Friday, January 16, 2004
Cha-cha-cha-changes
Messing with the template again. All these templates blogger offers look good but I end up getting sick of them the next day.
Work Stress
Surprise, surprise but Dad is all over my ass again about our numbers at work. Shit, what he expects is impossible. We can't run this fucking office any leaner than we already do. We crossed the line from being "lean" to just plain "chickenshit cheap" a long time ago, too. Goddammit, my trucks are being held together with duct tape and baling wire and my people haven't had a raise in over two years. That, and there's still too much competition in the market to let me raise my prices. Where the hell else do I cut? One easy solution would be to not offer any more discounts but if we do that, our sales will fall off by about 25%.
The bottom line is that there's no silver bullet here. I'm trying to resist it but the fact may be that this business, hell this industry, may never reach back up to the level where it was back in the 90's during the long boom. Even if the economy gets back up to that level again - and it will - the insurance enviorment has changed.
What I will eventually tell him is that there is a clock working here. Once Megan graduates from high school (in May 2005) if I'm not where I want to be financially, or at least on the road to getting there, the last sand will fall out of that hourglass and I will go seek greener pastures. He's my dad and I love him but he does not own me.
And who's he to bitch anyway? Sonofabitch is going skiing tomorrow for a week in Colorado. That's after going scuba diving in Belize a few months back and spending God knows how many thousand dollars remodeling his back yard recently. He's doing this when everybody else in the company is doing their damnedest just to keep the bill collectors at arm's length. That's bullshit!
The bottom line is that there's no silver bullet here. I'm trying to resist it but the fact may be that this business, hell this industry, may never reach back up to the level where it was back in the 90's during the long boom. Even if the economy gets back up to that level again - and it will - the insurance enviorment has changed.
What I will eventually tell him is that there is a clock working here. Once Megan graduates from high school (in May 2005) if I'm not where I want to be financially, or at least on the road to getting there, the last sand will fall out of that hourglass and I will go seek greener pastures. He's my dad and I love him but he does not own me.
And who's he to bitch anyway? Sonofabitch is going skiing tomorrow for a week in Colorado. That's after going scuba diving in Belize a few months back and spending God knows how many thousand dollars remodeling his back yard recently. He's doing this when everybody else in the company is doing their damnedest just to keep the bill collectors at arm's length. That's bullshit!
Limping to the Finish Line
Felt really sluggish this morning in the gym. My shoulder hurt and I just felt low on energy. I pushed myself to complete it though, and I did meet an interesting man. I noticed some dude doing barbell bench press with 330 lbs. He did 8 reps. He eventually went all the way up to 365 lbs. - my all time max - for his last set and did 3 clean reps. I know because I was spotting him. He was big too, but not holy shit big, if you know what I mean. In other words, he wasn't a body builder. To the contrary, he's a CPA and he's 42 years old, 5 years older than me!
He told me that he's stronger now than he's ever been in his life and that he's built his strength not by any masochistic training regime but just through plain persistence. He's worked out regularly for the past 3 years and hasn't gone any long periods withoug working out. I've always wanted to be able to bench 400-lbs. by the time I'm 40. I guess there's hope for me yet.
It's raining this morning and we called the crews off again. Were running out of work too as, though I have plenty of jobs on the pending list, no one wants to start until February or March. And even though the weather's really shitty outside, I have an appointment in Kingsville which looks to be about 3 hours away.
Everything's fine at home. Erica and I have ordered Yahoo DSL at home to replace our old AOL dialup account. It'll be nice to have the computer at home work as fast as the one here at work.
Back to the diet, Phillips recommends that you take one free day a week and eat whatever you want, as much as you want. I am having fantasies about mowing down about a dozen Taco Bell soft tacos that are almost sexual!
He told me that he's stronger now than he's ever been in his life and that he's built his strength not by any masochistic training regime but just through plain persistence. He's worked out regularly for the past 3 years and hasn't gone any long periods withoug working out. I've always wanted to be able to bench 400-lbs. by the time I'm 40. I guess there's hope for me yet.
It's raining this morning and we called the crews off again. Were running out of work too as, though I have plenty of jobs on the pending list, no one wants to start until February or March. And even though the weather's really shitty outside, I have an appointment in Kingsville which looks to be about 3 hours away.
Everything's fine at home. Erica and I have ordered Yahoo DSL at home to replace our old AOL dialup account. It'll be nice to have the computer at home work as fast as the one here at work.
Back to the diet, Phillips recommends that you take one free day a week and eat whatever you want, as much as you want. I am having fantasies about mowing down about a dozen Taco Bell soft tacos that are almost sexual!
