, but she is giving me the option to have breakfast with her, if I want. We shall see.
I don't think Javalina is a band geek, he doesn't seem into it like I was. He does the absolute minimum, but he did perform and alone at that. They have several bands which I didn't understand why they are making each band so small. His band, the symphonic band, for example, has 1 alto sax, 1 bari sax, no tenors, 1 trumpet, and the same thing in the other bands. 1 trumpet sounds sad. There should be at least three trumpets to give it that big majestic sound.
We ended the night eating at Javalina's favorite place, the Crawfish Boil place where we get to enjoy those Cajun fries. We all kept it simple, opting for the shrimp po boys and teas. Wife even managed to get Boy on the phone and we got him a shrimp po boy too. I feel so much more at ease with my new manager, he is not a micromanager, and he doesn't seem to have a problem if we need to be out for a while. I love being trusted, it's a good thing.
My folks came up for the concert. It was nice, now that my mom is retired again, they have theoretically more time to hang out up here, but of course they have to be in Crystal in case my sister needs help making toast, or my brother forgets where the fridge is. I don't understand why they won't stay longer, but probably has something to do with my ranking below the dog in favorite son, maybe.
Either way, it was a good afternoon. My folks were here just in time to pick up Javalina after school, my Mom came along and we went and ate at Whataburger. This was almost too much food, I did not want to get home and go shower and dressed up. Wife got home as we were finishing eating at Whataburger, so she decided to just meet us at home. She knows how to run around, she left Monday morning to a meeting in San Antonio, slept in Crystal, went to work in La Pryor and was back in Austin before 5:00pm Tuesday. She will be heading back in the morning, but she is giving me the option to have breakfast with her, if I want. We shall see.
I don't think Javalina is a band geek, he doesn't seem into it like I was. He does the absolute minimum, but he did perform and alone at that. They have several bands which I didn't understand why they are making each band so small. His band, the symphonic band, for example, has 1 alto sax, 1 bari sax, no tenors, 1 trumpet, and the same thing in the other bands. 1 trumpet sounds sad. There should be at least three trumpets to give it that big majestic sound.
We ended the night eating at Javalina's favorite place, the Crawfish Boil place where we get to enjoy those Cajun fries. We all kept it simple, opting for the shrimp po boys and teas. Wife even managed to get Boy on the phone and we got him a shrimp po boy too. I feel so much more at ease with my new manager, he is not a micromanager, and he doesn't seem to have a problem if we need to be out for a while. I love being trusted, it's a good thing.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
12/5/17 Serious Talk At The Gym?
It had been a long while since I went to the gym. After my leg injury, I started too fast and I think I got the equivalent of tennis elbow lifting dumbells. My right elbow still feels like something in it is not right, but we carry on. My coworker I usually go with texted and we made plans to go. I always enjoy getting into discussions but he can be a little dogmatic in his positions. Last night I mentioned how Javalina is really interested in talking religion now and he says he has noticed so we got in to it, but one of his first sentences was to the effect of "it is accepted or fact that we all have a spirit or something to that direction. Whoa! That sentence is awesome but not a true sentence as "the sky is blue." If you can't prove it scientifically, all you can say is I feel we all have a spiritual component. Saying, the majority of people agree with me that we have a spirit again is great, but even if 99.9% of people believe something, it is not true unless you have proof. At one point the church would and could kill you if you said the earth rotated around the sun, ask Galileo, and who was right in the end? Proof Baby!
We got into other discussions, such as flirting and more with the opposite sex. I, of course, feel like it is what greases the wheels of life. I love Wife but after thirty years, I certainly can't spin her around and find a new spot I haven't discovered on her. This is the kind of uncomfortable stuff I like to get into. I believe flirting and getting to know new people brings new energy to a relationship, be it positive or negative, I personally hate stagnant water. If I had to do 70 years of How's it going Honey? Good. Damn! Kill me already! If every conversation is about "Are you good? Yes." what do you work on? He says it can damage a relationship, but I say prove it. I'm not saying knocking boots with other people, that is a whole other animal, I am just talking about flirting and nearing that edge.
