12/5/22 Medical Shears?

     Just when I think we shouldn't need anything else from Amazon, a new thing pops up.  Mijo, now gets his ankle and knees wrapped more often than ever before, especially when he forgets his knee brace, even for practice.  Last night was maybe the third time he has asked for help to remove the tape and it is harder than one would think.  First off, the wrapping is extremely tight and well done.  It is almost like a cast in thickness, with all the rolls of tape going round and round.

    He has asked for help a couple times, to get out of his taped situation and it seems easy enough.  I grabbed the scissors in the kitchen, the ones we use to cut chickens and stuff, and they don't really want to cut tape.  I have several boxcutters all around, but they aren't perfect either.  The point of the scissors had him yelling at me that I was cutting into him and the exposed blade of the boxcutters just makes me feel like I will eventually hurt my own boy.  I figured the best solution would be to go to the internet and find the best cutters so far,

    I settled on a pair of Leatherman Shears, which I have had a couple of knives from Leatherman, so I know the quality is there.  Still, I looked at several videos before placing my order last night and I think I chose correctly.  These shears are maybe thicker than the normal cheap varieties, but if they are going to be mine, I really prefer to own good quality tools.  I also ordered a Shark tape cutter, which has an opening with a blade on the inside and this is just pushed forward through the tape for it to do its job.  I don't know if this is just a gimmick or an actual tool, but I figured I would try it for the $20 it costs.

    The Leatherman is closer to $90, but I plan to carry it in the car, it is a multi-tool with a seatbelt cutting blade, along with many other little life saving features.  The thought of cutting Mijo's leg worried me too much as I ended up using the boxcutter last night to get through all the tape he had wrapped around his ankle to care about the cost, in the moment.  I am still not 100% sure why all these medical shears have that weird 45-degree angle in the blade, but it must be important, because too many scissors exist with this look to them.  If I can use them and not worry about cutting Mijo, consider me a fan.

12/4/22 Texting Mijo In Korea?

     I thought about texting Mijo in Korea yesterday during the day.  I figured his time is add 3 hours to ours and then change the AM to PM or vice versa.  So yesterday, when it was 2:00pm here, it was 5am over there.  I thought this around 2-3pm, but figured he was just getting up.  I then waited and the day got away from me.  Then, he texted me around 1:00am, so it was probably 4:00pm for him.  He said the tool that he was there to help with had worked perfectly out of the box, so he was just standing around just in case.  This is probably the best scenario an installer of a new tool can hope for, so they don't have to do anything special, just be there for emotional support.

    He has plans to go to the world's largest mall, according to him.  He said it has ten floors, which sounds amazing, plus all the big names in watches have their own boutique shops, or the knock-off market brands are so strong, they are passing themselves off, I don't know.  I honestly have no idea how regulated the market is over there, but I would be afraid to buy something I thought was of high value, like a Rolex, only to find it is a cheap knock-off later.

He also mentioned his translator was asleep, since around 1:00pm, and it was coming up on 6:00pm, he needed to wake up, but he didn't want to bother him.  I asked about in general, how were the people behaving towards him, compared to the Japanese?  He said they were just as polite as the Japanese, there is a lot of bowing going on over there, as a show of respect, I guess.  From the pictures, it looks like people have a lot of pride in their communities, as everything looks so clean.

    We texted on and off for about two hours, until I started feeling sleepy, and told him I was going to sleep.  I don't know if his trip will be cut short, the tool seemed to work well right out of the box, so I don't know why he would stick around for 3 weeks, if he isn't needed for anything, but maybe that is part of the fun.  I asked about his hotel, and he said it was smaller than the one in Japan, this one was just a regular Best Western.  He sent me the internet website for the hotel and pics looked like a postcard perfect place, they always do.  Ultimately, I am hoping these are all good experiences for Mijo who always seemed like he would grow up into this guy, the traveler type who can show up and fix things.

12/3/22 Georgetown Throwdown?

     This weekend was the Georgetown Throwdown, and it went well, for the experienced kids anyway.  Part of it was done on Friday, for the JV Boys and Girls teams, then Saturday was for the boys' varsity team.  I was kind of glad we only have Mijo to worry about and not have to be there both days.  

