Taking care of business

Unfortunately I must do blog maintenance every once in a while.

Some blogs have gone defunct, some have moved or gone private. Check out my links if I have yours wrong or if you want yours added. Just send me an Email: bohab@hotmail.com.

I may have lost some readers along the way with off the cuff remarks or a badly worded joke about politics, sex or religion. If so I'm sorry.

The Democrat priest at the donkey show remark was not aimed at you personally. It's not my aim to offend anyone but at the same time I try to be true to myself and what I think is funny.

I'm still taking questions for Dear Hammer. I'll tackle just about anything you can throw at me. I know just enough to be dangerous. I will keep it anonymous unless otherwise requested. If you've got a problem silly or serious, lay it on me bohab@hotmail.com then visit http://hammeroid.wordpress.com/ for my answer.

I use rss feeds to see who has recently updated their blog and usually visit and read based on what it shows as new and updated.

There are a handful of you guys that have "feeds"disabled on your blog controls. Since I see this method of blog viewing as becoming the default it might be a good idea to enable this feature.

It will most likely increase your number of readers and the comments you receive. You can tell if you have feeds enabled if you see this on your browser bar when you are on your blog page.

If it's orange you are good to go. If it's gray then feeds are disabled

Letters

I got this idea from "M"

I wish we could send messages or little notes to the people we encounter throughout the day just to let them in on the impression they left during our brief interaction.

Dear: man driving behind me today. You were yelling, honking and gesticulating wildly as I obeyed the traffic laws in the school zone and were practically frothing at the mouth when I heeded the" no right on red between 2pm and 4pm" sign. I hope your head spontaneously explodes from your rage disorder. Have a nice day. P.S. Gore lost 7 years ago. You can scrape off the 18 bumper stickers now.

Dear: Lab lady at the doctors office. I'm glad you care so much about my health that you decided to rile me up with admonitions and accusations about my health management just before you took my blood pressure reading. I'm sure it helped tremendously.

Dear Doctor: I don't want to go on a litany of life altering medications just because my cholesterol, BP are on the high normal range. don't you think maybe sending me to a nutritionist or offering some lifestyle suggestions would be a better option before chucking a hogshead full of pills at me? Oh sorry, I forgot you are the guy who went to school for eight years to learn how to write an illegible prescription.

Dear: Neighbor lady: I'm so pleased that you invited my daughter to your son's birthday party on Saturday. I'm sure you are blissfully unaware that your little angel spent all of last year punching, throwing rocks at and humiliating my child. I hope you understand when I respectfully decline your invitation and hope your stinking brat is allergic to cake.

Dear Neighbor guy: Hi! Nice to meet you. I have only lived 2 houses down for almost nine years. I hold no hard feelings for when you called the neighborhood association on me twice without speaking to me to my face about the weeds in the drainage ditch or the size of boards I used when I built my new fence. When you finally decided to speak to me in the grocery store please forgive me if I really wasn't paying attention.

Dear Target employee partner boy man dude: When I asked if your store carried door knobs and you replied "I dunno" and went back to scratching at the lice that infest that greasy disgusting mop of hair on your head, just remember: you are probably going to be here the rest of your life.

This is about the funniest thing I've seen in a while.

Monday's musings

I used to follow baseball somewhat. My uncle Mark got me interested in the game, took me to see the Royals each summer and relayed some of his vast knowledge of players, stats and whatnot. I really started to lose interest after the bullshit strike in 94. I felt betrayed. I was a total non sports person who had grown to admire a sport and it's players, then they go shitting on the fans that made it possible for them to play ball for a living.

Now with all the steroid freaks, quarter billion dollar contracts and other such nonsense, baseball has become a dirty whore not deserving of my attention. I was surprised however, that the headlines announced the winner of the world series. I had no idea what teams were playing or even that the series was going on. Oh well...

I went to a pumpkin patch thing with the family in Medina Texas yesterday. It was my family, my nephews family and my in laws. There was a petting zoo, hay ride, roasted corn, a maze, crafts and such. I really wasn't enthused about going at first, but the weather was nice so I bit the bullet and made the best of it. The kids had fun and that's the main thing.