We discussed other stuff but I don't want to just spit it out, it has to be laid down delicately. They have opened their house and are allowing an old acquaintance's daughter to stay with them, for free. I ask what do you get out of that? He said it felt good to help people. I said "been there, done that, wish I could get my generosity back. Going back to when Boy was in high school and that other boy stayed with us. It was awesome at the end, kid didn't lift a finger, yelled at us, turned out he needed all these medicines, he was unstable. It felt great helping the needy. Fuck that! Again with my last renter, once they decided they were moving out, it's Fuck you Mando. People can kiss my ass, help yourself, it's what I did and it made me stronger. I'm done being a welcome mat.
We got into other discussions, such as flirting and more with the opposite sex. I, of course, feel like it is what greases the wheels of life. I love Wife but after thirty years, I certainly can't spin her around and find a new spot I haven't discovered on her. This is the kind of uncomfortable stuff I like to get into. I believe flirting and getting to know new people brings new energy to a relationship, be it positive or negative, I personally hate stagnant water. If I had to do 70 years of How's it going Honey? Good. Damn! Kill me already! If every conversation is about "Are you good? Yes." what do you work on? He says it can damage a relationship, but I say prove it. I'm not saying knocking boots with other people, that is a whole other animal, I am just talking about flirting and nearing that edge.
We discussed other stuff but I don't want to just spit it out, it has to be laid down delicately. They have opened their house and are allowing an old acquaintance's daughter to stay with them, for free. I ask what do you get out of that? He said it felt good to help people. I said "been there, done that, wish I could get my generosity back. Going back to when Boy was in high school and that other boy stayed with us. It was awesome at the end, kid didn't lift a finger, yelled at us, turned out he needed all these medicines, he was unstable. It felt great helping the needy. Fuck that! Again with my last renter, once they decided they were moving out, it's Fuck you Mando. People can kiss my ass, help yourself, it's what I did and it made me stronger. I'm done being a welcome mat.
Monday, December 4, 2017
12/4/17 Hitting The Sales Stores?
It is Christmas and time for some good sales, if you can find them. I think we did pretty well at Bath & Bodyworks last night when they had their big 3-wick candles for $8.95. Ever the resourceful woman, Wife also had some coupons ready for this and along with the sale prices, these candles are usually $24.95 each, we paid around $6.44 a candle. The sale that got us there was $8.95 a candle, but Wife had a coupon that if you spend over $40, we get $15 off. She also had a get a free item worth $13.95 for free with purchase of anything in the store. So, she had two sets of these coupons, I went one way and she went another and we ended up with 10 candles and two bottles of lotions for $64.40. We burn a lot of these candles to try to keep the home smelling like boys or when my mom visits, dog.
Tonight, Dillard's had their customer appreciation sale which is a private sale for its better customers. They have been doing this for awhile and we try to go most every year. The first few times were great, they would set up tables of food and leave them unsupervised, which worked until they figured out people abuse free anything. Now, they have the food on trays and they walk around offering it to you, so it is monitored a lot better.
The first thing you do when you enter is write your name on a piece of paper for a chance to win one of several baskets. Wife was called as the winner of the first basket and she was looking through it a while ago. Just the first perfume she pulled out is worth over $100. There seem to be at least 4 perfumes, makeup, and even eyeliners and stuff. Wife was a little emotional that she hasn't won anything before.
We had already begun buying Christmas gifts, and we 've taken care of the challenging ones in both our parents, but we still managed a couple purses for her tonight, so I am done with my hard gifts. I can't say I saw anything else I would jump on buying. It was nice that that they offered a free wrapping, but that made us sit around over 40 minutes waiting.
By the time we came out, it was past 9:00pm. Javalina was complaining that he was going to die of hunger. We both kept saying shut up, you are being dramatic. We stopped at Popey's,but of course, we had to deal with a bum before we got inside the door. As soon as I parked I saw the bum bothering the lady in the car next to us. I told Wife to wait, let this bum walk away. He kind of walked away but like a cartoon, stopped just behind the Excursion and stood there. I kept staring at his idiot act, he was frozen there not moving. After 10-20 seconds, he turned and came to knock on my glass, as soon as he did, I established eye contact and started doing the fingers cutting the neck and saying nope, beat it! He disappeared into the night, then we got off. We got our chicken and it hit the spot perfectly, specially with another coupon Wife had 14 pieces, 2 sides, 6 biscuits, all for $20.95. The girl behind the counter kept saying "my computer says $28.95." I asked is this Popeye's, that's what the coupon says, honor it. "But the computer says it's $28.95" Again, I said OK, press some buttons make it right. One of the other guys came over, hit some buttons and then we were good.
