6/29/22 Was Just Wondering About Covid?

     It seems we finally got past all the shenanigans associated with having to protect ourselves with techniques that aren't great from the ever-present Covid and its associates.  I was just wondering what the mouthpiece of disease, Fauci has to say nowadays, only to find that he is being kept kind of quiet right now as he himself battles with Covid.  I don't wish him ill, or anyone for that matter, but how can he still say that being vaccinated and double boostered is the best course, and then people are still getting sick, even worse than the first time around.

    He is not the only one battling it right now, apparently, my coworker's wife was sick with it recently for the second time and this time she did feel ill and required my coworker to leave work and go out to "save her" (she was out of state, and he flew to her to drive her back home).  I thought it interesting that like Fauci, she too is double vaccinated and has double boosters, and the second time she gets infected, her symptoms are much worse.  My question is "does having all the extra boosters and vaccines make your body lose its edge and just not fight the virus as aggressively as it could?"  It is almost impossible to figure out if not having been vaccinated would lead to milder symptoms somehow, or if indeed as Fauci said "he might not be around if he wasn't boostered and everything else.  He benefits from saying and thinking that way, since he is still one of the few espousing to get vaccinated.

    I was thinking about this because masks are an absolute rarity nowadays, I think I saw an old lady wearing one going into a restaurant, oh and a couple of knuckleheads had them around their necks walking out of HEB when I went to get groceries.  Either commit to the masks completely and totally, or don't bother, Baby A was really good about always having one with him, but he was constantly taking it off and putting it on, so was he really protecting himself?

    I don't know, maybe Fauci is right, but I still feel that the best course is for all of us to just get exposed and live with it like we do the flu.  When it gets bad, influenza is still a top ten killer though, but that is mostly when it goes after the older population.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I recently did start taking a vitamin pill to increase my Calcium, Vitamin D, Manganese and zinc which I do believe have helped based on studies from other doctors I have seen online.

6/28/22 A Little June Rain?

     We finally got a little break from the constant +100-degree days we have been seeing lately.  This summer has been really over the top with its heat.  Normally, we don't start seeing repetitive 100-degree days until late July and into August, maybe the first few weeks of September.  Last week, I noticed that there were actually rain chances, which I was sure would disappear by the time Monday rolled around.  We were going through our normal Monday routine, I dropped off Mijo at weight training in the morning, then when I picked him up, he told me he would have to go to the 7v7 football scrimmage in the afternoon.  We have been going on Tuesdays, so it caught me off guard.  Still, I went to work figuring I would do as much as I could, take him and then if I needed to, I would come back after he was done.  Right as I was getting done with everything, I had started at 1:00pm, (I told him he would have to miss wrestling practice, I can't just be going back and forth all day with him, I do have a job) and was walking out the door, I got a notice on our sports ap that we communicate with the coaches with, that the 7v7 was cancelled for the day.  Since I was inside a building and had walked in at 1:00pm with the sun shining, I had not processed that actual rain was on its way.  I was kind of bothered that the event had been cancelled since I had been focused on work and rushing to finish on time to go and take my son.

    I then had the choice, I was still at work, but I had cleaned up and put everything away.  For a few minutes, I told myself, and even Wife that I was going to stay and do some extra work to get ahead for today, but there wasn't much I could start on without getting all the way committed and staying extra-long, so I said forget it and headed home.  It was dark and I was sure I wouldn't make it home without getting drenched, but I guess it held out.  I was already starting to think this was another BS fat cloud with no actual rain.  Wife got home, then we went to go eat at Busch's Chicken.  The rain pretty much caught us while we were eating.  We had to run in from the rain and then it rained hard while we sat and ate.  It was a pretty good treat to see the rain through the glass windows all around, like we were in some reverse aquarium.  We did not finish in a hurry, and just waited until the rain slowed down enough.

    We got home before 8:00pm and I don't know what happened to time, I guess I napped because I woke at 9:30 and was confused because I felt like I had slept for a long time, yet Wife was still awake and watching TV.  I then woke and was on my phone watching Tiktoks until 11:30pm, when I decided to come downstairs and play around on the laptop.  We are supposed to have on and off rain for the next couple days, it sounds nice.

