Little Bear update

I have been a horrible father in the fact that my little girl is growing up and I haven’t taken many pictures. I have no excuses.

So here is an update on how she is doing.

She is trying to walk. She can stand up really fast and then she will hold on to the couches and skirt around them…they are set up like a U shape.

She has popped 5 teeth…COUNT’EM 5!!!!!! The top three look a little like .

She sings at the drop of a hat. She dances to any music that is around…even bluegrass. woo hoo

She is trying to put words together. She now knows and correctly uses the following words (mind you, she is not yet 11 months):

Wall, Up, PopPop, MomMom, Nana, Light, Book, Bite. She has learned that Al (the big dog) pants and she imitates that. We ask, “Bear, what does Al say?” She sticks her tongue out a little and pants.

She is using her signs as well. So far she knows the signs to the following:

Drink, Eat, sleepy, Hi and Bye

She is growing up so fast. I’ll try to get some pictures on vacation next weekend.

Weekendings August 31-Sept 2

Well, my weekend got off to an early start.

Thursday at 4:30 p.m. I clocked out of work from Samford and hopped in the “Gas Saver” to go to the next place…as usual. Now, the previous Thursday, the same thing happened, but this time it was different. This time, I was behind the wheel and got even closer to having a major accident. Why? Well, by Thursday at 4:30, I have already been on the go for 41 of my 74 hours of work each week. by Thursday afternoon, I am exhausted. I fell asleep behind the wheel again. By the grace of God I didn’t have an accident, but knew that actions had to be taken. I finally get to work and finish my shift. Weave my way home for a nap before Friday @ 5:30’s wake up call.

At 7:15, my body says, “Dude, it is too bright outside for you to be in bed, right?” I called in to Samford. I could feel that I wouldn’t have been a bit of good. I would get there and slober all over myself all day and wouldn’t have the presence of mind to pull my fingers out of the industrial-sized paper shredder when they got caught. I slept until about 9 a.m. Slightly refreshed, and I do emphasize slightly, I get up, grab my shower and head toward the coffee pot. No love there. I drive, safely, to O’Reilly’s to ask about parts for the Taurus. The day zips by…next thing I know, it is time to head to the restaurant. I finish up there by about 10:30 p.m. and head home for a nap.

Saturday is always family day. Well, it is really more like family half-day since I have to work the restaurant on Saturdays. This Saturday was different. Lovely, little Bear, and I hop in the Gas Saver and drive to pick up a nice, but slightly worn outfit for her reunion thing that night. I chatted with my Papa for a while which was a good thing. I called in to the restaurant to remind them that I wouldn’t be there and off to Logan’s on 150. We had a blast. I got to see an old friend and got to meet new ones.

Sunday had it’s highs and lows. Church was fantastic. It was and still is a hard message to swallow, but I’m still gulping away at it. After church we grab a very quick bite and then back home so I can crawl in the Taurus for a while. To no avail, I worked on the car about three and a half hours. It started getting dark and I blew about $100 just trying to breathe life into the deflated lungs of the Taurus. (An update is coming today.) I threw my hands up and retreated inside and slothed in front of the BeasTV. I called it a pseudo-late night in order to catch a wink before the wake-up call and off the work today.

Weekend rating…
Family time – 8.5
Working time 5.0
Fun time – 7.0
Rest time – 3.0

Overall I think the weekend was a success.

Labor Day…no really!!!

Well, it is Labor Day today.

Am I chillin’ on the beach or out by the pool? Somewhere sunny and relaxing?

NOPE!!!!

I’m at work. Yep. That’s right. Samford believes that we should actually labor on Labor Day. So as a tribute of my having to work today, click the link for the story behind Labor Day…’cause I gotta get back to the freakin’ grind.

Enjoy!!!