Tonight, Dillard's had their customer appreciation sale which is a private sale for its better customers. They have been doing this for awhile and we try to go most every year. The first few times were great, they would set up tables of food and leave them unsupervised, which worked until they figured out people abuse free anything. Now, they have the food on trays and they walk around offering it to you, so it is monitored a lot better.
The first thing you do when you enter is write your name on a piece of paper for a chance to win one of several baskets. Wife was called as the winner of the first basket and she was looking through it a while ago. Just the first perfume she pulled out is worth over $100. There seem to be at least 4 perfumes, makeup, and even eyeliners and stuff. Wife was a little emotional that she hasn't won anything before.
We had already begun buying Christmas gifts, and we 've taken care of the challenging ones in both our parents, but we still managed a couple purses for her tonight, so I am done with my hard gifts. I can't say I saw anything else I would jump on buying. It was nice that that they offered a free wrapping, but that made us sit around over 40 minutes waiting.
By the time we came out, it was past 9:00pm. Javalina was complaining that he was going to die of hunger. We both kept saying shut up, you are being dramatic. We stopped at Popey's,but of course, we had to deal with a bum before we got inside the door. As soon as I parked I saw the bum bothering the lady in the car next to us. I told Wife to wait, let this bum walk away. He kind of walked away but like a cartoon, stopped just behind the Excursion and stood there. I kept staring at his idiot act, he was frozen there not moving. After 10-20 seconds, he turned and came to knock on my glass, as soon as he did, I established eye contact and started doing the fingers cutting the neck and saying nope, beat it! He disappeared into the night, then we got off. We got our chicken and it hit the spot perfectly, specially with another coupon Wife had 14 pieces, 2 sides, 6 biscuits, all for $20.95. The girl behind the counter kept saying "my computer says $28.95." I asked is this Popeye's, that's what the coupon says, honor it. "But the computer says it's $28.95" Again, I said OK, press some buttons make it right. One of the other guys came over, hit some buttons and then we were good.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
12/3/17 A Bad Moms Christmas (Movie)
I am a huge Mila Kunis fan and she did not disappoint in this crazy sophomore edition with roughly the same cast as the first movie. This second one has the mom's of the mom's showing up for Christmas and turning everything upside down. Christine Baranski plays Kunis's mom and she plays the model of a perfect mom. She stresses her daughter to the max as she expects perfection from her daughter. Kristen Bell is a neurotic unsure winnie. Her mom is a widow and all she appears to have is her daughter who she is obsessed with. She has a shirt, pajamas, and other clothes with her daughter's face on it. Her mom is played by Cheryl Hines, and with the same haircuts, both look very similar. The third gal, played by Kathryn Hahn might not be as big a star as the other two, but she certainly wasn't the most conservative, choosing to play her character very "loose". It all makes sense when her mom shows up, Susan Sarandon, jumping off a semi truck belonging to some stranger and quickly indicating to us she's not even sure what month it is.
The three main moms are having lunch, having become "besties" since the first movie and they are talking about the upcoming holidays and how stressed they are and how they are fixing to get even more so as each of their mamas is going to show up and expect Christmas to be done her way. They decide then and there that they will not succumb to the expectations of the holidays and will instead be making it their own. This all sounds great but then they have to explain it to their respective moms. Baranski is always over the top, able to bust balls without breaking a sweat, she tears apart Kunis within minutes and acts like nothing about it. She has plans for the perfect holiday and nobody will stop "grandma" from doing things her way. We later learn that she is doing things for the grandkids. If they can get through this first holiday after their parent's divorce, then they might just be able to make it through anything. Hines isn't doing much better, her mom is actually in the room while Hines and her hubby are trying to make love. She is trying to give notes to her daughter on how to be a better lover "maybe you want to cup the balls, your father used to love that." The Hahn character is sure mom is just around for money and within the second scene she is talking about a can't miss opportunity, if she can just get a little money together.
The three young moms eventually do stand up to their respective moms and we find that that was what they needed. Kunis gets the quiet pajama party she wanted for Christmas day, Bell explains to her mom she loves her, but she needs space to be and breath. Hahn wants her mom to stay permanently and she indicates she wants to until she lends her the money she needed and she then has to decide if she is going to keep running as she always has or will she now become a member of the family. As usual, in these Christmas movies, everything ends up perfect, even showing us that the grandmoms are going off on a solo adventure without their daughters.