I'm finding myself more and more disgusted with people and their problems. I wish we could go back to the good old days where everyone kept their dirty laundry tucked away and didn't air it out in public. It's stressful and embarassing to listen to. I never liked soap operas, Jerry Springer or any of that nonsense and I sure as hell don't want to participate in that shit in real life.

The older I get, the more jaded and disillusioned I become. This world is driven by money sex and power. Whenever there is an imbalance of any of these three items, things tend to go into the shitter.

People tend to only act nice when they think they can get something out of you. I have met more liars, crooks, and con artists working in professional roles that I ever have out in the streets.

Don't get me wrong, there are some nice, hard working, honest people out there, but it seems they don't make it in sales, customer service or government bureaucracies.

Some words of advice:

Never tell anyone any more than they have to know.

When faced with a person in power who wants something ridiculous, you can agree and then usually do whatever you want. They just wanted to be placated.

It's better to fight battles on your own terms.

Before speaking, first say the words out loud in your head and imagine the reaction of your audience. I can't tell you how many times I've kept my foot out of my mouth that way.

This post might be a little heavy for a Monday. so I'll end it with these.

Hammer's 34th and fun with photshop.

It never fails.

I've been building and fixing computers since I first started tinkering with the IBM PS/2 I bought when I quit my life sucking dead end corporate job. I had assembled and tested computer peripherals, modems and multiplexers for several years but never once knew a damn thing about them. It was time for me to get into the age of technology.

Slowly but surely, I gained enough knowledge to where I was helping friends and family with their computers. By 1997 PC troubleshooting, repair and everything that went with it became a full time career.

I soon found that each computer no matter the similarity of their parts had a distinct personality of it's own. At times, the problems that arose were confounding and made absolutely no sense. There was a technical term for this: "Flaky" Yep computers are Flaky, infuriating pieces of steaming dog crap. They are both bane and benefactor.

Nothing is ever easy when it comes to troubleshooting.

I once spent an hour trying to reinstall Windows on a computer when it would inexplicably lock up after 25 min into the installation. I was cursing Bill Gates and his minions to the deepest pits of hell when I finally realized there was a dog hair stuck to the install CD.

I can't tell you how many lucrative service calls were just people that thought their monitor was the PC and didn't know they had to push the power button on the box below. Unplugged speakers and keyboards were another easy service call. Tangled, confusing, rats nests of confusing wires kept bread on my table for a good long time.

When I finally hung up my tool bag for good and started my career as a full time Dad, I was like a retired gun fighter. People kept urging me to pick up my tools once again and tear into some rogue computer. Alas, I told them I was done fighting viruses, locked hard drives and dust clogged power supplies. I wanted to get out while I was still on top of my game.

Yesterday however, I purchased a couple memory sticks for my PC. I went into the bios setup to increase the memory speed to 400 MHz when the damn thing went haywire.

It was a nightmare. When I booted up there was a squealing noise and nothing but gibberish on the screen. When I tried to start windows it would do nothing or just sit at the startup screen with that infuriating little moving "status bar" that I found out years ago is actually fucking meaningless.

I tried everything. But either my computer would lock up, give an error message or do nothing. It had become flaky. In relative terms, if this happened to a horse you'd have to shoot it.

Just when I was about to chunk the thing out the window I tried resetting the BIOS to default one more time. For some odd reason it allowed me to save and continue. Then windows started normally. I'm pissed because that is 4 hours of my life I'm never getting back but I'm also relieved I'm not going to have to buy $600 worth of parts to rebuild the damn thing when I not even sure what was broken.

Well at least the experience inspired some funny new cuss words.

The weirdness in my household.

I seriously hate it when people call me on the telephone. I think it's because for so long every call I received was somebody wanting me to do heavy lifting or some spiel by telemarketing assholes.

When I do decide to answer... HELLO! (stunned silence on the other end) HELLO!!!??? (errr umm...) I give them 5 seconds to coherently identify themselves and state their business ..if not they get abruptly hung up on. I figure if they can't spit it out in the ample time provided...too bad.

At 3:45 AM I heard a commotion out in the hall. I wearily stumbled out and saw my youngest daughter covered in toothpaste. I was furious. She lied and said her sister squirted it all over her as she slept. I seriously doubted her story because my other girl was sick with the flu and sound asleep. Finally the truth came out. We bought a new tube of fancy toothpaste and daughter dear didn't want anyone to use it. So she hid it under her pillow. It was the pump type and apparently it emptied all into the bed.

