7/13/22 Getting Smarter Or Becoming More Of A Wimp?

     I have been watching videos by ASP (Active Self Protection) for a few years and the host John Correia is great at giving tips to avoid escalation of situations where it isn't worth escalating and thus, reducing the risk of confrontation out in the world.  He has videos very day of normal people doing stupid things, and usually as he says, it comes down to a battle of egos.  In this day and age where anyone could be carrying a gun or other weapon is it worth getting in someone's face over them passing you in traffic, or cutting in line, or doing so many other selfish moves?

    I have then seen other videos, mostly of the MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) where they point out that many times it is the woman in the relationship that gets the man in trouble.  This stabbing in the bodega that just happened this past weekend was because the woman didn't get her potato chips, so she goes and gets the idiot boyfriend, who starts a fight for no real reason, like "Fucker, get some money."  There are other incidents like this all over the place.

    I would like to think that as I get older, I am getting smarter, not that I was ever one to fight.  I have actually done the opposite, I am not a fighter, call me a pussy, I don't care.  I have though been aggressive on the road and have done my share of stupid things. such as pass and then gone to prove my point when other people pass me, and I didn't like the way they did it.  I am trying to be better, but I guess Wife doesn't see it that way.  Recently, during Boy's graduation, we were in some pretty thick traffic, and the road we were on collapsed down to one lane.  This is one of those situations we can't help and must just be patient.  Some assholes decided they would cut by driving in the middle turning lane, get in front of a bunch of people and then merge in.  One of these majestic beings did this crap in front of our car, and instead of risking him hitting our car, I let him in.

    This set off Wife and she started a little with the "you're going to let him do that?"  "Wow, I thought you were a better driver than that, just letting people cut in front of you..."  I asked her "what do you want me to do, we're all going the same way, he already got in front of us, it's not like he will apologize and go back behind us."  Sometimes you just have to let it go, sometimes the ego is not worth wasting on idiots.

    Women can get away with being aggressive idiots because society gives them a pass.  A woman can throw a fit and hit a man, and it might cause a laugh, but flip that story around and most of the time, the man will end up being charged with assault.  We mustn't let these women with their short fuses get us in trouble.

7/12/22 Another Printer Bites The Dust?

     Printers are not necessarily expensive, but it still bothers me every time we have to replace one.  The last time I cleaned out the bedroom downstairs, I pulled out three from the closet, which does not include this latest one just added to the scrap heap.  It isn't that it wasn't working, it kind of was.  The problem was that it never seemed to work right, it was supposed to communicate via wifi, but the laptop could never really do it.  For a time, my phone was connected to it and it could send stuff, like pictures to print.  I found that the easiest way to print on the laptop was to use a cord and connect the printer to the laptop, which seemed very 90s to me.

    This morning, Girlie sent me a form to print for her, but when I went to print, the printer was out of ink.  At this point, with no backups that I could find in the pantry (this is where the printer lives), I had a decision to make.  Buy a new set of printer ink, color and black and hope the old printer keeps working, or opt for a new printer, and set things to right, by being able to set it up properly this time.

    I headed to Best Buy at Southpark Meadows and was surprised that it was closed, as in the big metal gates were down, and this was maybe around 9:30am.  I just looked online, and they don't open until 11:00am, which seems like ridiculous hours to open, but after Covid, stuff has been screwy everywhere.  They also close at 700pm, thus my thinking that they had gone out of business at this location.  I had to go to plan B and that was head on over to Target and buy my printer there.

    I could not tell the difference between the printers while at the store and although the one I chose seems fine, I don't like that the paper feeds from the top, barely allowing it to fit where I have had it the last few years.  The last one just kept the new paper inside of it, just below where the printed work comes out.  At this point, I think I do like the new printer, I had one the cost $189, but as I walked to the check-out, I got a nagging feeling that Wife would nag at me, so I went back and chose a more sensible one for $124.99 with a $10 Target gift card, so essentially it was only $114.99.  I still bought two sets of color and black ink, so the total was still over $200.  All I can hope for now is that these printers are as good as they seem.

7/11/22 California Pizza Kitchen?

     After getting back from vacation, Wife was talking with Boy, and he suggested we get together for lunch on Saturday.  This works for us since we aren't doing much and as far as I understand his girlfriend has to work the weekends, so he is free to hang out with us for a few hours.  We met at The Domain and this time I wanted something a little simpler than his fancy steakhouse, and I suggested California Pizza Kitchen.  We met at the Domain around 12:30pm, went to Ben Bridge to drop off one of his watches to get a new battery in it.  It is the watch we gave him for his high school graduation, I was so new to the hobby of watches that I didn't even know this was a battery-operated watch.

