Abstinence

Happy 4th of July - 2012

Just a quickie post to say Happy 4th of July. Most people don't agree with today's politics, whether you are a democrat, republican, or independent. However, try to keep in mind that there are a lot of things that make our country great and we can still choose to work together to make it even better.

PS - be safe with the fireworks. Don't start a huge fire like in Montana or Colorado, and don't blow your dick off.

Got Balls?

This is a brief text messaging conversation between me and a friend of mine that took place last Friday. For some reason, I still find it highly amusing...

Me: Still in OK?

Him: No

Me: Back in Arlington?

Him: Yeah hungover sick long long day

Me: Sorry bro

Him: The kind that makes you think I wont do that again!! For a day haha

Me: Riiiiight

Me: So do you have your own balls?

Him: No

Too Skinny?

Of course there is such a thing, but I keep hearing it. Everyone tells me that I have lost too much weight. At the same time they almost all say that I am looking good. I think I must be walking the line or something. When I was in high school I was a stick. I’m not a stick anymore, but I have definitely lost a lot of weight.

In 2005, when I was working out quite a bit and drinking too much beer I was hitting 160 lbs. In 2007 I was up to 167 lbs. – mind you, I am 5’6”. I started losing weight slowly and got down to about 155 lbs. in 2011. Then I was diagnosed with diabetes and altered my lifestyle.

Depending on what you read and look at I am probably a tad on the skinny side for my age and height. An average weight for a 5’6” male of medium frame is 139-151. Another chart shows that a 40-year old male averages almost 180 lbs., excluding height consideration. The last two months I have averages 128.3 lbs. with a body fat of 9.2%. 

So how did I do it? Did I hit the gym every day for a billion hours? Did I kill myself dieting eating only raw veggies? Not really…. As usual, it has been a bit of a combination of things, but predominantly:

Cut out as much sugar, especially refined sugar, as possible – being diabetic this is a priority. I never cared for sweets too much, so it hasn’t been a big deal for me with one exception – sodas. I haven’t had a soda in almost a year. Not one. Not by itself, and not as a mixed beverage. I don’t even drink diet soda (can’t stand the taste). I’ve also cut out sugar from simple things like milk – I don’t drink milk. I use non-sweetened soy-milk in my cereal. I eat protein bars or snack bars with less than 5g of sugar in a bar. Not easy to find, but there are some good ones out there if you look. I attribute this factor more than anything else to losing the weight and reducing my body fat. Mind you, it’s not easy. Start reading labels and you’ll see why.

I don’t drink during the week – Aside from cutting out mixed beverage like Jack and Coke (my favorite) I don’t drink any alcoholic beverages during the week. Sure, I make an exception if a friend is in town, or its someone’s birthday or something, but not every night can be an exception. Most of my friends are still getting used to it, but they understand it. I save my drinking for the weekends and then I try to keep it pretty tame – a couple of beers here and there, or something stronger, such as whiskey, but without any sugary mixers. A good bourbon or whiskey on ice can be really tasty. I also don’t drink much wine – too much sugar in it. I will have some from time to time, but I try to limit that as well.

Cut the carbs – if you are avoiding sugar and alcohol then you are already doing this to an extent, but take it to the next level and avoid the simple carbohydrates as much as possible. This doesn’t mean to stop eating carbohydrates. Your body needs them. But you can eliminate “empty calorie” carbs like potato chips and what-not. If it’s white try to either severely reduce the intake or don’t eat it. Substitute whole grains where possible – it’s really not that bad. Bottom line is to be reasonable and eat a sensible portion of carbohydrates, preferably complex carbohydrates, with your meals.

Cut the fast food – I won’t say I don’t eat any fast food, but it’s few and far between. Since I am trying to eliminate the bad things from my diet if I am going to blow it on a hamburger or pizza I sure as shit am not going to eat Jack In The Box.

Eat plenty of veggies – This isn’t hard. A good salad can fill you up and raw veggies are great for you. I try to either eat a small salad with most of my meals, or one big salad at the end of the day. I vary it up so it’s not always the same. One thing that I love and is quick and easy is cucumbers, tomatoes, and some purple onion. For salad dressing try a light balsamic or make your own. You can make it and scarf it all down in 10 minutes. Do that before you go out to eat and you’ll reduce your hunger before you get to the restaurant! I can’t eat a lot of fruit, but I always have some every day. It might be an apple, or some blueberries with a shake or my morning cereal.

Avoid blatantly fatty foods – these don’t count towards your sugar / carb intake, but they aren’t good for you in general. If you are going to eat them, try to do it sparingly.

Eat healthy snacks, and consume plenty of protein – sounds easy, but it’s hard to do. Remember carbs, above? Well that’s an easy thing to snack on. Cut the carbs and sugar and what’s left? Remember those quick salads? Those work. Or eat a good cracker that is high in fiber, low in simple carbs, and no sugar – like Triscuits. Eat that with a little cheese or humus and you have a nice snack. Or, carrots and humus – my g/f turned me on to that. Makes a great snack. Popcorn is also good, but I eat a TON of popcorn and I get burned out on it. I think snacking is the hardest thing for me to control because I love to eat all the time.

I also drink plenty of protein shakes. I’ve found some that I like (Labrada) that have almost no carbohydrates or sugar, yet are very high in protein. Instead of using all water I mix it with ½ soymilk. Then I add spoonful of peanut butter and some type of fruit – blueberries or blackberries if the shake is strawberry flavored, a ½ of a banana if it’s chocolate. This is a meal replacement, not a snack. Drink one for lunch and you are good to go. Don’t forget to load up on some veggies for dinner!