I don't know where she gets these crazy ideas.

I caught whatever illness the kids have. The pediatrician said whatever virus is going around either gives you a fever and chills or terrible vomiting and diarrhea. Guess which one I got?

Good news though, I checked my blood pressure and it has gone down to 129/89 not great but it may help when the doctor decides what to do about it.

2 Meme's I may have missed

A meme from Kate "the desktop snapshot."

I got this meme from Random Moments.

It's a challenge but I'll try.

List 5 things that you consider an accomplishment but might be considered lame by others.

1. I once completed a 12 mile marathon. I had blisters the size of watermelons and I couldn't climb stairs for a week.


2. I can consistently shoot a beer can out of a tree at 75 yards with my .45 pistol.


3. I'm a master at most trivia games. (as long as they don't involve sports)


4. I know all my state capitols

5. I can sing in a high falsetto like Tiny Tim ( I'll do anything to get people to laugh)


I'll tag anyone who wants to do these. I can't remember which of you folks told me you are meme haters.

Hammer's 33rd Pretty twisted.

Enjoy

Wondering again

Do birds fart? I think it would be a definite advantage for them to have some extra thrust.

I find it pointless to fill my bird feeder. They just eat the dog food and shit all over the kid's slide and swing set.

Why do people I barely know feel the need to talk to me when I see them in public? My demeanor does not welcome unwanted advances or conversation or at least that is my goal.

Why in the fuck do the ladies at the grocery store end the transaction with "that will be $94.63 pretty please". I've already swiped my debit card and the machine says what I owe. I thought the ridiculous "pretty please" crap was just one crazy lady but now they have three doing it.

I avoid those lanes when I can...hmm maybe that's their plan.

When two people driving opposite directions on my street see each other, decide to stop, roll down their windows and have a 15 min conversation do they not give a damn that I'm waiting behind them or trying to pull out of my driveway? I really don't want to be an obnoxious asshole to my neighbors but they leave me no choice.

How does a hitchhiker that looks like Charles Manson but dirtier and crazier expect to get a ride? The only person who would pick them up would have to be crazier and scarier.

Al Gore wins the peace prize, Dumbledor is gay, California is on fire, Turkey is invading Iraq, Russia is claiming the north pole for themselves... Why don't we have a news channel with 24 hour happy news?

What the hell is up with these medicine advertisements on TV. "Ask your doctor about Dweebozan if you have restless legs...Some people have reported possible side affects of explosive bloody diarrhea, memory loss, heart damage, sex and gambling addictions or death." No.. I am not kidding. I'll deal with my twitching leg thank you.

Thoughts and follow up

The not buying Chinese products thing is going really well except for the fact that my daughter got about 2 tons of the shit for her birthday. Personally I just stopped buying things, repair what I can and pawnshop the rest. It's actually kind of fun.

My Father is coming along with his knee replacement recovery quite well. Apparently his wife Samantha who has been treating him so badly has developed severe case of Diabetes to the point where she is unable to get in control. This is what she blames for her piss poor behavior. This lady (using the term loosely) has never once paid attention to what she eats and I doubt she has the willpower to stop shoveling crap into her mouth. We'll see what happens to her.

Like I mentioned it was my daughters birthday on Saturday and we did the bowling party thing, inviting her friends from school. About 12 RSVP'd and 4 showed up. One greasy loser brought two extra kids and proceeded to head to the bar and get drunk while his brats tried to rip down the Halloween decorations and stick their fingers in the cake. I can be a real R. Lee Ermy when spoiled little fuckers try to piss on my parade.

One little bastard refused to bowl because his name wasn't on the score screen. he screamed " I CAN"T ROLL BECAUSE THAT"S NOT MY NAME!!!!!!!." I gritted my teeth and told him "I don't give a damn what it says, roll the frigging ball or sit down and let someone else do it" I don't know how these kids act at home but I'm sure as hell glad I'm not there to see it.

I've got a doctors appointment in a week for my blood pressure. I'm going to try my damnedest to get it fixed myself before I go so he doesn't put me on pills. I really don't want to start that shit but I will if I have to.