    After looking at some other watches, I am almost done paying for the last one I got and so I might get another one soon enough, we left and went to go eat.  The meal was good, we were sat on a large table, so we had plenty of space, and it was nice catching up with our other boy.  His conversations are different in that he is still trying to find a better paying job and is constantly applying and trying to get interviews.  He had a good interview with a promising company, so we will see how that goes in time.  He then also told us how it is going at his current job and what he and his girlfriend have been up to.

    We left after a couple hours, and we were going to head home, but since we were up north, we came down MOPAC and stopped at a couple of other jewelry stores to look at other watches.  I find myself comparing everything to an Omega I hadn't paid attention to before, but Wife said the orange on the bezel contrasted with the white dial made it look like a Longhorn watch and I can't unsee that.  I think this is the watch I am going to want to get next.  I had thought I wanted a Panerai next, but they have gotten some bad PR in the news about not using their own in-house movements, and that makes me nervous that I might buy some fake or something.  For the amount of money these watches cost, we should be getting what we assume is inside, not some cheaper knockoff.

    Either way, it was fun to get out of the house and do the day a little differently for a change.  We then came home, and I went back to my routine and took a nap.  It was a fine weekend and I think overall my week off was just what I needed.

7/10/22 This Heat?

     I thought once the hundred-degree days broke a week ago, we might settle into some hot but not deadly heat for the rest of the summer.  Now that I look at the weeklong forecast, it seems that the heat isn't going anywhere anytime soon, but up.  According to the forecast on my phone, it is supposed to reach 105 multiple times this week and more than likely stay above 100 for a high all week.  This heat isn't good for anyone, except maybe the cacti.

    Yesterday was Sunday (wrote this a day late), and we usually grill some meat on Sundays when we are home.  Being that we had been on vacation the weekend before, I was looking forward to eating some beef burned on the grill.  The problem was going outside to do the deed.  First off, I had to go to the store in the morning.  We have gotten used to the routine of me going on Sunday mornings, before it gets too late.  Because we stayed up until 3:00am, binge watching Stranger Things, we didn't get to sleep until real late, then I didn't want to get up like normal at 7:00am.  I didn't go to the store until almost 11:00am and by then it was too late.  Not only because it gets hotter as the day progresses, but there are more and more people too.  At one point, I had to just go past the aisle with bread, wait a couple minutes for the crowd to die down, then go back in to be able to get the right bread, the aisles were so crowded.

    Back at home, we have the grill on the patio in the back, so there is some kind of shade, but even going out just to turn it on, love my pellet grill, and then waiting inside for it to heat up was a lot.  I then very quickly went out and put the jalapeno bombers to start cooking first, followed by the chicken thighs, then the steak and fajitas, followed lastly by the sausage and then of course, the tortillas.  Every time I went out, it took a couple minutes sitting in front of a fan to cool off.  Wife went out to handle the tortillas, and she didn't like it much either.  We used to hang out, jump in the pool, and do outside stuff before, I don't know if it is because it is hotter, we are older, or we just got lamer.

    Either way, I really want this summer to just be done.  I hate that Mijo has to be doing his summer football stuff in this weather, but I guess it is good that they do it early in the day and are out of the sun before noon.  I think it would be a lot worse in the afternoon when the sun has had enough time to set everything ablaze.  This summer just kind of sucks.

7/9/22 Top Gun: Maverick?

     Top Gun: Maverick was as close as you get to a pure 80's adrenaline movie as you can get in today's woke society and still be good.  The movie picks up with Maverick still doing his thing, out in some desert test flying the latest and greatest jets for the military.  We are quickly filled in that with his length of time, he should already be a general or a senator, but because he doesn't follow the rules, all he can do is be a fighter pilot, in a world where we are quickly moving to relying on drones to do the dirty work.  The company he is working with is about to be shut down because the asshole in charge is obsessed with drones and has given them an unreasonable timeline to reach Mach10, Maverick being the guy that he is, wills it out of his jet, and then some.  He doesn't do it for himself, but for the good of others, that is always his MO.  He is always doing heroic things for the good of his team, and somehow the powers that be never appreciate it.

    He ends up in trouble, but we learn that Iceman has been saving his ass for the last 30 years, Val Kilmer has a touching scene, it made the movie that much better.  He then finds himself on the old set of the original Top Gun with the best of the best woke edition.  There is of course, a hot shot female pilot, who needs to be at the center of attention in all the scenes, pretty girl, but I just can't buy the reality, although looking through Google, there have been a handful.  There were also of course a lot more minorities, blacks and Hispanics, flying around and shooting the shit with the best of them.  They did not force the wokeness on us, in the end, I gave that part of the film a pass.

    The action and the jets were everything, there was a mission defined and only the older jets, Maverick's specialty could get the job done, plenty of training montages, then the actual operation, everything we want in a summer blockbuster.  There is another level to the movie, as Goose's son, Rooster, is now a Top Gun recruit, even if the kid was about 5 in the original and this is set 30 years later, that means the kid would be 35, starting to get a little old, but then again, Tom Cruise has to be in his 60's.  The energy of the Top Gun pilots hits more around 25, all testosterone and bravado.  Then again, this is what you want in your "best of the best", I don't want some cowardly nice types in this group.  Rooster and Maverick have to square away some tension which adds to the movie's weird vibe and energy of "will they, won't they?" get along.  I'm not giving away any of the ending, but the movie was what you would want to see on a 4th of July weekend.