6/27/22 Conservatives Should Have Taken The L On This One?

     I have been identifying as a new conservative since about 2017, once Trump helped me see the light.  Whether you can agree with that sentiment or not, we all have a right to our opinions and beliefs.  I am dumbfounded by this latest redress by the Supreme Court in regard to Roe V. Wade, which I don't think was being actively sought by anyone in particular.  Maybe there was a new pending case I wasn't aware of, there is so much going on with the other branches of government, it is hard to try and keep up with everything sometimes.

    My question is "Why now?"  Did we need more fuel to this fire that is our society?  It hasn't been able to relax and just stay home for a weekend without someone having to be out protesting/rioting, on behalf of some group since around 2016.  Between BLM, Covid, the war in Ukraine, food shortages, LGBTQ and whatever other alphabet letters have been added since last I looked, we are being goaded to keep up this charade of caring by proving in destroying downtown property.

    Best case scenario, conservatives put a stop to abortions, now what?  Now we got a whole new generation of unwanted babies, and that is a sad reality.  A handful will be adopted by the perfect parents and sure, those will get a great shot at life, but for the most, life will suck and then they will repeat the process, making bad choices into oblivion.  There have been studies that Roe V. Wade was the single best deterrent in reducing crime that was so rampant in the late 70s and growing into the 90s.  Studies show that abortions doubled after the decision and then twenty years later, when those individuals would have been reaching their trouble years, their 20s, crime started coming down, statistics show crime coming down in the late 90s and continuing.  If this is so, then we are going to see even more crime in the next 20 years, thanks very much to the actions taken today, by a conservative court, no less.

    Wife was upset with me as I made flippant comments about the decision and not showing anger, such as "when are you cutting your hair short? or What color are you gonna go with in your hair, purple?"  My opinion is that going out and protesting does nothing but piss off people who don't have time for that kind of shit, I don't want idiots blocking my path or displaying angry attitudes towards other law-abiding citizens, that will make me double down and hate you even more, so it doesn't gain you allies.

    We are truly going into some hard times, I can only hope we are strong enough to survive this, but I'm afraid something will have to give.  It is too much shit being foisted on the common person for there not to be an ultimate impact.  Good or bad, these people at the top apparently keep pushing and imposing their will on the hard-working people until we get where they think they want to go.  I really feel abortions are an ugly reality that needs to exist, if it is solely a pressure valve that allows some the ability to keep going, it shouldn't be taken away.

6/26/22 Non-Relaxing Relaxing Saturday?

     It seems like we finally got past all the graduations and celebrations galore from 2022.  Overall, it was fine, shoot, one of the graduates was one of mine, so I definitely shouldn't mind, it still seemed like non-stop weekend after weekend of going and doing something requiring various levels of dressing up.  I just want to sit around in my shorts (better yet, underwear) and not have to interact too much.

    On Friday night my sister did actually show up, but it was late, after 10:00pm.  Since we had been out at the football camp and the sun totally killed us, we did not stay up to chit chat.  I got up, Mijo ran down and opened the door for them, and we were all asleep by probably 11:00pm, or that was my interpretation of the night.  I was up Saturday early (I almost always am) and sat in the kitchen like I like to do.  Eventually they came down, talked with me for a bit, but they were in a hurry to go to Academy to pick up baseball socks or something and then to pick up their older one from the weeklong camp he went to.

    Wife got up, close to noon, Mijo then got up and before we knew it, he was getting ready to go to an arcade.  We thought it was going to be the one in Buda, which Boy would go to occasionally, but it was one on Riverside, close to downtown.  He didn't give us a time, simply saying I will call you later.  Wife gave him some money, and we left.