The diet is going well and I'm feeling a lot better. Luckily lite beer is still on my meal plan. I just put some lime in it to make it healthier.

Oh well I guess that's enough for now... here's a funny

Updates on stuff.

I've missed blogging the last week or so but I'm feeling well enough get back in front of the computer. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Earlier this week, I was getting dressed in the morning I noticed a strange mark on my stomach. It was a hard pea sized purple knot surrounded by a reddish pink area the size of a quarter.

I figured shit..not another spider bite. The last few I had were festering and annoying but this one was bigger and nastier looking than the ones I had previously.

I wiped the area with alcohol, dug out the knot in the center of the bite with a sterilized steak knife and packed it with a mixture of silvadene cream and golden seal powder. This concoction usually cures everything.

I kept an eye on that day and later that evening red blotches started appearing in spots around the bite and they were getting darker. I felt feverish and nauseous.

I thought, well fuck a duck, either the bite is spreading or I have some kind of staph infection.

When my wife got home I told her I should probably see a doctor. This is rare for me because I hadn't really seen one since I got my appendix out in 93.

At the emergency room they took one look at the area and quickly got me into a room , started an IV and took some blood.

I guess my home made doctoring had done some good because she said I could probably just take some shots, stay a few hours for observation and she would prescribe some oral antibiotics.

It turned out to be a good thing I went because part of the reason I felt so bad was because my blood pressure was something like 199 over 119 and they were very concerned. The doctor told me to cut the salt from my diet and get to a regular doctor right away.

I started feeling better as soon as I got home and over the next couple days the red spot started shrinking and the fever finally broke last night.

I'm not sure what kind of spider it was but luckily it got me where I had some fat instead of near anything important.

So now I'm on the mend. I had never paid attention to the salt content of my food before. When I took inventory of what I was eating, it looks like I was consuming at least 5000mg per day. It looks like that fact alone is part of my blood pressure problem.

So now I have to find a low sodium, low carbohydrate, meat free diet. I wonder if I should just say fuck it and find a field to graze in.

apologies

Sorry I haven't been around this week. I've been recovering from a spider bite. Had to go to the hospital when it started to spread. They gave me some antibiotics and I'm starting to feel better.

I hope to be back to normal in a day or two.

Happy Wednesday

They should show this in the theatre before every movie.



In case this youtube link doesn't work click the link below.

Movie intro link<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I've got a full plate this week so to speak but I will be by to visit you guys later on this evening.

Brie Recipe

............................................................................................................................................................................................ A lot of people don't like Brie. It's probably due to the strong flavor of the rind. I usually avoid that part myself and just stick to the good part in the middle.

Here is a quick and easy recipe I tried the other night that turned out really well.

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Ingredients:

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1 large round of Brie or 2 thick wedges about 10 oz more or less.

2 granny smith or any crisp tart apples of your choice

1/2 of a medium white onion

2 oz of raspberry preserves

1 pinch of salt

2 tbs olive oil

Slice the brie open lengthwise making two equal halves and place it into a shallow oven safe casserole dish with the soft part of the cheese facing up.

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Slice the onion into very thin rings.

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Heat a skillet to medium high and add 1tbs olive oil, onions and salt. Cook the onions until they are light brown and caramelized. Set aside.

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Peel and slice the apples into bite size wedges and saute them in olive oil until they begin to carmelize. Set aside.

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Preheat the oven broiler and place the cheese inside for a few minutes to soften it up.

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In a small sauce pan heat the raspberry preserves. You can splash in a little white wine or brandy if you choose.

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Once Brie barely starts to melt take it out of the broiler and add a layer of the caramelized onions and apples on top and again place in the broiler for about 2 min. Watch it carefully.

Using a spatula arrange the cheese apples and onions on a serving plate and lightly drizzle the hot raspberry preserves over the Brie. You can get decorative with it if you want.

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This goes well with white wine and makes a good appetizer.

Ten things I've learned in life.

1. You will never succeed in trying to please someone who maintains a negative outlook on life. There will always be something wrong with whatever you give or do for them.

2. If you see someone driving dangerously, erratically and without regard to the safety of others, you can assume one of three things: The driver is a testosterone filled punk, is drunk or on a cell phone. Maybe all three.