The three main moms are having lunch, having become "besties" since the first movie and they are talking about the upcoming holidays and how stressed they are and how they are fixing to get even more so as each of their mamas is going to show up and expect Christmas to be done her way. They decide then and there that they will not succumb to the expectations of the holidays and will instead be making it their own. This all sounds great but then they have to explain it to their respective moms. Baranski is always over the top, able to bust balls without breaking a sweat, she tears apart Kunis within minutes and acts like nothing about it. She has plans for the perfect holiday and nobody will stop "grandma" from doing things her way. We later learn that she is doing things for the grandkids. If they can get through this first holiday after their parent's divorce, then they might just be able to make it through anything. Hines isn't doing much better, her mom is actually in the room while Hines and her hubby are trying to make love. She is trying to give notes to her daughter on how to be a better lover "maybe you want to cup the balls, your father used to love that." The Hahn character is sure mom is just around for money and within the second scene she is talking about a can't miss opportunity, if she can just get a little money together.
The three young moms eventually do stand up to their respective moms and we find that that was what they needed. Kunis gets the quiet pajama party she wanted for Christmas day, Bell explains to her mom she loves her, but she needs space to be and breath. Hahn wants her mom to stay permanently and she indicates she wants to until she lends her the money she needed and she then has to decide if she is going to keep running as she always has or will she now become a member of the family. As usual, in these Christmas movies, everything ends up perfect, even showing us that the grandmoms are going off on a solo adventure without their daughters.
Saturday, December 2, 2017
12/2/17 Inherently Good?
A couple months ago, I was having a pretty good discussion with my brother in law about people being inherently good. I told him, he was dead wrong, humans are animals and will more or less disappoint you if they think no one is watching. His best example was right before him, he said, look, we are all sitting together, enjoying all this food, nobody is exhibiting hate towards anyone, there is nothing but love all around us. Yes, I agreed, but you are looking at a subsystem that is part of a bigger entity. We have to love and protect each other, we have chosen to call each other family, therefore, there is something in it for all of us to be healthy together. This does not translate once we head outside those doors. I don't want to hurt the neighbors around here, but I am not going to slave away at work and then come give my money to the neighbors so they can enjoy a good meal.
My real reasoning as to why and how we behave outside our doors with our neighbors and strangers is because we have laws. Take away the laws and consequences and then we are in the equivalency of a third world country. If you want to say we are inherently good, would you let your daughter, at 16-18 years old, theoretically, walk alone in the evening in any third world country in Africa, South America, Middle East, most of the world really? We have pretty good laws here and good police departments most everywhere and there are still places you wouldn't let your daughter walk around at night, remember New Orleans and how it went to shit after the levy broke, post Katrina?
Lately, on a smaller scale but still along the same lines I feel. I have been looking at tons of YouTube videos involving cops and officer shootings. Yeah, it is a little fucked up to watch, but there is learning to be gotten from these videos, if only the people that could best benefit would shut their mouths and learn. Every comments section is filled with police hate. This I don't understand at all. These men and women put themselves on the line every day to insure we live safe quiet lives and the best some assholes have for them is a warm "fuck you Cop!" and "I hope you die!" If you feel this way because of how a family member was treated, your family member did not have to be on the wrong side of the law, it was a choice. Who do you expect to call when you get yourself in trouble, somebody takes your property, or infringes on your rights? The police officers are there to help and protect us, the every day citizen, we should all be inherently good to them. They have signed up for a job where they accept that they could die any day for the safety of the group he/she protects.
You cannot be inherently good if you get up in the morning, get online, create a false account, talk shit about everything you see, and then take a break to go walk your dog. Nope, I will call you a-hole #1. I have only made about three comments on YouTube and they are to a guy in Miami who takes his family boating and I mention a thank you for images of his surroundings and that some day I'd like to boat where is at, some sandbar. People walk around in shallow water, some boats sell food out there, everyone is in bikinis. It looks awesome, and still even to this guy, some guys talk shit where he is thinking of stopping his videos. A lot of people have black little hearts and they won't be happy until everyone sits in the dark pondering death like they do. Fuck that! I wish humans were better, but here we are.