    We had to go to bed early on Friday night, with Mijo having to be at school by 6:00am, we tried to get as much sleep as possible.  I have been feeling a bit sick, so Wife got up in the morning to drop him off.  I was then woken by Wife around 7:30am to get up and get ready to drive up there.  We got going right before 9:00am, which it was supposed to be the start time, but Mijo called within that time frame, and they had already dealt with the first school, he did not have a wrestler to challenge at heavyweights, so he was given a forfeit win.  This is common and people can get lucky and go meets like this where they don't even fight.  Being that it was done Meet style (the team sits all 15 wrestlers, one for each weight category and they all fight for team points) and not bracket style, Mijo and his buddy shared the job of covering for heavyweight (the biggest guy who will weigh between 215 and 285).  His buddy, I'll call him Scorpion because he looks like one when he fights, stretched out on the ground, menacing and in control has gotten almost as good as Mijo.  Mijo won the first match by forfeit, we got there in time to watch the second, but Scorpion fought in his place, and he won the match, easily enough.  The next one was supposed to be for Mijo, the Weiss kid, but Scorpion saw that he was new and inexperienced, so he wanted him.  He took him out in less than a minute.  Mijo then fought a kid from Eastview, and he took that kid out in less than 50 seconds.

    Other than heavyweights, we are dealing with a very new team, so there were not many wins in the other weight classes.  His sparring partner who fought 220 last year is still trying to get down to weight, which is now below 215.  He is very good and has won the JV category for him the last two meets, but he needs to lose about 8 pounds to get back to Varsity.  There is also a 150-pound kid who has also been winning first in JV, he just transferred from Akins, so he will be a good Varsity kid.  Then there is the friend who is having trouble with his living conditions, he fights well, but his family is across town, and finds it hard to focus on the team, but fights like hell when he shows up.

    Of all the new kids, there is a freshman, Mijo's best friend's little brother who has that right dog in him, you can tell he is going to get a lot better and dominate, once he learns some moves.  The girls also had about 5-6 of them place in the top three, including Mijo's GF, who came in third in her weight class.  As a team, the girls placed 5th, out of 11-12 schools, which is starting to look pretty impressive, the top is just dominated by the richer hill country schools.

12/2/22 Another Pit Stop?

     Wife is going to a conference this week in Frisco, Texas.  It is close to Dallas and since she wants to take the Escape, she wanted me to take it in and get the oil changed, and while we did that, also get the inspection done.  I know I had done that a few months ago, but I guess I never put the new sticker on and now I couldn't find it anywhere.  I decided the easiest thing rather than spend my time looking for something that might have gotten thrown away was to go and get a new one.  The third thing she wanted done was to replace the signal light on the left side, earlier just this week, she said she hit a gallon jug or something similar on the highway and it was just hard enough to knock the lightbulb out but not actually break the light socket.

    I took it to Maxwell Ford; it is the closest dealership to our house, and I generally like walking around and looking at the new cars.  I got there around 9:00am, after dropping off Mijo at school and was attended to rather quickly.  After handing the keys and instructions over, I went into the waiting room, and had a cup of coffee.  I have been a bit under the weather, so I hesitated to go out and walk in the drizzle and shitty weather, but eventually I got bored and did.  I love the idea of a new car, but I think with the supply shortages, or whatever excuses they are using, vehicles are just a bit more expensive than they should be.  Still, while walking the salesmen were all coming out in full force, like annoying mosquitos.  I started out nice with "I'm just getting an oil change, I'm good." But by the time the fifth guy came at me and even after telling him I was just waiting for my oil change and I liked my car, it was paid off, and he still was pushing with "well if you want to know what your car is worth..." I finally turned a tad rude, pointed my finger at the building and said flatly "go inside."

    It probably took two hours, but it did only cost me $110 for all three things.  The last time I went to Jiffy Lube for an oil change on the Kia Telluride, it was $145, so this felt like a bargain.  Afterwards, I still needed to go get the sticker after the inspection was done, which makes no sense, they should just have the stickers there, but I went to HEB, they said it had been too many months, so I had to go to the actual office over in East Austin, by our old house.  Man, the homeless population has exploded over there, in the greenbelt areas, where I don't think they can build new housing because it can flood, there were so many trashed out RVs and tents.  

    I finally got my sticker, got home, decided to just install it before I forgot again, and took a picture to show Wife she could get off my butt about getting it done.

12/1/22 Beats Headphones?

     I got a new pair of headphones for my phone, mostly to use at work.  I have several pairs of headphones and I consider all of them specific and important for what they are.  I have another pair similar to these, they are Bose and very good, but I notice the left one does not hold charge for very long anymore.  I might get 30 minutes, then it is indicating that it needs to be charged.  I also have a huge pair that go over the ears, these are the best as far as blocking out sound from the outside and comfort, plus they don't dig into my ears, like these buds do, but they are also heavy and tend to slide down my head if I lean forward too much.  I then have several wired versions, some with the fancy new connection for my phone, and some with the old fashion connector to connect to any old device.