    It was nice at first, Wife and I went to eat lunch at Mandola's, then we went home to wait for his call.  This turned into a long wait.  I was sure that as soon as I tried falling asleep, he would be calling, but the hours stretched out.  This caused some stress, normally this boy does not do activities that don't require a gym for too long.  I ended up napping, then we were woken to images of protestors downtown from my sister.  She was worried about us, then we were worried about Mijo being so close to downtown, he was on this side of the river, not on the downtown side.  I texted him, he seemed oblivious to the outside world, so I chose not to worry him.

    We didn't pick him up until almost 7:00pm, then we went to eat dinner at Red Robin, burgers all around.  After this, I was done.  We went home and that was pretty much the night.  I think Mijo was tired after being out all day after having done the football camp Friday.  We were in our respective rooms early and asleep before midnight.

6/25/22 Another Football Camp In The Texas Heat?

     Oh my goodness, to be a teenager, is all I can say.  Not enough credit is given to these young gentlemen and what they go through for the love of their sport.  Yesterday, we were at another football camp for Baby A, this one at Texas Lutheran University, TLU.  As one might have guessed, not all colleges can afford a "bubble" like UT has, to practice out of the sun.  I guess the idea of having these camps early in the day is also a strange concept because this camp started at 4:00pm, and the sun couldn't have been much stronger than it was.  It has been a consistent 106 the last few days, and I see no reason why it wasn't that hot yesterday.

    We got there maybe a little too early, but after getting caught in a 45-minute traffic jam while running errands in the morning, Wife wanted to leave extra early, just in case.  It is nice that Wife was off on Friday (she is working 4 10-hour days per week, while it is summertime), she got to go with us and cook in the sun.  Turns out TLU is only about 45 minutes from the house, so leaving at 1:20pm had us there almost at 2:00pm.  We sat in the car, luckily, we found a shady spot under some trees to park since we were some of the first to arrive.  We sat in the car for 15 minutes, maybe, until it looked like more and more kids were arriving, then we went into the building the kids were going in, to register, and get his cool school souvenir workout shirt.  We were then told it would start around 4:00pm, the notice of the camp starting at 3:30pm is to give time to come in and sign up and register and all that.  We went back and sat in the AC of the car for another 15 minutes.

    Eventually though, we had nothing to do but go sit on the grill that was those bleachers, I know what a brisket feels like in that slow smoke when it goes in the grill now.  We did have a couple of big umbrellas, and they do really help, but it still sucks, no matter how you cut it.  The boys finally got going at 4:00pm and everything went fine.  We were not allowed on the field, like at UT, where I was within ear shot of Mijo and able to capture plenty of video.  We stayed sitting in the stands, watching from afar.  Mijo said he preferred this camp, it felt like he got more "training" from the coaches.  All these camps say none contact, but the lineman drills, by design, have to have contact.  He went head-to-head as a defensive guy, which is new to him, he has been playing offensive lineman most of his playing time, but it was suggested he play nose guard (defensive lineman) because of his height (Mijo is short for a lineman, in college, offensive linemen are generally over 6ft 3in).  Still, few are going to be stronger than him lower body strength wise, so he can still contribute positively on the field.

    While all these "warriors" were fighting it out on the field and going hard, I was about having a heat stroke just trying to stay awake sitting in the stands.  Even with an umbrella and our stadium chairs, which have back support and a slight cushion which keeps our butts off the aluminum, I was still miserable.  We had a little cooler with drinks, and we both had about 3 drinks in the 2.5 hours the poor boys ran around in.

    Afterwards, I asked Mijo how he felt, if he was banged up or tired, and he just flatly says "why, we didn't do anything but run around a little?"  Like I said, "to be young..."

6/24/22 Booster Club Members? (part 2 of 2)

     This is where the problems start creeping in, I think.  I thought the vice president was the actual leader, she is young, energetic (parent to some of the kids), and she is one of those people like Wife, who is anal about compliance and knowing all the rules.  She keeps everything written down in her books and all around, she is who leads us.  The president is an older lady (a retired grandma type), and does things old school, probably like I would if I was in charge, which is why I couldn't.