Act Responsibly

While cleaning up after closing the restaurant tonight, I heard a little story about a certain tequila called Cabo Wabo. The restaurant has started carrying selling some different drinks along with higher quality alcohols. Better tequilas like Patron and Cabo Wabo and other drinks like Smirnoff and RedBull. Well, there was this friend of one of the managers there tonight. She wanted some tequila-based drinks…like top shelf margarita. So she got a small pitcher. I don’t think she ate…this week. She wasn’t even half way through it and she was screamin’ for water and hittin’ on the little Mexican boy statue that stands slumped up front of the restaurant.

Next thing you know, the manager of the evening pulls out a bottle of Cabo and gives her a shot along with the salt shaker and lime. Just a flick of the wrist, toss of her hair, and sour face from the lime…there went $10.95. Sure, it pushes the price of the tickets up so you “typically” get a bigger tip…unless the customers decide that the fact that they flirted with you the whole time you waited on them was tip enough.

Regardless of that…Here is something that I realized tonight at work. It is by no means politically correct. Here goes…

I think the real reason guys get girls drunk (and vice versa) is because, yes, they lose there inhibitions. The alcohol-glaze also helps to reveal the real person.

Thinking back further I remember people getting drunk in college and even back in high school. I didn’t hang with that crowd, but I would still run into them. They reaked of Pabst Blue Ribbon or Mad Dog and Waffle House food or some other low health rating diner that was sure to serve food that would cause serious issues when the “liquid fun” reverses the gravity.

This point of the story…if you are going to drink something, please eat before hand. If you have a low tolerance don’t order more than you can drink responsibly. You see, I know that if I go somewhere and have a drink, then if I am driving, I should have no more than one beer. That’s it! Now, if I am going to be somewhere for a while, say home or a jazz bar or something, then I can responsibly consume 2-3 beers, but no more than that. (I am a sipper anyway.) I drink for taste, not to get blitzed. The idea of doing shots or shooters is pointless to me. If you can’t enjoy the taste, then why spend the money. I guess that is another reason I never got into drugs. Why do it? It is all about seeing things fuzzy and loosening your inhibitions. I don’t need any of that.

So. If you are a party person, just remember. Drink all you want…AT HOME!!! If you are driving, just don’t drink alcohol. There are too many beautiful souls on this earth for you to kill them or permenantly disable them.

You can’t make an omelette without…

Not that I’m wishing anything bad on myself, but I wish something would happen where I could still have money but could slow down for a few weeks. I only have a week and a half before Guitar Madness begins with two beginner classes and one level 2 class. That covers Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. Friday and Saturday back at Salsa’s Cantina and Grill. Two Sunday nights per month @ the Lovelady Center each month. This will leave for very little time for anything else. Of course, all of this is going on while I am working for SU Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Crunch those numbers. I will be away from home and family a good bit. (This is not good.) Here is the latest figures.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday – I leave the house @ 7a.m. The classes are over @ 8 p.m., but I have to reset the classroom and clean the board. I leave the classroom by 8:15 and get home at nearly 9 p.m. – Total for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday? 14 hours per day – 42 hours

Wednesday will be the easiest schedule. Leave @ 7 a.m., home by 5 p.m. Total – 10 hours

Friday is the longest by far. Leave the house 7 a.m., leave SU by 4:45 p.m. and make the best time fighting rush hour traffic to make it to the restaurant. Start waiting tables by 5:15 p.m. Finish up at the restaurant usually by about 10:30 p.m. Total for Fridays – 15.5 hours

Saturday – a little more relaxed – Family time in the a.m., get to the restaurant by 4p.m. and stay until 10:30 again. Total for Saturdays – 6.5 hours

Sundays are tricky because it isn’t paid and you can’t really call it work. It does fill the schedule though. When I’m playing in the band here is the schedule…