3. Pretty much anything you read, see on TV, or hear by word of mouth is misrepresented, embellished, misinformed or just an outright lie. Luckily, many blogs devote themselves to refuting these mainstream deceptions.

4. Anytime you see someone on TV selling a system that will supposedly make you thousands of dollars per day with little effort, consider this; if their system works so well, why don't they just do it and keep all the money for themselves?

5. A true friend will tell you things you may not want to hear.

6. People complain about being gouged and ripped off by companies charging high prices. As a result many folks support laws regulating prices. In reality, companies only charge what the market will bear. Whenever prices are regulated by the government, it creates massive shortages due to the fact that companies will not produce items that they cannot sell at a profit.

7. People with a shitty out look on life need to pull their heads out of their asses and come up for air every once in a while.

8. It is a waste of time trying to help someone who doesn't even bother to help themselves.

9. A Socialist will give the shirt off YOUR back to help his fellow man.

10. A TV evangelist who makes millions of dollars from his fame and ministry is uniquely qualified to preach about sin.

Here and there

My new roof looks pretty good. Some sloppy bastard slopped tar on the paint so I made them come back and clean it up. Then I noticed the lazy sombitches didn't clean when they finished the previous day, so I had them sweep the whole yard with a big magnet. They probably found 400 used roofing nails. I guess it's better than me finding one lodged in my foot

When the guys came out to fix those minor issues, I paid them 50 bucks to climb up and putty the holes where squirrels had chewed through the wood siding. I had already removed the stuff from the attic that the little rat bastards had been nesting in. I needed their entry point closed up. Luckily the roofers had putty the exact color of my paint so it saved me from having to borrow a ladder and do it myself. I don't do well with heights so I'm glad they had to come out after all.

I was noticing all of the roofing and landscaping guys eat take out barbecue and drink sodas from the convenience store every day for lunch. It's got to be expensive doing that six days a week but nevertheless it seems almost all of them do it.

When I was working low wage manual labor, I made my lunch at home and drank water from a fountain. On Friday nights, I would treat myself to a Jumbo cherry coke from the fast food joint across the street from work. There was no way I could eat out and buy dollar soft drinks every day and still pay the bills. I wonder how they do it?

The other morning after I dropped the kids off at school, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up food for the week. As I was getting ready to check out, there was a lady with a small boy, an infant in one hand and a few groceries in the other. I was opening my mouth to ask her to go ahead of me. Before I could speak she sneered at me and asked in a bored contemptuous tone " can I go in front of you?" I was taken aback by her rude snide attitude but before my mind could react,I gestured for her to move in front of me.

She didn't thank me of course, and then she proceeded to do the same thing to the other two people in line in front me. Of course, there was no good way for anyone to refuse her or tell her where to shove it without looking like a total asshole.

I don't know why I let things like this bug me.

7 things

Tweety tagged me to write 7 things about myself. I'll try not to repeat things I've said before.

1. When faced with difficult and painful things in life I prefer to suffer in silence. There really isn't anyone who can help me so I figure why should I bring people down.

2. I'm torn between being disgusted by the way some people conduct themselves and live their lives and following my live and let live philosophy.

3. I get embarrassed around people who argue, fuss and raise hell. My first instinct is to get the hell away from the situation. Many people do not understand my reaction at all and consider it weird.

4. I do not forgive easily. In fact almost never. I may act like I have forgotten about a serious transgression but whenever I'm around that person it's all I can think about. I don't seek revenge, retribution or anything I just never trust them again with anything important.

5. The only thing I hate worse than cruel evil people are those who sit back, do nothing and pretend something bad is not happening. If I see some wrongdoing taking place, I act immediately. Failure to act and living to regret it is a fate worse than death.

6. I sometimes have a problem telling if someone is lying to me or not. I usually assume the best but take most things with a grain of salt and bide my time until they contradict themselves at a later date. Once someone starts lying consistently I innocently throw previous tidbits back at them to gauge their reaction.

7. Pretty much anyone I consider a friend is in the blog world now. I'm pretty much disgusted with everyone I know personally outside of my immediate nuclear family. I'm thankful for all you nice folks who open your lives on your blogs and come by to visit and comment on mine.