My real reasoning as to why and how we behave outside our doors with our neighbors and strangers is because we have laws. Take away the laws and consequences and then we are in the equivalency of a third world country. If you want to say we are inherently good, would you let your daughter, at 16-18 years old, theoretically, walk alone in the evening in any third world country in Africa, South America, Middle East, most of the world really? We have pretty good laws here and good police departments most everywhere and there are still places you wouldn't let your daughter walk around at night, remember New Orleans and how it went to shit after the levy broke, post Katrina?
Lately, on a smaller scale but still along the same lines I feel. I have been looking at tons of YouTube videos involving cops and officer shootings. Yeah, it is a little fucked up to watch, but there is learning to be gotten from these videos, if only the people that could best benefit would shut their mouths and learn. Every comments section is filled with police hate. This I don't understand at all. These men and women put themselves on the line every day to insure we live safe quiet lives and the best some assholes have for them is a warm "fuck you Cop!" and "I hope you die!" If you feel this way because of how a family member was treated, your family member did not have to be on the wrong side of the law, it was a choice. Who do you expect to call when you get yourself in trouble, somebody takes your property, or infringes on your rights? The police officers are there to help and protect us, the every day citizen, we should all be inherently good to them. They have signed up for a job where they accept that they could die any day for the safety of the group he/she protects.
You cannot be inherently good if you get up in the morning, get online, create a false account, talk shit about everything you see, and then take a break to go walk your dog. Nope, I will call you a-hole #1. I have only made about three comments on YouTube and they are to a guy in Miami who takes his family boating and I mention a thank you for images of his surroundings and that some day I'd like to boat where is at, some sandbar. People walk around in shallow water, some boats sell food out there, everyone is in bikinis. It looks awesome, and still even to this guy, some guys talk shit where he is thinking of stopping his videos. A lot of people have black little hearts and they won't be happy until everyone sits in the dark pondering death like they do. Fuck that! I wish humans were better, but here we are.
Friday, December 1, 2017
12/1/17 Respecting Police Officers Goes A Long Way?
I am trying to give Netflix a rest and sticking with You Tube this week. I stumbled into the cop videos section and man, on the one hand, I can't get enough, on the other, how stupid are stupid people? Dammit, stupid people do not disappoint. There is this one video where two officers show up at a house, the lady is outside, one of them is being polite, asks her if so and so is home. She plays vague and dumb, "Oh, I don't know, I haven't seen him in a while." While this is going on, a dog starts barking like he is being taunted and revved up inside the house. The officer tells her he has a few warrants he is wanted for. At this, she seems to have gotten the note, eyes open wide she says "excuse me for a minute." I assume she is going to go get the troublemaker, but no. She opens the door, the dog shoots like from a cannon and makes it almost to the back up officer standing in the street in like two seconds. One of them is quick enough to pull his gun and shoot the fucking thing, it doesn't kill him but makes him think about his actions. The lady is screaming "YOU SHOT MY DOG!!!" over and over. What did she expect, the dog would just scare the cops away, problem for her solved? Cops have a way of always winning, obviously, you raised a shitty son in trouble with the law, who is surprised the dog is also a piece of shit?
People cry a lot about police brutality, but what is a cop supposed to do? They exist to make sure citizens are behaving and not getting too crazy. My belief is that once you choose to get in a high speed chase, you have forfeited your life. Maybe there is a 10% chance you escape, but there has to be an 80% chance you are going to hurt somebody. These animals don't care if regular people are hurt or not. I don't understand why officers are not more aggressive with these thugs? I would rather a police car get damaged than a random citizen get crashed into.
It seems that you can tell when someone needs to get shot. They are combative, they refuse to comply, they seem to be having trouble listening to basic commands about hands out in the open. This is the big one, if the hands don't come out, they are either really stupid or they are debating in their head whether to retaliate or be a wuss and no thug I ever met wants to be considered a wuss.
How about when officers actually make a mistake and try to apprehend the wrong guy? Saw a video, car gets home, two black dudes in the car, officers ask to talk to the one with short hair, he says with a little attitude "what did I do?" You are innocent, just answer the questions, get your ID out and don't be sassy. No, this kid has to do things the hard way. He retreats back into the car, his hands start fishing for stuff. I know it would be wrong for the cops to shoot you, but come on, act like a fucking human. Once three cops subdue the kid, they pull out his license and realize he is not Mike, he is indeed Patrick. He did say Patrick in the first few seconds, true but he didn't say it like it was his birth given name, he said it with a question mark. I would have assumed he was trying to be sneaky. Once he cooled down, with his mom in the car, having just arrived, he admits he kind of looks like the kid in the picture.
