Long Day's Journey Into Night...

 It has been a while. Things are busy, school has started, and work has been a bitch. The days are ending and starting and it is hard to tell which way is up. Needless to say I have been real busy and there has been a lot going on.
It is late and I will try to hit the high points of the last couple of weeks and how I feel about some of that stuff...
College football is in full swing, both Oklahoma teams played and won tonight. I watched all of the pokes game and caught the last quarter and a half of the sooners, it all went as expected. Football has turned a corner, professionally anyway and I just think it all stinks. Everyone has weighed in on the Ray Rice debacle. You NEVER hit a woman, ever. I was raised that way, my son is being raised that way and I hope others are doing the same. There is no excuse especially if you are a huge professional athelete that gets paid millions to dole out punishment to other grown ass men of equal or greater physique. Walk the fuck away. That is what a man does, asshole.
Then comes news that Adrian Peterson was indicted for injury to a child for hitting his son with a switch, I just shake my head, meting out punishment on a child needs to be a hand to the bottom or a paddle or equivalant. A couple of well placed smacks on the ass is usually enough to get attention and correct a problem. Timeouts work, sometimes, taking things away works well in my experience. The switch, belt, or closed fist are not really anything I want to use or will use, it was used on me on more than one occasion in the past and I am not a fan of the resentment and shame that is a result. It is not good for the child and usually violence breeds violence. I have raised two girls and have a ten year-old well adjusted son that rarely got in or get in trouble to the point I want to find something to beat them with. My opinion, take it or leave it...
What else....oh Sons of Anarchy, back with a vengenance. I know this is not for everyone but I have been hooked since the beginning. It is not for the faint of heart and I see this final season being even more bloody and disturbing then before. And that ladys and gentlemen is the violence and destructive behavior I love, the kind that is portrayed in movies and TV, in real life I do not need that shit,
Okay I have ranted enough and it is late. Teach your sons that women are equal, do not hit them, and have respect for them. Matter of fact, teach all your children, girls and boys, everyonee is imprtant and everyone is the same, treat people with respect, empathy, compassion, and kindness. It is not easy, it does not always happen, but if we start now, maybe there is hope for us yet. Til next time...

The Longest Week....

or maybe two weeks. It has been a bit since I have had the time or energy to post anything. Work has been a nightmare, and by nightmare I mean a bloody fucking unbelievable cluster of ignorance, stupidity, and downright classless.
I do not want to go into a lot of detail, but I covered for someone who had a child pass away. That in itself is downright depressing, but the way management handled her return was unbelievably rude. I was embarassed to be associated with these people. Not only that, I got to see the true colors of the people I work for. Not pretty, not pretty at all. Treat people at least as well as you want to be treated. Empathy and understanding go a long way toward helping someone that is mired in a bad situation. I know the goal of a business is to prosper, but you really do not need to be an asshole all the time to accomplish that...I will stop there with that before I get all fired up again...
On a good note, we have a wedding venue booked for my daughter. The date is set and the ball is rolling and everybody is excited. School started again, after a shaky start for the youngest, I believe we are getting into a rythym. Thing seem to be getting back to normal. Usually by the second or third week we are back in a groove and things seem to roll along almost automatically.
So I am taking a vacation day tomorrow and have Monday off, FOUR DAY WEEKEND. I am a fan.
A huge fan of the long weekend. I can get stuff done, get some rest and have time with the family. And most importantly, football. Saturday (some games today) begins another college football season and I think the NFL starts next week. I love football, and football means fall, and fall means cooler weather, and I am all ready for that.
In short, watch some football, get some rest, accomplish some tasks, eat right and get some exercise, and I promise to do the same. Happy Labor Day Weekend! Til next time...

The Final Cut

What a week it has been. And it is only Tuesday. Wake up on Sunday morning to see that Tony Stewart killed another driver on a race track in New York. Still don't know how I feel about that, other than sad for the man's family and all his friends.
Then comes Monday. Robin Williams passing just made me sad. As a huge fan of comedy and all those that make their living trying to make us laugh, I still am in a funk over this. Part of my childhood was spent hours on end in front of the TV. Mork and Mindy was a favorite of mine, and I still remember the first Comic Relief. I loved Good Morning Vietnam, for the funny and the serious. Insomnia and One Hour Photo blew my mind showing the sinister side of a man I knew only from stream of conciousness comedy. Then I saw Good Will Hunting, and I was amazed at the range of talent that seemed to ooze out of the man. I always new that there were demons in the background but I really thought maybe he was past that, but I was naive, nothing is ever that easy. I am sad for his kids, I am sad for others that he loved and loved him back, and I am sad that there is nothing that can be done. Depression is real, it is scary, and I fear it is closer at times than I would like. I hope wherever he is he is making others laugh but most of all I hope he is laughing too...

Any Wednesday...