Diet...AKA lifestyle change

Quite a few of you nice folks have asked about this pound a day diet I'm on. I have to say it's not for everybody but it works for my metabolism. It's sort of like Atkins but is tuned to my being a vegetarian.

Basically, I eat low starch vegetables, eggs, cheese, soy meat substitutes, nuts, peanut butter, salads etc..

It sounds boring but I figure I'm creative enough to work with these ingredients to make them taste good.

The key to this diet is the low carbohydrates. Starches turn directly into fat in my body and I'm able to handle protein and vegetables much better.

Here is a typical menu:

Breakfast:

3 egg omelet made with broccoli and cheese and 2 soy sausage patties.

Lunch: 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 sliced zucchini sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Greek salad with olives and feta.

snack: 1 cup mixed nuts or 2 celery stalks filled with cream cheese or peanut butter.

Dinner: Vegetable medley, soy burger or a large garden salad topped with hard boiled eggs and shredded cheese.

I'm drinking lots of water and green tea as well because burning off fat requires frequent flushing.

So far it's going well. I've lost about 15 pounds and just need to keep up the momentum. I'm feeling good physically and my mood is much improved.

Like I said, this isn't for everybody. People react differently to certain foods so your mileage may vary.

Now to work some exercise into this plan somehow...

Columbus day

They finished my roof. It looks ok but we'll see when it rains. The Electricians installed two big fans up there to pull some of the hot air out of the attic. I had to do something to prevent more $350 per month electric bills.

The wife and kids had a 24 hour stomach bug. Luckily there were enough bathrooms to go around. I worry about the girls the most because they are so little they can dehydrate very quickly. Everyone seems to be doing better. Now I'm waiting for my turn with the Hershey Squirts.

I got to miss the school fair. Lucky me. There wasn't any parking for several blocks so I dropped everyone off and picked them up when it was over. The kids won two cakes doing the cake walk. Just in time for my diet. My mother in law donated a cake to the so I didn't have to bake one.

Speaking of diets, mine is going pretty good. Only problem is I lose weight all over my body starting with my face, legs and waist. My middle is the last to go. I'm just going to have to suck in my gut so I don't look pregnant.

The kids are off for Columbus day. From what I understand ol Chris was pretty much an asshole, a slaver and plunderer who saw the new world as just another commodity to exploit. All these romantic notions of him discovering the world is round and befriending the natives is pretty much horse shit.

I'll be around today to see what everyone is up to.

John Wayne's 100th

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne

I was too young to appreciate John Wayne when he was alive. He was one of those guys that had been around forever and I just figured he always would be.

There weren't many like him and the further we move into the 21st century I certainly don't see anyone filling his shoes.

Blog Evolution meme

Evolution of my blog meme
I have been tagged by Lexcen to list five posts that chart the evolution of my blog.

Since I've recently been going back through some old posts and thinking..."who the hell wrote that crazy shit?" I figure it might be an interesting little project.

I think I started things off with quite a few rants like this one
http://whenyouronlytoolisahammer.blogspot.com/2006/09/gun-shows-suck.html

Ranting is sometimes considered the lowest form of blogging but damnit, it makes me feel better.

Soon I moved to stories from my childhood.

http://whenyouronlytoolisahammer.blogspot.com/2006/10/growing-up-with-chocolate-tallywhacker.html

So many weird and disturbing things went on in my youth, I went on with these stories for a good long while.

Then I figured that it might be good to try to share some of the things I've learned in life so I wrote some posts giving advice.

http://whenyouronlytoolisahammer.blogspot.com/2006/09/parenting-tips.html

I sometimes try to be funny with varying degrees of success. http://whenyouronlytoolisahammer.blogspot.com/2006/09/tootsie-roll.html

Most recently I've been making slideshow/video montages. Sometimes they're worth a chuckle.


I tag JP Mutley Alandp JAM and H2O

On a lighter note.

The meeting at school went well. Everyone there was totally on our side and the IEP was re written to address little miss asshole teacher's objections. Daughter starts going to the class on Friday. We were assured that the teacher will not retaliate. We'll see.

Gary is alive, he has been leaving "I'm sorry" messages on my cell phone. I'm not talking to this asshole till I cool off.