    The latest kerfuffle was over the use of the leftover funds from last season.  The president took it upon herself to buy a couple cases of Gatorade for the summer workouts, which sounds like stuff the booster club should do, but she didn't discuss it with the club, she just did it.  The vice president had earmarked some of that money to pay for fees associated with the club operating.  At the same time, a coach/mom decided she was going to become a booster club member but came in acting like an authority and trying to impose her will on the booster club.  Both Wife and vice president seem to be saying the same thing, you can't join the club with dual roles.  If you are going to be a coach, listening in, then stay on the sidelines, you don't get to input like that.  If you are going to be a parent, then fine, but again, you can interject and bring stuff up, you don't get to decide what will be.  Then there are new parents, with the incoming freshmen, one of the moms came in hot wanting to be a big contributor to the booster club, but you can't come into your fist meeting acting like you're going to be running things.  She wanted to look at the books and where all the money is coming from, and what we've been doing.

    Basically, there was a lot of drama going on, and although I love hearing about it, it isn't good for a club to operate this way.  The vice-president bought some baseball hats (with her money, just 11, as a demo starting point), with the idea of putting the Cougars logo on them, she also wanted a football and possibly some other embroidery, such as a wrestling or basketball, or whatever for the other sports, but the president took the lead and instead of getting some quotes, she just went ahead and told the first shop she talked with to go ahead and embroider the logo.  This made the hats cost like $28 a piece.  I thought they were a little expensive at $30, but hearing this, I understand now.  Again, this is another point of contention, where the president just acts, while the vice president is trying to find the best deal and actually make some money for the team.

    It isn't all bad, the booster club just started last year, after being idle since 2017.  We made enough money to buy the football team a set of black pants, to add to the tan ones and white ones.  We were able to buy more equipment for the weight room, and once it got going, we were buying food after some of the games.  I guess it'll be interesting to see where this club goes this year, and I hope it does well, everyone has the kids' best interest at heart, it is just that people approach it from different angles.

6/23/22 Booster Club Members? (part 1 of 2)

     Last night was the kick-off Booster Club meeting and I have to say, it was interesting.  Basically, it solidified why I don't like doing stuff like this, in general.  People just have a need to make more out of the tiniest thing, which I guess is part of the human experience.  I just showed up because it was held at the Conan's Pizza next to the school and the manager/owner was kind enough to bring free pizzas for the team when we had the car show.  I wanted to show some gratitude and buy some food since it is kind of out of the way and not a place we would normally eat at on a regular basis.

    First off, the meeting started at 6:30pm, but I didn't get out of work until 6:15pm, and it turned out Wife had gotten stuck in traffic, so we both got home around 6:30pm.  We then rushed over, with the meeting already started, Wife went to listen, and I ordered us a couple of pizzas and some drinks.  The discussion seemed to be all over the place, which made it hard to listen, and then we didn't fit on the big table they had assembled since we showed up late.  I was more interested in eating, so I didn't mind sitting on a side table.  Baby A tagged along, mostly because he heard we were going to a pizza place, not because he cares about hearing old people talk about how we are going to feed a football team.  Wife got herself over there with the meeting, Mijo and I were farther away arguing over the best way to eat pizza.  I was using a fork because the pizza was super-hot when it arrived, and I couldn't use my fingers without risking burning them.  He's mouthing to me to put the fork down; I am embarrassing him, and I am telling him to use a fork, so he won't burn his mouth.  I then proceed to watch his eyes bulge out as he bites the pizza and he clearly burns his mouth, spitting most of the pan pizza out, with all that hot cheese and sauce.  I just smile and point at the extra fork I put on the table for him.  He still refuses to use it, but he stops looking at me with his dead eyes and smiles because he knows I won.

    Once we ate, I could focus more of my attention to the meeting.  This is really serious stuff, for some people.  To me, tell me to buy some pizzas, fine, or make some burgers, pain in the ass, but fine.  These people are treating the club, and I guess someone has to, as a business entity.  Constantly talking about minutes, and codes, it just all goes over my head, because I don't care that way.  I care about the boys getting fed, of course, but the need for a whole system set up to "fund raise" seems strange to me.  I guess once money is involved, it has to be done a certain way.

(con't.)