Just like all the rest...today was booorrriiing. Long and drawn out. Started out running late and had to do busy work all day just to stay busy-until about three and then all kinds of requests started rolling in. So at least I will be busy tomorrow. Feast or famine, that is how it is this time of year. You are either so busy you can't get caught up or the phone is just not ringing. But it doesn't stay that way for long.
This is a short week for me so I will not gripe too much. After taking a long weekend I was actually pretty much ready to go yesterday, got in early and got a lot done. I have been getting home and spending time on the stationary bike working those calories off and sweating like a pig. But I have about 25 more pounds I want to lose and I would love to get rid of what is left of my gut and stick to a healthy weight. Fingers crossed.
School is getting ready to start again, I have one starting college in a week and another in the fifth grade stating the next week. Neither one seems too excited about going, but I will be glad to see everyone back in a normal routine. Not much else to say today except gas is going down and the temperature is going back up. Which is about normal for this time of year so no use complaining. It has been a pretty mild summer thus far especially compared to a couple of years ago when we had 30+ days of over 100° temps. It even rained a little this afternoon as I was leaving work.
Well when all you have to talk about is the weather and gas prices, I guess that means there is not much to say. Til next time...

Any Given Sunday...

Football is back...or the crappy preseason version of it. But it was nice to see a real NFL football game and not the weak Canadian version, or that circus Arena League crap. It was also nice to see all of the Hall of Fame inductees. Just about a month a way from the real deal so I am pretty hyped. Other than that I am knee deep in Season two of Hemlock Grove and trying to wind down from what has been a pretty good day.
Had the whole house full of kids today and made a huge dinner of pulled pork, corn on the cob, potatoes, fresh vegetables, and corncakes. A corncake covered with pulled pork and drizzled with some good green salsa was pretty damn amazing if I must say. Spent about an hour on the exercise bike working it off but it was worth it.
My middle child starts freshman orientation for college tomorrow. I both proud and excited for her and know she will do good things. The youngest will enroll on Tuesday and should be starting soon. Things will get back into a routine and somewhat back to normal soon. Maybe when school starts we can all go to bed at a decent time, And then again maybe not.
Tomorrow I am finishing off my four day weekend by hanging out with my son while everyone else is running around doing other things. One last chance to get in some rest and exercise before I start another (short) work week. All things considered I have had a great weekend and am blessed to have a loving family and a roof over our heads. Hope everyone else had a great weekend and that carries on for the week ahead. Til next time...

Thursday...

or what I like to call, my Friday, I worked it out so I could take off tomorrow and Monday and take a breather for a couple of days. And man I am I jazzed about it. I get to sleep in, probably til like 6 or 6:30 maybe even seven, I don't know we'll see how it goes...
In other news, my soon to be married daughter is pregnant, not really news to me but we have held off telling anyone until she had a sonagram and was given a due date (Mar. 11,2015). We are excited about a new addition to the family. Not really ready to be "Grandpa" yet...been kicking around a few alternate names and have settled on Shooter. We'll see how it goes...
Had a pretty productive week at work. Started out Monday with a bang and never really let up until this morning. Luckily didn't fall behind, and even got rewarded with a good bottle of 12yr old whiskey for some extra work I did that made someone look good. All in a days work.
So tomorrow me and the two youngest will hit the grocery store, do a little house work and hang out while Mom is at work (couldn't get her on board with the whole "blow off Friday" thing). Need to get in some time with the kids before school starts in a couple of weeks, and enjoy some time off. I also need to work down the old Netflix queue. We'll see how it goes...
Hopefully everyone has a great day tomorrow and enjoys a good weekend and gets those batteries recharged for Monday, while I sleep in another day....
Til next time...

A Month of Sundays...

...would be nice. I had a pretty quiet day. Got in some rest and some exercise so I accomplished two things I wanted to do today. This weekend has flown by and as I sit and write this I am already thinking of the dozens of things I have to do at work tomorrow. Anyway..
Had company all weekend. My wife's sister and our neice came to visit on Friday night and spent the weekend with us. I am not one for visitors but I am glad they came, my wife was happy and the kids had a good time so it all worked out extremely well. I got in some Netflix while they ran around most of the day yesterday, so I feel like everyone got in a good break from the usual. Plus my sister in law brought me a really nice globe (you know like a map of the eaerth, but round...), I have been wanting one but they are impossible to find especially the quality of the one she brought.
Maps are my thing, in case I haven't ever mentioned that before, which I probably have not. Maps are what I do, a big part of my job, and something I have always had an interest in. A good map can be like a piece of art, not everyone sees that, but I do. So I was super excited to get acquire the globe and hope to have it for a long time.
So that was my weekend pretty much. I did manage to put together a really good dinner of some chicken breasts, potatoes, fresh fried squash and some really good canteloupe. I enjoy cooking to some degree especially on Sundays. A good Sunday meal starts off the week in the right direction and usually helps me sleep on Sunday night, which is always tough for me. On that note the diet is rolling along and I am actually under 220, that makes me feel like I am making progress and gives me more ambition to keep at it and not give up.
So I hope everybody has a good and productive week, we have cooler weather headed our way in a couple of days so hopefully it gets here fast. Let's all take Friday off and make it a three day weekend, ok...good I am in. Til next time...