My 9 year old lethargic Dachshund Marvin caught and killed a squirrel yesterday. My girls saw him do it. When I went outside he was gnawing on the little tree rat and had managed to consume the tasty eyeballs.

It was hell trying to get the carcass away from Marvin but I finally got it with BBQ tongs and flung it into the green belt behind the house. I'll tell you one thing, his hunting instinct has kicked in full gear. He's a mean little six pound sombitch.

I started a diet again and have given up bread and most starches. Weight just drops off me when I cut the carbs to the tune of a pound a day. I was getting uncomfortable in my clothes so I'll probably drop fifty pounds just in time for Thanksgiving.

The contractors and insurance company are still haggling over my broken shower. I have a feeling I will need lube before this is all over. I'm getting a new roof tomorrow. The people delivered the materials today and put it all up on the roof with a big truck equipped with a conveyor belt arm.

The kids have a school fair on Friday. It's a big event with cake walks, dunking booth, roasted corn and funnel cakes. Personally I dislike being around school assholes and the parents of little brats but I'm obligated to go for my kids sake so they can have some fun.

I even have to bake a cake for the home room PTA bullshit my wife signed me up for. I wonder if they like licorice and green tea icing?

Pissed off

I haven't been blogging and visiting normally the last several days if you haven't already noticed.

My wife finally got her vacation, which is good. We enjoyed the week and I took care of everything so she wouldn't have to spend her time off doing menial bullshit.

On Friday, I got a call from the special education teacher that is helping my son with his ADHD and my daughter with her speech problems. She informed us that the reading teacher was refusing to allow my daughter into her class, her excuse being that my daughter read too well to be allowed special help. If you remember, her last teacher tried to fail her and assured us she would fail any subsequent grades from then on.

We insisted my daughter be promoted and get special help. The IEP (Education plan) they came up with required speech therapy, special reading help and one on one tutoring from time to time.

Armed with this information we contacted her teacher and the principal and asked them why they were not allowing my daughter the services they had promised to provide. The principal called back and apologized and said she would get it fixed.

We got another call from the special ed teacher telling us that the reading teacher had gone above everyones head and contacted the school district and informed them of a loophole in the my daughter's education plan and informed them that she was not required to teach my daughter.

I don't know what this fucking teacher's problem is but she seems dead set on not doing her job.

We have to go set up another plan this morning with the school in order to force this teacher to do her fucking job. I'm ready for a fight.

To make matters worse, My friend Gary came over Friday night so he could attend my nieces birthday party the next day. We sat around, had a couple of beers, watched TV and everyone went to sleep about 11:00PM.

I woke up at 5:00am and I thought someone had left a loud TV on. There were loud voices coming from my office. I groggily walked in and there was Gary at my computer playing a video game drunk off his ass and yelling at the screen. Apparently he woke up as soon as I went to bed, stayed up all night and drank all the beer in my fridge.

I told Gary to keep his voice down and to stop yelling obscenities. He got argumentative and belligerent with me. Telling me I was full of shit and he didn't do nothin. I walked out and tried to go back to sleep when he started yelling again. This time he woke the whole house up.
I was livid. I walked in and told Gary to shut the fuck up, lay on the couch and sleep it off.

He got pissed off and said he was just going to leave.

No matter how pissed off I was I wasn't going to let him drive in that condition. He isn't normally that belligerent but when he gets enough booze in him he turns into the biggest asshole on the planet. I took his keys and told him to sleep it off. I blocked the door and he started yelling even louder for me to get the fuck out of his way and give him his keys.

He finally pushed his way outside and I was considering hog tying him but thought better of it.
I was more worried about the neighbors calling the police. I had the keys, but Gary got into his unlocked his truck and passed out.

I was about as pissed off and I've ever been at this drunk asshole. So I went inside to fume for a while. When I finally looked outside I saw that Gary had used a spare key and had driven off.

I just prayed that he wasn't going to kill himself or anyone else.
At about 6:00am I got a call, it was Gary yelling "help! help! then the phone went dead.

I had no idea what happened but I decided to let him figure this one out on his own.

I think I'm done with Gary. I cannot have this kind of bullshit around my family.

Anyways, I'll be around to visit everyone later today after my school meeting.