Do eat on a regular basis – when you skip meals your blood sugar goes on a roller coaster. It spikes way up and falls off rapidly. Your body  does far better if you are constantly fueling it than hitting it really hard and then starving yourself for long periods. Try to eat 3 times a day with 2 snacks. More if you work out a lot, but in most cases not less. Remember it’s not about stuffing yourself to the gills every time you eat. It’s about fueling your body with what you need.

Mostly I am pretty strict during the week, and not as strict on the weekends without going “hog wild.” That seems to have worked well for me so far.

Oh – and I didn’t even mention exercise did I? Well, don’t forget to exercise. I started on the Insanity program and really enjoyed it. It’s tough, but you don’t need anything but a DVD player and the willingness to sweat. It’s a great kick-start. Bottom line is to do *something.* Get your ass off the couch and do anything to keep mobile and get your heart rate up on a regular basis.

As always, here is my cop-out where I tell you to consult a physician before changing your diet or starting an exercise program.

And is it so bad? Not really. I still drink beer, I still have a good glass of whiskey. I still eat steak and go out for a nice meal. I don’t starve myself – I never want for food, I just eat the right things. And I do treat myself to that occasional burger, pizza, or Mexican food! Just don’t make a habit of it.

Accumulative I’ve lost well over 30lbs this way!

Random Observations

Here is post that was supposed to be published in 2008. I fucked up and forgot to post it. It's been stuck in "draft mode" ever since.....


"Fast Walking" or whatever it is called is a completely retarded Olympic sport. We are going to race but you can't RUN! WTF? So we can have fast walking, but Golf is not an olympic sport?

Yesterday was "Dimebag" day on the XM radio honoring his life. Very cool.

I spilled a full glass of water into my crotch on the airplane....ice and all. Not comfy for the next few hours. I'm really getting tired of travelling. It's to the point where I am getting cranky about it. I need a break.

Tooth Owie – Finale

Last week I went in to get my crown. I had failed to post a minor update in which I went in to get the impressions done for my crown. It wasn’t that big of a deal, and the only thing really interesting was that they had to put in a larger healing cap than what I original had put in. I even have a cool x-ray with the temporary fitting so they could take the impression. It looks pretty medieval.

But, after all that they were able to put my permanent abutment and crown in without too much difficulty. When they took me back for my appointment the assistant asked if I was ready. I replied, “I’ve been ready since July.”

That’s how long it’s been since I’ve had a #10 tooth – July of last year. When the put the permanent abutment in they used a teeny tiny little torque wrench to get the setting “just right.” Then they glued the crown on and I was all done.

They did a great job of matching the color and alignment. I’m just not used to having a tooth there! It feels a little alien to me, but I’ll get used to it again. Right now I’m just happy to have a tooth again!

Lack of Motivation

I haven’t been writing very much. Not just here, but I also haven’t been writing much music. I just haven’t been playing a whole lot in general. I’m not sure I can exactly explain why, but I suppose there are several reasons.

Aside from just turning 41 not too long ago I am still trying to come to terms with living with diabetes. Most of the time it’s really not a big deal. I still crave my DP, but I don’t drink it. Changing the diet isn’t that bad. I’ve lost weight, my blood work looks fantastic, and I feel pretty good. Sometimes I want to go crazy and drink a DP or eat something I really shouldn’t, but I do a good job of sticking to my diet. We are still tweaking my medication. I was able to get off one of my meds because my blood sugar was consistently too low. Now I am in a waiting cycle to go back and get tested again to see if everything is stable. I hope so, because I’d like to not have to worry / wonder if it’s OK and whether or not I need to be altering my diet even more.

But what really gets me is reading the horror stories about what can happen to you if you have diabetes. Loss of eyesight, loss of limbs, kidney failure, heart disease, etc. And it goes on and on. I got bummed out the other day when I read that people with type-1 diabetes (I have type-2) only reduce their chances of kidney failure by 50% if they take care of themselves. That’s a pretty staggering number. Fifty-percent. A 1 in 2 chance that your kidneys will say “fuck it” and kill you even if you did everything you were supposed to do. There were some more stats for other issues, but they all boiled down to not-so-good odds if you have diabetes. I couldn’t find any stats for type-2 people, but I suspect the odds don’t change that much. In other words, it’s a bit depressing and while not nearly as bad as being told you have cancer it’s still difficult to think that my life could be cut short by a disease for which I don’t even fit the classic profile.

I suppose that it’s no different from anyone else that gets something like cancer, or is suddenly struck dead by a heart attack or an embolism. You just don’t seem to think about these things, much, when you are 20 years old. Once you are 40-ish they seem to be dancing around up there in your brain. About the only thing to do is live your life and do your best to take care of yourself.

But that’s not the only reason I’ve been a little de-motivated. I’m a bit unhappy with work right now. Without going into a substantial amount of detail I feel like our company is not really committed to my division and that we could be doing a lot more. To that end, I also feel like I am not doing what I could and should be doing. I sort of feel like I am wasting my time and that’s not a good feeling. It’s also been just terribly slow lately and that doesn’t help. At least when I am busy I don’t have time to dwell on things like this. On the positive side? I’ve been home for the longest stint I can think of in years and I’m taking advantage of this time to get things done that have been neglected for a while. So that’s not entirely bad, but I sure would like to see the company pick up and really start doing something with our professional services division. We have some really bright and talented people working for us that just aren’t being utilized to their potential right now. It’s a shame.