Personally, I haven't been stopped for anything by the cops since 1993 maybe, but I rolled my window down, looked at the officer in the face, apologized for swerving, this was back when I-35 was being expanded from 2 to 3 lanes outside of San Antonio. I didn't open a little gap and start with the smart ass shit and cussing. Wow, I cuss all the time, but I would not cuss at an officer, that just seems idiotic. Oh yeah, at my house, a couple years ago, whiners like to complain about the sidewalk being blocked by cars, I did not know this was illegal, I happen to go outside and there is an officer writing a ticket to my truck. I asked him what did I do, Officer? He says they got a complaint about my car blocking the sidewalk, he was going down the street ticketing anybody doing this. I apologized, told him this was the first time I had ever heard this was something I could get a ticket for. I then asked him for suggestions, he put his guard down told me it was better to park in the street, even if it isn't your house. I was telling him my neighbors don't like my cars parked in front of their houses, he said "they don't own the street, too bad for them." I am sure he hated having to go house to house doing this for some stupid stay at home mom who walks her baby making ass twice a day to keep her piece of shit husband interested. Because I was polite to the cop, he tore the ticket up and said he would just give me a warning. But if you go by YouTube, you may think every interaction with the cops ends with the citizen on the ground with 5-10 cops on top him, but no, that is just the stupid people of which I fully believe there are now more of them than there are smart people.
People cry a lot about police brutality, but what is a cop supposed to do? They exist to make sure citizens are behaving and not getting too crazy. My belief is that once you choose to get in a high speed chase, you have forfeited your life. Maybe there is a 10% chance you escape, but there has to be an 80% chance you are going to hurt somebody. These animals don't care if regular people are hurt or not. I don't understand why officers are not more aggressive with these thugs? I would rather a police car get damaged than a random citizen get crashed into.
It seems that you can tell when someone needs to get shot. They are combative, they refuse to comply, they seem to be having trouble listening to basic commands about hands out in the open. This is the big one, if the hands don't come out, they are either really stupid or they are debating in their head whether to retaliate or be a wuss and no thug I ever met wants to be considered a wuss.
How about when officers actually make a mistake and try to apprehend the wrong guy? Saw a video, car gets home, two black dudes in the car, officers ask to talk to the one with short hair, he says with a little attitude "what did I do?" You are innocent, just answer the questions, get your ID out and don't be sassy. No, this kid has to do things the hard way. He retreats back into the car, his hands start fishing for stuff. I know it would be wrong for the cops to shoot you, but come on, act like a fucking human. Once three cops subdue the kid, they pull out his license and realize he is not Mike, he is indeed Patrick. He did say Patrick in the first few seconds, true but he didn't say it like it was his birth given name, he said it with a question mark. I would have assumed he was trying to be sneaky. Once he cooled down, with his mom in the car, having just arrived, he admits he kind of looks like the kid in the picture.
Personally, I haven't been stopped for anything by the cops since 1993 maybe, but I rolled my window down, looked at the officer in the face, apologized for swerving, this was back when I-35 was being expanded from 2 to 3 lanes outside of San Antonio. I didn't open a little gap and start with the smart ass shit and cussing. Wow, I cuss all the time, but I would not cuss at an officer, that just seems idiotic. Oh yeah, at my house, a couple years ago, whiners like to complain about the sidewalk being blocked by cars, I did not know this was illegal, I happen to go outside and there is an officer writing a ticket to my truck. I asked him what did I do, Officer? He says they got a complaint about my car blocking the sidewalk, he was going down the street ticketing anybody doing this. I apologized, told him this was the first time I had ever heard this was something I could get a ticket for. I then asked him for suggestions, he put his guard down told me it was better to park in the street, even if it isn't your house. I was telling him my neighbors don't like my cars parked in front of their houses, he said "they don't own the street, too bad for them." I am sure he hated having to go house to house doing this for some stupid stay at home mom who walks her baby making ass twice a day to keep her piece of shit husband interested. Because I was polite to the cop, he tore the ticket up and said he would just give me a warning. But if you go by YouTube, you may think every interaction with the cops ends with the citizen on the ground with 5-10 cops on top him, but no, that is just the stupid people of which I fully believe there are now more of them than there are smart people.
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