7/8/22 Getting Back To Normal?

     Getting back to normal has maybe taken a couple of days.  We got back around 3:00pm on Wednesday and I promptly jumped in bed and took an hour nap, as soon as everything was inside the house.  Wife did some cleaning and started a load in the washer while I napped.  Mijo was a champ and grabbed all the dead palm leaves that had been piling up in the backyard and put them on the curb, we had the twice a year brush pick-up this week and all the yards with brush piles still had them, so we didn't miss it.  

    While we were up there, Girlie asked when we were getting back, she is fixing to end her apartment lease in a week and is then going to Indiana for a semester internship, so she will be staying with us for a few weeks until she leaves.  She wanted to bring a couple of bins over, with her clothes.  She said it was 4-5 bins, which sounded like nothing, and being that Mijo had two friends come over, I took them over as my muscle and made short work of the labor.  It was a little deceiving, it was 4 giant bins, which all seemed to weigh like 80 pounds apiece, followed by another 4-5 bins a little smaller but filled with books and other things that also had a lot of weight and finally another 4-5 small bins she had filled with kitchen supplies.  I could not imagine her or her ditzy friends/cousins carrying any of these big bins, she's lucky she knows us.  Mijo enjoys doing it, if for anything to just show off his strength.  Plus, we told them we would take them to eat afterwards.

    I am always surprised when his friends say they haven't eaten at a place we go to regularly, this time Cheddar's.  We took Girlie along with us, by the time we got out of the restaurant, it was already dark, and when we got home, she promptly left, she is not on vacation like we are.

    Mijo's friends spent the night, Wife had been talking about going to Houston, just for fun on Thursday, but I was still kind of dragging ass, and she didn't want to drive, and it's not like I was going to get a new watch, even if I did drive, so there wasn't much motivation.  Instead, we went to the movies on Thursday afternoon and saw Top Gun.  As I have said many times, Mijo did not like the first one, he hated that Maverick got Goose killed by being a knucklehead who didn't listen, amongst many other story problems.  I will get into Top Gun on the next blog, it was pretty awesome.  As much as I hate going to the movies early, it was nice to get home early enough to nap and then still have some leftover day to do whatever.  We napped from 6:00pm to 7:30pm then made some frozen pizzas and watched an episode of Stranger Things and a silly rom com movie to fill out the night.

7/7/22 Ending Our Vacation?

     We ended our vacation Wednesday, checking out before 11:00am and getting on the road.  This is always a hard part of going somewhere.  We carefully pack everything before we go, if we are staying more than 2-3 days, we even unpack and use the furniture provided, so we had our clothes in the dresser.  Wife likes to pack the night before, but I hate this, it makes it feel like the vacation ends that night.  I chose to pack my bag in the morning, after getting up with plenty of time to shower and get going.  Knowing checkout was at 11:00am, I believe I set my alarm for 8:30am.  Of course, how things work in the real world, I like getting up early when I have no reason for it.  The minute I "have to get up early", my body refuses to feel like doing it, and I inadvertently slept until 9:15am.

    This was still okay, but it left no time to play dumb.  I quickly showered, luckily, Mijo had already gotten up and showered.  Wife then followed and while she showered, I gathered my things and then took a first load to the car, the big bags that had been loaded, along with the fishing rods and other bulky stuff.  This was followed by a second trip with Mijo's things, pillows and the food in the cooler.  Finally, when Wife was ready, all we had was the food in those cheap HEB bags and to give the unit a walk through to make sure we didn't forget something.  We managed to get out at 10:50am, Wife sent a text that we were out and promptly were sent back a "Thank you for checking out." message.

    I should have gotten gas the night before, we were down to about 100 miles worth of gas, but leaving Corpus Christi is a little tricky, there are no big gas stations on the way out.  I hate getting off the freeway there where the mall is at, with so much traffic and the gas stations are all a little small.  I got caught up passing people and before I knew it, we were near George West, about 60 miles away, the car was down to 40-50 miles of gas, and so I pulled in to fill up at a Flying J.  It was so packed I had to wait for a pump, which I hate, but eventually we got in and out.  Pulling in is weird, if I feel good, I feel like I should just keep driving, once I stop and we get some food, I will eat then of course get a little drowsy.

    I kept fighting the drowsiness and I was about ready to pull over and let Wife drive, but she was being a pill too and not really wanting to drive.  She tricked me by putting in the Hamilton soundtrack which always makes us turn it up and get all emotional, which worked to get me in a different mindset and allowed us to get home.