And while there may be other things going on right now one of the things I am really pissed off about is what has happened to one of my best friends. Years ago his wife cheated on him and unfortunately it was with at least one of his good friends. He got real paranoid about everyone and didn’t trust anybody after that. I can’t say that I blame him as that was a terrible thing to have happen to you. Over the years his paranoia would ebb and flow like the tides, but for the most part it wasn’t that bad. Sure it was difficult to deal with sometimes, and when he got into drugs it got really bad. It fucked his life up pretty bad, and I finally had to tell the guy that he needed to get off drugs or we couldn’t be friends any more. He was destroying himself and I couldn’t watch it any long. Fortunately, he got off the drugs and cleaned himself up, but he always had some problems with the paranoid and somewhat self-destructive behavior.

A few years ago, he met someone and they started dating and hanging out. As luck would have it, he had put himself in another bad position and there was some turmoil and drama surrounding the relationship. While all of this was going on I could tell he was struggling to find himself and he joined up with the Army. He later went to Iraq to serve a tour of duty. During this time he and the person he met became closer and they decided to get married. I didn’t hear much from him while he was overseas, but when I did I was always very happy to know he was doing OK and that he seemed to be happy.

When he had an opportunity to come home on leave me and my g/f flew out to Vegas to meet him and his soon-to-be bride. We witnessed their wedding and had a great time hanging out with them. Fast forward to him coming home from Iraq and them moving in to a new house and learning to live with each other. I could tell things were difficult for him, but I’d also say it’s fairly normal considering their circumstances. Relationships are not easy and they had a very romantic and spirited relationship that was mostly fostered by their time on the internet while he was deployed. Naturally, there would be some difficulty and I also could tell he was struggling with being out of the army. For him, the daily discipline and regiment was a good thing and left to his own devices he had a difficult time dealing with them.

All in all – normal life as we might call it. And then it started to change. It was subtle, but he suddenly stopped talking to one of our other good friends. This guy would call me and ask if I have heard from him. Of course, I talked to him all the time. Maybe not every day, but quite often. This guy tells me he hasn’t heard from him in weeks and while he calls him almost every day, emailed him, and texted him he wouldn’t respond. I finally asked my friend why he was treating our other friend like this and he kept saying he had “weird vibes” about him. For a while that’s all he would say, but he finally explained that one night they were hanging out and our mutual friend had his shirt off and my friend though he was hitting on his wife. I explained that this guy deserved a response – if not an explanation, a “fuck you and leave me alone” would suffice. I saw the old paranoia creeping in. He’s always been insanely jealous of whoever he was dating, etc., but now he had basically ceased all communication with one of our good friends without even talking to him about it.

Some time goes by and I am working out of town a lot. It’s getting near the end of the year and I’m tired and on the road all the time. My friend and I still stay in touch and try to catch up when we can. He’s telling me that he believes his wife is having an affair, but he goes much further than that. He starts to tell me how people are tracking him with GPS receivers stuck in his car. How his home network has been hacked. How his cell phone is acting strange, etc. I try to talk some sense into him, but he’s clearly not convinced that this is a little over the top. The problem with him is that his paranoia is so bad that it’s questionable as to whether or not his wife was really having an affair or not – and she was pregnant at the time. I didn’t believe that people were tracking him and hacking his networks and all that, but I didn’t completely put it outside the realm of possibility, either. There is a big difference between possible and probable, and I was not having much luck of getting him to understand the difference.

Then….radio silence. He won’t return my calls. He doesn’t respond to text messages. He doesn’t respond to emails (not a big deal, he was never good at responding to emails). I’m so busy on the road for three or four weeks in a row that I don’t really pay much attention to it. I am too busy to notice the signs, though I am getting frustrated with it. When I’m traveling I am largely disconnected from people except via phone, text, internet, etc. And let’s face it, most of us need some sort of interaction with our friends. As timing would have it, I come off the road and my friend’s wife goes in to have a c-section and delivers their son. My friend calls me and asks me to come up to see his new son, and would I please stop by their house and grab their daughter on the way up. Absolutely! And Congratulations!!

I went up to the hospital and his family was there along with their new son. It was really nice to see everyone and I hung out for a bit and he and even went down for a smoke (I don’t smoke, he does). He asked me if I was OK because I apparently didn’t look so great – I had lost a ton of weight and was really haggard from traveling. I said I was and asked how he was doing. He didn’t say much other than being tired from trying to be ready for his new son. I could understand that.

Within about a week of this – radio silence….again. Now I am getting angry. Thanksgiving has come and gone and he didn’t so much as shoot me a quick text to say Happy Thanksgiving. I even left him a VM that said I understood if he was busy, but just let me know how things are going, etc. I mean, let’s face it. You can’t be THAT busy with a newborn. You can’t be so busy that you don’t have time to say you are busy and you’ll call when you can, etc.

By now, I’ve given up on trying to get in touch with him and while I don’t understand why he stopped talking to me (again) I did at least recognize it as being very similar to what happened with our other friend, but again, I can’t figure out why. I wasn’t even in town!

Christmas was rapidly approaching and I was busy doing Christmassy things. The Friday before Christmas he called me out of the blue on a number I didn’t recognize. He just said “Hey, what’s up?” like nothing had happened. I told him I was wrapping presents, and asked what he was up to. He was out with his wife doing some last-minute shopping for his kids. I remember at one point in the conversation I asked how things were going and he said “oh..you know…” and I pretty bluntly said “no. I don’t.” He suggested stopping by for drinks and I suggested we meet up for dinner and drinks since I was getting hungry. He said good idea and that he’d text or call in just a bit after his wife came out of the bathroom. I never got a call or a text. Radio silence. Again.