    These new Beats in-ear headphones are nice.  I chose red, but I could have chosen blue or a couple other colors.  They seem to hold charge longer than the three hours my old Bose in-ear headphones used to, but I haven't had to test the length yet.  I mostly use them at work when I am alone in the lab without a computer, just to play some music or even the Adam Carolla podcasts which I haven't been listening to for a long time but are always good when I go back to them.  The one drawback I have noticed is that they are so small, I keep getting my coworkers coming into the room and talking to me in great detail and then I finally notice and make them repeat themselves, because they are so small, they don't notice I am listening to something entirely different and shut off in my own world.  I did like that I went all week without having to charge the case they come in, that held enough charge for my four-day week.  Whenever they get low on charge, they will beep and indicate I am down to 10% charge, then we are supposed to put them in the carry case where they automatically charge.

    I bought this last week when Mijo told us he needed new headphones for his gaming needs, and we just happened to go to Best Buy.  I probably didn't need these, but why not?  I don't really spend a lot of money on myself, this is one of those things that actually helps me, sometimes work is just too boring, listening to music or talk podcasts helps pass the time.

11/30/22 First Wrestling District Dual/Tri?

     It was a nerve-wracking day for sure, this past Wednesday.  Mijo was going to wrestle, possibly, for the first time this season.  He stayed out of the first tournament to let his ankle rest a bit more, it was a week right after the playoff football game, so it was good that he rested his body, plus going into Thanksgiving week just added more rest time.  It was kind of up to the competition, if they had heavyweights, and by some luck, they had two.

    A dual is a wrestling meet against another school and a tri is between three schools.  I am not sure whether to call it a tri since Travis showed up with about three boy wrestlers, not much different than last year.  McCallum had most of a team for both the boys and girls, so the competition was still good.  The night was also labeled the Senior/Parent's/Teacher's/Alumni Meet, and it was a packed auditorium.  The kids were told to invite a teacher, so there were plenty of teachers around, a lot of them seeing the sport for the first time.  We were actually sitting with some of the parent's we have befriended the past year and explaining what was going on along the way.

    One mom could not get herself to look at her daughter fighting and turned away and cried in what looked like a panic attack.  The daughter did fine for a new fighter, she lost to a more experienced girl, but she showed good balance and attacked with confidence.  The other parents were of my son's friend who is in band and after seeing the bigger boys said, "no way, our son is staying in band."  He had been going back and forth that he wanted to join the wrestling team, but then couldn't make time with all his band activities.

    I would say we won the majority of the fights between the different weight classes, though there is no clear 1st place 2nd place thing with these duals.  Mijo, for the record, had a great fight.  He came out strong, dominated the other kid and did not give him a chance to do anything offensively.  The match lasted roughly a minute, 20 seconds we waited for the ref to count the pin as a pin.  Mijo was on top of the kid so long, he turned and looked at us for a split second.

    I needed to see him moving about with some real competition to see that he still has the same intensity and drive he had last year.  My fear was that he was going to come out gingerly on his leg, afraid to hurt himself, but I did not notice any of that, he was a beast.

11/29/22 Too Busy For Death?

     I know the title is obnoxious and even a bit insensitive, but in the moment, I feel that right now is the worst time to have outlier events to make us break our stride.  A couple days ago, someone in our family chat put a notice that one of my best friends from when I was young passed away.  I immediately assumed it was a heart attack, he was always a bit bigger than me, and it kind of prompted me to start cutting out all the sweets I have been eating lately, which I had been telling myself to stop doing.  It turns out, he was in a trucking accident, or that is what my mom told me had happened, he was a truck driver for quite a long time, I think he was out on the routes with my dad like a decade ago, when dad was still driving.

    My family lives in a bubble where everything is still basically the same as if it was still the 80's.  My brother moved next door to the left and my sister brought the land behind my mom's house and built a house there.  They still interact with their friends from school, their kids hang out, that kind of tight knit community.  I am not saying that is better or worse, but I moved away in 1991.  We are going on 34 years where I saw the friend that passed away once, maybe twice.  I am sorry he passed away, but I don't feel obliged to go to his funeral, not that I we have time.

    I kind of have to throw my dad in there, he got sick this week, and my mom let us all know.  I feel guilty as hell, but I can't just stop and go.  We are in the meat of the wrestling season, these next three weekends will be dominated by tournaments, and we are stopping only because the Christmas holidays are in the way.  There was a dual Wednesday night, which was Mijo's first match, and all went well.  I don't want him missing tournaments after losing most of his football season to the two injuries on his knee then ankle.  He is finally feeling near 100%, so he needs to get in there and do what he does best.  It bothered him that the district honors came out and he barely acknowledged as an Honorable Mention, after making 2nd Team All District the last two years, it seems like a step back.  I thought it was great to still get noticed even if he only played 3.5 games.

    With this in mind, it sounds like a dick move, but I keep telling dad he needs to keep it together until we get past the wrestling season, he needs to be healthier.  It doesn't help that Wife goes on a conference trip next week.  These are supposed to be the great moments of Mijo's high school days, but man, it is hard to focus on everything going on all at once.