Leave the house by 7:30, Practice at 8 a.m. until 9:30ish. Service @ 10 a.m. and it draws to an end usually around 12:15. Then off for a psuedo-relaxed lunch with Lovely and little Bear, back to the church to go over a song or two and to grab a guitar, back in the vehicle of the day and off to Loveladys by 5 p.m. Service from 6 p.m. to roughly 7 p.m. After that it is usually slow poke home to pass out in front of the tube or listen to the latest happenings from the people around me or to watch my in-laws play with little Bear. Off to bed by 11ish all to start over with Monday. Total for Sunday – aw, we won’t count it. I don’t think I have to…

So between Monday @ 7 a.m. and Saturday by the time I get home I have worked…

74 hours – give or take

So, what is the outcome of all of this? I am freakin’ exhausted. My co-workers only pull in 37.5 hours a week. I nearly double that. (Slackers)

I think things will smooth out by the first of the year. I hope so at least.

I know this one thing…I am getting away for a day or two within the next couple of weeks. I am going to cherish it.

No real time to post!!!!

Folks, it is peak season for the old Loan Office.

I don’t really have any time to post. It may be a few days ’till you hear from me again.

Sorry. I know I’m leaving you hanging by a thread.

Just a bit of update.

Car-broke

Lovely-beautiful

Little Bear – now has 5 teeth and also enjoys new forward-facing car seat

Miguel el Toro – pulling 70+ hours per week again

Guitar lessons – picking up in September – three nights per week

The rest of life will just have to wait.

peace out

Sleep…I bid you a fond adieu

What keeps me going today: Royal Cup Coffee
What moves my feet today: The fact that my shoes are slick on the bottom
I could do without: Peak seasons

Welcome back, students.

That what everyone is saying around here. All the know-it-all, rebellious Freshman are getting their first taste of debt all while they are smacking their gum at you. It is one person right after the other.

It began yesterday…Thursday. It was move-in day for the incoming freshman. Parents hovered over their kids for the last time while they, the kids, ignored the loan counseling like Bueller and the teacher played by Ben Stein. I even tried to throw some jokes and word slips in just to see if they were listening…they weren’t.

I’m sure it would help if I was running on full steam, but my steam for the week ran out about mid-day Thursday. No coffee is really working. No sugar or sweets could help. There is only one solution for the fever I have…and it isn’t more COWBELL.

IT’S MORE SLEEP THAT WILL SOOTHE THIS SAVAGE BEAST!!!

In time I will find my rest. In time I will be at peace again. In time I will make friends with my pillow and have a great relationship with it. But until then…I will nearly run into vehicles in front of me on the road because I have fallen asleep while I’m driving. I’ll make mistakes on orders. I’ll cut my hands up while I am trying to cut lemons and limes for the customers at the restaurant.

Such is my life…


Publicizing your privacy

~people~

I had an experience over the weekend. Last week I posted something…a fairly private and sensitive subject regarding my daughter and her well-being. Now, previously, I had mentioned something on this blog that if you read the words of the Miguel el Toro blog, then keep it to yourself. Well, shame on me. I actually believed that people would do that. Worst of all, the blog was blabbed to Lovely by title and subject matter. It wasn’t that she didn’t know about what happened. She was right there when the whole thing happened that brought on the daughter-in-peril blog. I had just pulled a “good’un” and I didn’t think anything of how sensitive the subject matter was, but Lovely was much more in tune to the sensitivity of the entry.

So, point being this. You may hear about the Taurus. You may hear about cute things little bear does. I’m sure that you’ll hear about stuff I’m learning about from God (if He is speaking to me after this rant). But I won’t tell anything more than that. Why? Because some people can’t follow simple directions. They want to try to make friends. I can’t help people that are socially retarded. Suck it up, people.

As a result, my private crap will be saved for somewhere and someone else…not for you to pick through like damn vultures.

You may ask, “Is this blog entry pointed at someone particular?” My ultra-sarcastic response, “Wow!!! It looks like we have the next freakin’ nuclear scientist here!”