Christmas came and went. So did New Years. Nothing. I heard freaking nothing from this guy. I had had it with his bullshit at this point, but sure enough he calls me up one day and I really laid into him and told him I was pissed off, etc. We talked for a while and then he wanted to come by the next day and talk some more. I agreed. I was still pissed, but he was still my friend.

When he came over he had a new car. At the time I couldn’t figure out why he would have put them in debt when his last car was paid for, but I’ve since come to the conclusion that he did it because he believed his old car was being tracked. He’s changed his cell phone and phone(s) more times than I can count. He’s telling me how his wife is cheating on him and that’s he’s got proof – he’s setup recording devices in his house. He wants me to listen to them and help him clean up the audio, etc. We talked for a long time because I told him I was not comfortable with this.

Reluctantly, I eventually agreed. I wish I never had. It is such a monumental invasion of someone’s privacy and I am deeply ashamed that I did it. I will say, though, that there was *something* on that recording. I can’t say what for sure, but it was definitely sexual in nature and this supposedly happened early one morning when he had to report for duty. Me? I’d never have an affair with someone at 6:30am. That’s too fucking early to get up to go have a piece of ass – no matter how good it might be. He had a brand new laptop – again, purchased because he believes his old one was “compromised.” He asked for some help getting it online while he was here at the house. No big deal, I configured it to connect to my network so he’d have internet access.

While listening to the recordings he’s hearing all kinds of shit that I just don’t hear. Multiple guys at the house. People saying things, etc. And I am honest with him and tell him I just don’t hear it, but that I do hear something. In the end, I’m very much convinced that something was happening, but probably not quite what he thought was happening. I felt bad for him because it certainly seemed like the possibility of his wife having an affair was very high and I told him as much. I told him that I believed him. I even told his psychiatrist / counselor that I believed him.

I did finally understand why he had stopped talking to me, though. While I was out of town….months and months back…. He claims he found an airline ticket for his wife to fly to Salt Lake City, UT. Now, I never got clear details – he never knew she flew, just found the ticket, and the ticket was only for a day trip. Not even an overnight trip (if I remember correctly), but it happened to coincide with the exact week that I was in Salt Lake myself. What he believed was that she snuck out of the house, flew out there and we had a romp in the hay where nobody could see us, and then she flew back that night. Again, that’s a hell of a thing to do for a piece of ass and let’s face it. I may be good in bed, but I’m not *that* good in bed. Not worth the time, effort and expense to do that for a couple of hours – it’s about a 3 hour flight to SLC, plus time to board, go through security, leave the airport, return to the airport, etc. In other words, you are looking at a minimum of 8 hours just to get there and back in one day.

At the time he said he believed me when I told him I wasn’t even aware of it. Then he made a joke about the hairs that were sticking to my wool jacket (still cold out) being his wife’s. I thought it was an odd joke, but dismissed it for the most part and explained that it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a hair from her or his dogs on my jacket. I had been over there many times in the past. I should have known better.

But I also had time to talk to him over a day or two and I was utterly convinced that he was losing his freaking mind. He had all kinds of conspiracy theories – people hacked his phones. People hacked his car. People hacked all of his laptops and computers. It goes on and on. He believed his wife was telling him she had to go to work when she was secretly sneaking off in their new car and having sex in it with other people. He believed people were following him. He feared for his life – and this is where I started to become very concerned for him and the safety of his family.

I asked Why? Why go through all that trouble? His answer was so that his wife could get away with it and that everyone could laugh at him. I’m not kidding. I finally had to tell him that he was losing grip with reality and that he needed serious help. I mean SERIOUS help.

Over a period of a couple of days he came over and kept listening to his recordings and asked for help on working with them and manipulating them. I helped him to an extent, but I also felt it was a bit futile. Why not just divorce her and be done with it if he thought it was this bad? And then, one night, he was still dicking around with his laptop and what-not. I had left him to himself and decided to watch a DVD so I was in the other room.

He came out of my office area and asked me if I knew that he trusted me. I basically told him “no,” but what I didn’t realize at the time was that he probably expected me to say “yes.” He said something else and then he said “you’re a really funny guy….real funny.” At that point I could tell something was wrong so I asked him what he was talking about. He showed me his laptop and the WPA key used for the wireless – my WPA key – and asked if that was it and of course I said it was. It’s been the same for years, but he thought that I was a slight against him. I’m not kidding. He thought because of what the key was I was making fun of him. I rapidly realized that he was accusing me of being involved in the conspiracy. He asked why his computer kept joining my network – I told him that I set it up because he asked me for internet access while he was at my house. And the hairs from my jacket? He had been plucking them off of me when I didn’t know it and had saved them in a cellophane cigarette wrapper. He was planning to have them analyzed and see if they were his wife’s, etc.

He was rapidly and frantically gathering up his things and we both agreed that it was a good idea that he leave. I wanted to beat his ass, but elected to just let him leave. I was also a bit stunned. Not only to be accused of having an affair with his wife, but to further be involved in this grand conspiracy.

We’ve not spoken sense. If we did, I’d have to tell him to go away and leave me alone. That I don’t want him around me. I’ve since heard through the grapevine that he really believes I’m one of the main people behind hacking his laptops, hacking his phones, tracking him with GPS, coordinating with people to have him followed, fucking his wife, the whole enchilada, in other words. I’ve also heard he has some pretty crazy theories about other aspects of his life, but I won’t go into details about that, here.

Nobody hears from him, much, if at all. We all hope he is doing better, but nobody knows. I sincerely hope that he gets better. That he gets some help and comes out of this – even if we never talk again. But I gotta tell you….it makes me very angry the way he’s treated me. And, it hurts. It’s both infuriating that he would treat me the way he has, that he would believe these things about me. I’ve stuck by him through all his crazy shit for 25 years. He was one of my absolute best friends, and he took that from me. I also can’t help but think it’s the fucking Adderall that he’s on that’s made him so crazy. It’s fucked up everyone I’ve ever known that was on it for any length of time.

I can’t imagine what his wife and kids are going through. I don’t see how he could completely hide it from them and they have to be feeling the effects or at least noticing it, somehow.

I’m normally a very private person and don’t discuss my dirty laundry with people. I appreciate the same level of respect from them, so it’s been difficult to not talk about this with anyone, but I also look at it like this: When he suspected his wife of cheating on him and started the paranoid stuff I was only third party to it. He was telling me stuff about his life and I wouldn’t discuss that with other people. But when he made it about me, when he accused me of all of this crap, it was no longer his privacy and his life, it was now mine, and it’s real hard for me to respect his privacy if we aren’t even friends anymore.

My g/f tries to remind me that he’s sick and needs help. That it’s not really any different from someone who has Alzheimer’s and can’t remember you. I realize that, but I can’t help the way I feel.

*sigh* OK….back to work.

TSA Info Graphic

Most people who know me know that I frequently travel, and that I have no love for the TSA or their theater of bullshit. My friend sent me this nifty info graphic that does a good job of summing up the TSA.



Created by: OnlineCriminalJusticeDegree.com

Michael Jordan Quote

I'm not a huge basketball fan. However, in the February edition of Forbe's magazine they had a quote by Michael Jordan, which I really love:

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Thanks, Mike!

My Girlfriend has Balls

This past Friday evening my g/f picked up a brand new Subaru Impreza WRX. She got the limited version that has most of the bells and whistles. It’s a very sweet ride!!! We kept telling her that we were jealous. It was funny because after she picked it up we were having dinner and she asked me “you aren’t really jealous, are you?” “Um. Yes. Yes I am.”

BTW – the picture is not actually her car, but it’s very close. Same color, but she has window tint, etc. Also, she got the car from Sewell Subaru in Dallas, TX from Brad Jolly. So far, she’s had a great experience and would recommend them to anyone.

So why does she have balls? Well, she didn’t know how to drive a stick (manual transmission). The WRX only comes in a stick. You can’t order it as an automatic. Not letting this deter her, she ordered one anyway after we (dealer and I) drove her around in one. The dealer even took her out into the parking lot and we gave her the 15-minute lesson on how to drive a stick on a brand new WRX STI. I think that sold her on the car.

While we were waiting for her car to come in we took out a friend’s car and she got to drive it for a couple of hours, but other than that she was still very new to driving a stick. When her new WRX came in I drove it off the lot and down to a parking lot so she could get the feel of the car. Other than driving home from dinner a couple of times she has pretty much been driving it ever since.

Now, being that she is still a beginner she has stalled it a few times and is more comfortable overreving the engine for first gear starts – especially in precarious situations like trying to make a yielded left-turn in oncoming traffic.
But she also hasn’t taken the easy road when getting used to her car and learning to drive it. The first places we drive? Downtown Dallas and Uptown (also in Dallas). These are not nice country roads with calm drivers. These are in-your-face driving situations with heavy traffic, lots of stop-and-go, and lots of people with itchy car horns. I even told her, it’s probably not how I would have wanted to learn how to drive a stick.

So, for not only buying a car that she knowing couldn’t drive very well right off the bat, and then further torturing herself by driving in a busy city my compliments – even if it means she has balls.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

I’m not a hoarder, but I do tend to hang onto things that I like or think that I might need in the future. I’ve had a 1991 Ibanez RG560 that I purchased brand new. Over the years I played the heck out of this guitar and it was with me for many gigs and jams. But, tonight I sold it.

In some ways, I was a little sad to see it go. It was a part of my life for a long time, but ultimately it’s “just a guitar” and the guitar serves as a reminder to the sentiment, it’s not the sentiment itself.

Since I bought my JP6 last year I had pretty not touched my Ibanez since. Even before that I tended to play my Les Paul more often for a bunch of different reasons. When I bought my JP6 I intentionally bought it as a bit of a replacement to the Ibanez. I also realized that I was up to seven guitars – two of which never get played. It was time to consolidate and get rid of one or two.

I put an ad up and got a hit on it right away. I put some new strings on it, adjusted the tremolo one last time since the springs were old, gave it a good polish and played it one last time for good measure. I met the guy in a parking lot and he was a bit older like me. He said he one just like it. It had been his first guitar, but that it was stolen out of his truck years ago. He’d been looking for another one for thirteen years!! He was very happy that it was in such good shape and that it had the case.

In the end, I felt really good that it was going to a good home and someone that would appreciate it.

To Sag or Not To Sag

Ever since sagging became a fashion trend I pretty much thought it was stupid. I’ve heard that the origins come from prison. One theory is that inmates that are initially put into prison are automatically on suicide watch and therefore cannot have a belt because they might hang themselves. Since they have no belt, their pants would sag as the prisons have fairly universally sized clothing. Another theory is that the gay men in prison would sag their pants to show the other inmates that they are willing and able. Regardless of which one is true, or even if neither of them are true, I’ve always thought it to be a retarded way to wear your clothes. Why anyone would intentionally wear clothes that were so big on them that the clothes would get in the way of simple things, such as walking, is beyond me. I was once told that I was a fashion victim. I disagree – if you are slave to your clothes YOU are the fashion victim.