"I just felt like running…"

What keeps me going today: Today is not yesterday…it is a new day
What moves my feet today: “The sultry sounds of my voice…”
I could do without: Country music

I was thinking this weekend about a few things. I guess I was in Ponderville. I was talking to Lovely last night over some hummus and pita. I started talking about how we have moved to a very instant gratification type world as to how we are rewarded and how we expect the fruit of our labor. In the old days, a person’s livelihood was in their dirt…their crops. They tilled the ground, planted seed, and in a few short months…fruit/veggies/plants. There was nothing instant. Everything just took time so life went at a slower pace. Fast forward to today. Today is pushed by bigger, better, and faster. Bigger vehicles, bigger paychecks, bigger plates, bigger houses, etc. Better paying jobs, better clothes, better gadgets. Faster reaction times, faster production, faster results. Maybe that is one reason why the world, particularly the U.S., has slowly become even more corrupt. Instead of scaling back on our debt, we accumulate more to keep up with the people around us. Instead of increasing quality we push for quantity. We allow demand to determine supply. Instead of eating quality food, we depend of Mickey D’s and Burger Royalty for our nutrition. Surely there is a way to get back to real in a world of…if you don’t like yourself, just pay some doctor an ungodly amount of money and you can look like a Swan instead of the ugly duckling.

I was thinking about this due to all that is going on around us. I was thinking about all the people around us. Friends, family, people we are associated with in life. I think it is safe to say that we all slip into this every once in a while. With most of the musicians I know, it is the push to get tunes learned in a set amount of time but fail to practice at home. My dad’s boss wanting a restaurant that normally take 120+ days to build, to be built in 60 days but doesn’t want to spend the extra resources to get that done. It is like my wanting a better job but working so much that I can’t go on an interview or take classes to get a better job. I want it NOW!!!! But I want it without costing me anything else…whether it is money or time or effort.

None of this lines up with scripture. Paul encourages us to run the race in a way that is to earn, to receive the prize…not aimlessly. Also to press toward the goal. We are to depend on God and He doesn’t move when we want Him to move. God moves as is plan dictates.

So, what now? Pause for a minute. Quiet your mind and listen. Does God really want this for you? Don’t listen to your heart…the Word says that “the heart is deceptive above all things.” No. Instead, listen for God. Make the most of the strength God has given you. Don’t focus on the money or the fame or whatever else the world tries to make your focus. All that mess breaks and fails anyway. That iPod you bought 6 months ago will eventually stop working. That new car will depreciate and you’ll eventually sell it for WAY LESS than you paid.

The longer road shows your true pace. That house…sure it an investment, but you have to maintain it. That takes money. That takes time to repair and upgrade. It takes time to fine tune and manicure the lawn.

Maybe this isn’t at all making sense to you all. That doesn’t matter. I guess I putting this out there more for me than anyone else.

Focus on your goal…
Remember who your strength is…
Stay the course…
Keep running…
Don’t lose faith…

If you are running the race in Christ, you will win. YOU WILL WIN!!!!!

Quick Multi-Update!!!!

What keeps me going today: My To Do list @ work
What moves my feet today: Good tunes and lots of coffee
I could do without: Adding on more hours

Okay, here is a quick update for all interested or concerned.

The Taurus: Is FINALLY being towed back to the house tomorrow. Yes the recall item is fixed, BUT it still doesn’t run. That’s alright, though. We already have one of the parts (thank you O’Reilly’s Auto Parts) that we need. Although the dealership couldn’t guarantee that the MAP sensor and new plugs would fix it, the replacement of those parts could fix the car. I’ll just say this…we are one step closer to having the Taurus back and running again. Woo Hoo!!!

The Blogger: I finally figured out how to fix the NO COMMENT issue. Did Blogger actually help? Nope! I figured out on my own while updated the layout.

So, PTHPHTBPTHTPTBPTBPBTHT

to BloggerHelp.

So good friends and readers of the Miguel el Toro blog, comment on!!!