But now, I have become the sagger. Or a sagger. I’m not quite sure how you say that. I’ve lost so much weight that my jeans often won’t stay on my body even with my belt taken in four or five notches. Since I conceal carry this is a good thing and often it takes my belt and a loaded gun to keep my pants somewhat in place. No gun and you can rest assured that my pants will pretty much fall off of me and I have trouble keeping them on.

I don’t mean to sag, and I am constantly pulling my pants up. It’s driving me crazy, but I’m also a cheap bastard and hate buying new clothes when my jeans are still (somewhat) wearable. Also, what happens if I become a fat bastard again?

Atheist War on Religion?

I’ve always considered myself a bit more of an agnostic rather than an atheist. I’d even go so far as to say I’m spiritual, but I don’t follow any organized religion. I’m also a fan of Reddit (click for link). Since I started checking the Reddit pages fairly regularly I’ve noticed that there is a rather large contingent of atheists on the site. I don’t have a problem with that, but I also notice that they (the atheists) really seem to have it out for Christians and their beliefs. I don’t particularly see them attacking other religions, just Christianity.

With some exception, I really don’t care what someone else believes so I’m a bit unclear as to why the atheists feel a need to constantly attack Christians….. They might argue that Christians constantly attack non-Christians, and while there is some validity to this it doesn’t necessarily mean retaliation is necessary.

Then again, it does make for some rather humorous content…..

I Hear Voices

I was driving into work the other morning. I was in WY on the highway into the plant. It was still dark out and about 19 degrees (F). I had a decent rental car and like most newer rental cars it had XM radio. I have to admit, I love it. I won’t buy it for myself because I absolutely refuse to pay another $20 / month to some other subscription service. Besides, I’m hardly ever home, which means I wouldn’t get to use it much, and I don’t want to have to drag another electronic doohickey around with me.

But I was jamming away and right before I changed stations to something else a new song came on that made me stay with the current station. No, it wasn’t a *great* song, but I really dig the vocalist for the group.

It was Tom Keifer from Cinderella. ok ok ok …I know. Hair Band or “chicks with dicks.” Whatever. Something in that immature part of my brain that has refused to grow up still likes them. More importantly, I like Tom Keifer’s voice.

No. He’s not a great vocalist. He doesn’t have a huge range, isn’t spectacular, and doesn’t do anything really that exciting. It’s just his raw gravelly voice that I like. There are a handful of guys that I’d put in the same category. Something about the voice that sounds like they’ve been drinking Jack Daniels and smoking Camel unfiltered cigarettes since they were three. It’s a category that Rod Stewart could probably be put in if he actually grew a pair and sang some good old fashioned rock and roll!

Tom Keifer – Cinderella
Brian Johnson – AC/DC
Blackie Lawless – WASP

Are You Ready for the Zombie Apocalypse?

Earlier this year some friends and I were driving through the canyon on MT 191 to head up to Big Sky. My g/f was sacked out in the front seat as we had to get up super early to make our flights and we’d already been traveling all day.

While winding through the canyon I made a comment about if something ever happened and things went south really fast Montana is one of the places I’d probably head to. This led one of my friends and I into a conversation about shooting and hunting. I was surprised to learn that he knew how to hunt and skin a deer – I just didn’t picture him as someone that would have ever done that.

I figured MT is a good place to go because there aren’t that many people, you can hide out in the woods, there is plenty to hunt, and while it’s cold this can actually be an advantage. Think about it. Have you ever seen a zombie movie in a really cold place? I think it’s because zombies don’t like cold weather. Besides, with the reduced population in MT you wouldn’t have to take as many of them out as you would in some heavily populated area, like L.A.

Naturally you need to have some weapons. This is a picture of one of my friend’s weapons cache (or as he says a picture of part of his weapons cache):


Note the two shotguns – everyone knows these are good for killing zombies, but there is also a carbine, a sniper rifle, and various other knives, swords, etc. All good for hunting and killing your food, zombies, or disillusioned people.

I’m covered on shotguns, rifles, and pistols, but I apparently lack a plethora of swords and knives. I always figure that they shouldn’t ever get that close anyway.

But another friend of mine had a different strategy. His strategy is to hijack a semi full of Hostes Twinkies and live off of that for the rest of his life. I asked him how he would defend his Twinkies and while I was never sure, it seemed that he was either going to hide them, or use a gun. I’m not sure this is the greatest strategy for survival, but it’s interesting. I later found out that the shelf life of a Twinkie is really only a few days (25 seems to be max) and that this wouldn’t work at all.

Where Have All my Friends Gone?

I guess it’s inevitable that as we grow older and become more involved with our own lives, family and careers that we tend to distance ourselves from those not immediately involved within the nucleus of those pursuits.

I don’t drink much anymore so on the weekend I try to go out and treat myself to a few beers and some bad food. Actually, I like good food, but it may not be good for me. Last night I went up to have a little Mexican food and a beer or two. I was sitting there by myself and thought that while I am used to this due to all of my traveling why am I sitting here by myself when I am home? Where have all my friends gone?

Now, I have friend and acquaintances all over the country. I obviously can’t go hang out with them unless one of us is willing to hop a plane and spend some scratch traveling. That isn’t going to happen on short notice, and certainly not just to go have a beer or two on Friday night.

So what about the others?

One of my friends and I get together for lunch about once a month. He’s married, has kids, and runs his own business. That pretty much means he’s off the grid and can’t just go hang out.

Another friend of mine has recently gone off the deep end. He thinks I am sleeping with his wife and am conspiring with her to hack his computers, have him followed, and am otherwise generally out to get him. You can imagine that he probably doesn’t want to go hang out and have a beer with me.

Another guy I know has moved further away, bought a house, gotten married, and started a good career for himself. He also has to work odd and mostly late hours, so he’s pretty much unavailable for a weekend beer and due to the distance it makes it even harder to get together.

One of my former drinking buddies is so pussy whipped and entangled in a bad and abusive marriage that his wife won’t let him out of her site long enough to go have a beer anywhere. She and I don’t get along so I pretty much don’t see him anymore.

One of my friends and his wife have gotten really busy with their careers and with other extracurricular activities that take up a lot of their time. Also, due to their hobby I suspect that they are more likely to focus on hanging out with folks that are into the same hobby, which I am not. I am not upset by this, but I do miss seeing them.

Another friend and his wife don’t go out on the weekends, but we do manage to get together on most Thursdays for dinner. I do enjoy that when I can make it, but we can’t always put it together. Of course, I don’t drink during the week so…..

Then there is a guy that is married, has kids, etc. As with most people that have a family he just can’t get together that often. He also moved a little further away and we just haven’t been speaking as much.

I have a friend that lives fairly far away and has a pretty hectic schedule. It’s very difficult to get his time for anything. We’ve been trying to get together with his wife and my g/f for months. Hasn’t happened.

And my g/f lives about 40 miles away. This has its advantages and disadvantages. When you want to hang out and have a beer or get a bite to eat it’s a disadvantage, especially when either of you have worked all day or you are tired. The last thing you want to do is kill yourself driving a couple of hours in traffic. I usually see her on the weekend, but that doesn’t mean that we spend all of our time together.

As for the others? There are people whom I would go have a beer with, and I would consider friends, but it’s not like we would normally hang out all the time anyway.

So, I enjoyed my two beers and my paella by myself while watching the usual bar-scene folks.

Small Home Project

Here are a couple of picture of a recent home project in which I mounted two guitar wall hangers to the wall. They are Hercules Hangers and you can pick them up for around $20 ea.
The hangers weren’t hard to install, but I suggest that if you can’t get a stud on the wall that you put in molly bolts, which I did. They seem to hold my guitars nicely and free up some floor space. I’ll probably buy a third one and also put it on the wall.

I needed a new stand to accommodate a new bass which I just got. I had wanted a bass for a while, but had just never gotten around to buying one. It wasn’t something I needed. I just wanted to be able to fill in some parts here and there when doing recordings.

As it turns out I had a TON of rewards points on my credit card. Surprisingly enough, they had a lot of musical equipment on there and when I was surfing around I found this bass. It’s a Schecter Omen Extreme 5-String Bass. I burned about ½ of my points, but it didn’t cost me a dime otherwise!!



I’m also glad I got the 5-string. I’m not a bass player and that is painfully evident when I play it, but I have really been making a lot of use out of the low B string. My fingers are mad at me right now as they are pretty sore from jamming on it for the last 2 days straight in a row. They’ll toughen up, but it will take a while.

Tooth Owie – I’m a Stud!

Or rather, I now have a stud. I finally got my implant put in this morning. While we didn’t plan on it my father, me, and my sister all had surgery this morning. I had my implant put in. My sister had a bone graft done on her jaw – so she could later get an implant, and my dad outdid us all by having a defibrillator & pacemaker combination put in.

I think I had the easiest time as it only took my surgeon about 30 minutes to do the procedure. It wasn’t painful, but there was a lot of pressure. I could actually feel the pressure difference in my skull when he put the implant in, and hearing them drill into my skull was a bit odd. You could “hear” it everywhere at once.

The doc offered to either put a temporary screw into the implant, in which case my gums would grow over it and they’d have to numb me up and cut me open again to get to it…..or I could have the little stud put in and they wouldn’t have to numb me up again. I’m not that vain so I went with option 2.

My sister apparently doesn’t do quite as well with dentists and what-not so they put her out for her ordeal, but I also understand that it’s a lot more invasive. Last I heard she was doing OK and resting up.

My dad also did just fine. When I went to see him at the hospital he was alert and seemed to be in a good mood. Other than him wearing a gown and having an incision just under his left collar bone you might not realize he just had surgery.

If you read the blog, you might recall that this started back in July!! Now I just have to wait about three months before I can get a new crown.

Giving Back to the Kiddies!

I’ve had a pretty good year financially. Sure, I’ve had some other issues this year, such as being diagnosed with diabetes, but I can’t complain financially. I’ve had a little extra money come in from natural gas revenue, and I’ve made a lot of money working my ass off all over the place.

If you are kid, stop reading this right now or you are going to be sorely disappointed…..

Now it’s that time of year to give back. I was recently reading an article on the post office secret Santa’s. When little kids write to Santa Clause the post office intercepts the mail and goes through it. The ones that are the obvious, standard, write to Santa letters are more or less discarded, but the ones that are clearly hard luck cases in need of help are pulled out and set aside. You can then volunteer to pick up a few of the letters and get the stuff for the kiddies. I wasn’t really aware of this program, but I typically do an Angel Tree, and participate in a toy run. Some years, I am unable to participate due to my schedule and I always feel terrible. But I was reading that article and it just killed me. It always kills me. I just can’t stand hearing about kids that need clothes and food and stuff.

When you are a little kid you are supposed to be asking Santa for a new bike, or Barbie, or baseball glove, or a bb gun or something. You’re not supposed to be asking for a new pair of jeans or some shoes because your parents can’t afford them this year. No kid should have to go through that. Think about it. You can ask for anything in the world, it’s Santa after all, and you are going through such hard times that you don’t even ask for toys. I can’t take it…seriously, practically tearing up just writing this.

So I go down to the Angel Tree and pick a few kids off the tree and try to get them what they need, plus a little extra so they can have some semblance of a Christmas. This year I grabbed a couple of kids off the tree – well not really the kids. They don’t stick the kids on a Christmas tree, that would be uncomfortable for the little bastards – and went off to do some shopping for them.

One of the kids is named Jose. He’s 12 and needs some jeans and stuff. I was at Target trying to find jeans in his size – a size 18, and I got really confused. Kids clothes are like chick clothes. They have sizes, not true measurements, and I couldn’t find anything that was a size 18. Everything at Target went up to a size 16 “husky” – why they don’t call it “chunky” I don’t know. I went around to the Adult isle just to make sure I wasn’t smoking crack, but think about how tiny someone would have to be to have an 18” waist. Nope, that wasn’t it. Apparently Jose is a fat bastard.

Being the resourceful person that I am I call my g/f up since she is near a computer and ask her if she can find some translation of kids size 18 to an adult size. I was thinking I just wasn’t getting it. But apparently there isn’t a translation. I guess one day you just stop buying kids clothes and start buying adult clothes. I’m not really sure how that works.

Anyway, so I explain my dilemma and ask her to help out. Naturally I tell her I luck out, and got a fat bastard, am having problems, and can she help? While she is looking the stuff up she says something to the effect of “why do they call them husky and not fat?” and I reply back “because it’s politically correct to say ‘my kid is husky’ and it’s not politically correct to say ‘my kid’s a fat bastard.’” Little did I know I was speaking more loudly than I should have and some mom overheard this. She was not pleased. I think she would have stabbed me to death or caused some other bodily harm if she could have gotten away with it. She turned around and huffed and puffed her way out of the department. I told my g/f this as I was laughing. We both agreed that her kid must also be a fat bastard.
I have to go to Old Navy tomorrow, because apparently they carry fat bastard clothes for little kids and Target only carry’s semi-fat bastard clothes for little kids. At least Jose will have some clothes he can wear and I got him an MP3 player and stuff, too.

The Salvation Army is doing the Angel Tree through Dec. 12th. Last day to “adopt” is the 11th and you have to have your stuff in on the 12th. If you can find the time, and a few extra bucks, please go down and help out. Some kid, fat or not, will really appreciate it and you’ll make their day!

Dean Markley Customer Service

Nope…this is not a rant about Dean Markley. Rather the opposite. I’ve played guitar longer than I care to admit. – over 20 years. I should be a lot better than I am, but I suck. I still play, but I think it’s some kind of self-torture at this point. I keep thinking I’ll get better, but I still suck.

Anyway, throughout the years I’ve tried a various types of strings, but my favorite and the one I always buy when I need new strings for my electric is Dean Markley Blue Steel. They carry a premium over the other strings, but I really like the way they play and sound.

The last two times I changed strings on my guitars I had at least one string that was bad. How can you tell that a string is bad? Well, if it’s not obvious when you pull it out of the package your intonation will be way off. Basically, intonation is the ability of the guitar to stay in tune anywhere on the neck. This is not a big deal, you just have to identify the bad string and replace it. However, when you are paying a slight premium for strings and have to open another set just to get one string it can be frustrating.

I wrote Dean Markley, explained what happened, and basically asked how this happens and wanted to let them know it was frustrating me. Not only did they write back and explain what might be causing it (defective batch), but offered to send me a few free sets. Now that is how customer service should be! Thanks Dean Markley!!

Assholes Get the Chicks

Anyone that has known me for any length of time has heard this before. I’d say it’s a long standing belief of mine, but it’s not a belief, it’s a fact. I recently picked up a Kindle Touch – the $99 one that comes with the ads. I’m too much of a cheap bastard to spring for the extra $30 and get the one without ads. I’m on the road (again) and using it to read my second e-book with it. The first thing I read was a novella by Stephen King. I keep meaning to do a quick write up on it, but I am not home and I am also still getting used to it, but so far I really like it.

But all of that is not the point. The second book I bought, and am about to finish, is called “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” by Tucker Max. I think they may have even made a movie about it. I wanted to read the book for a while, but it’s still in the $20 range at the book store, and I’m a cheap bastard. E-book version? $5.00… hey! This e-book thing isn’t so bad after all!! But, I digress… Anyway, so I pick the book up and start reading it. I didn’t realize this guy had a web site (still not sure of the name, but I am sure a Google will bring it up). He’s pretty intelligent, obtained a law degree, and comes from a wealthy family…and he’s a complete dick to women. And, he gets more pussy than just about anyone I’ve ever heard of except for major celebrities. Assuming that everything he writes is true I can’t believe he gets away with it, but reading the book just drives home the point that nice guys finish last. Let that be a lesson to you. Now, though, I think he is beyond the Tipping Point, and chicks sleep with him because he’s the “thing to do.” If you don’t know what the Tipping Point is, go read about it. It’s a book by Malcom Gladwell. Also an excellent book.

But seriously, the book is great. He writes well, it’s an easy read, and it’s highly entertaining. I found myself practically choking on the airplane as I was trying to keep myself from laughing out loud. It’s also mostly excerpts from his blog so the stories are fairly short and broken down into quick chapters – you can pick it up, read for just a few minutes, and put it back down without forgetting where you were in the book.

If you like reading about wild, crazy, drunken debauchery then this is the book for you…..