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Thursday Deluge
Well, it’s raining like hell outside right now, meaning that we cancelled most of our jobs for today. I’ve got a few crews out, those who can work under houses but for the rest of them, they have to go home. I tell my customers that the last thing I want to do as manager is write a letter to some mother in Mexico explaining to her that her little Luisito was fried while trying to operate an electric generator up to his boots in water in a hole in the ground. No thanks. Better to just call the day off and wait for sunshine. Lot of things can happen when you try to work in the rain, all of them bad. The best that can happen is that the men will just bog around in the mud and get maybe a third done as much as they would on a dry day. The worst that can happen is that someone’ll get hurt, or worse.
As far as the workout program goes, I’m still going with it. Today was a cardio day so I went in and did 20 minutes on the stationary bike. I’m beginning to see and feel some subtle changes in my body too. Too soon to be apparent to anyone else of course but I can tell. Interestingly, the one thing that I thought would be my biggest problem with this routine – getting up and into the gym at 5:30 – so far hasn’t been a problem. I’m actually enjoying popping up at 5:00 and starting my day. Of course, I’m damn near comatose by 9:30 but that's not really a problem either as thankfully Erica’s not a nightowl.
I have no appointments today because I was planning on being in Dallas to welcome my newest niece into the world. Mark and Natalie are expecting a baby girl any moment and in fact they were planning on inducing labor yesterday as she’s already a week late. However, they changed their minds at the last minute to give nature a bit more time to run its course. Thus, I’m still waiting to get the word and go. I don’t know why I feel so adamant about being there for him. I mean he’s my kid brother and all, but I’m sure he wouldn’t hold it against me if I couldn’t go. But . . . I need to see him on that day. I want to see and hold my niece too of course, but mostly I want to see Mark’s face when he holds his little girl for the first time. I still remember the emotional high I was on after Courtney was born; it was so intense that it was almost surreal. I want Mark to have that too. I want to see him launched into that orbit.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to blog about it from Mark’s house. If not, I’ll do it as soon as I get back to S.A.
Now to find something to do here at work . . .
As far as the workout program goes, I’m still going with it. Today was a cardio day so I went in and did 20 minutes on the stationary bike. I’m beginning to see and feel some subtle changes in my body too. Too soon to be apparent to anyone else of course but I can tell. Interestingly, the one thing that I thought would be my biggest problem with this routine – getting up and into the gym at 5:30 – so far hasn’t been a problem. I’m actually enjoying popping up at 5:00 and starting my day. Of course, I’m damn near comatose by 9:30 but that's not really a problem either as thankfully Erica’s not a nightowl.
I have no appointments today because I was planning on being in Dallas to welcome my newest niece into the world. Mark and Natalie are expecting a baby girl any moment and in fact they were planning on inducing labor yesterday as she’s already a week late. However, they changed their minds at the last minute to give nature a bit more time to run its course. Thus, I’m still waiting to get the word and go. I don’t know why I feel so adamant about being there for him. I mean he’s my kid brother and all, but I’m sure he wouldn’t hold it against me if I couldn’t go. But . . . I need to see him on that day. I want to see and hold my niece too of course, but mostly I want to see Mark’s face when he holds his little girl for the first time. I still remember the emotional high I was on after Courtney was born; it was so intense that it was almost surreal. I want Mark to have that too. I want to see him launched into that orbit.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to blog about it from Mark’s house. If not, I’ll do it as soon as I get back to S.A.
Now to find something to do here at work . . .
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Wednesday Thoughts
The back pain is finally beginning to go away and the muscle soreness is beginning to abate too . . . finally. Christ what a bad two days I've had dealing with pain! But it seems to be paying off. It's way too soon to be having others notice the difference yet but I can tell some slight differences in myself, both in the mirror and in the way my clothes fit.
As far as work goes, I'm having a dispute with a customer who happens to be my next door neighbor's sister. More proof that the old cliche about how you shouldn't do business with friends is true. If she refuses to pay her bill and I have to sue her, that will make for some very uncomfortable situations at home. Oh well.
Heard a great oldie on the radio this morning, Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me." I've always loved that song. I like it because it's clean. Cheap Trick's basic 3-chord approach always appealed to me. And also, who can't hear simple, guileless lyrics like this and not smile:
I'll shine up my old brown shoes
Put on a brand new shirt
Get home early from work
If you say that you love me
Especially when they're sung to such an enthusiastic audience like those squealing Japanese girls (remember, this was off the Live at Buddha Kan album). I'm reasonably sure that they had no idea what Robin Trower was singing about but I think they were so wrapped up in the moment that they didn't care. Robin and the boys were obviously inspired by them and a great piece of music was made. Thank God the recorder was rolling.
The back pain is finally beginning to go away and the muscle soreness is beginning to abate too . . . finally. Christ what a bad two days I've had dealing with pain! But it seems to be paying off. It's way too soon to be having others notice the difference yet but I can tell some slight differences in myself, both in the mirror and in the way my clothes fit.
As far as work goes, I'm having a dispute with a customer who happens to be my next door neighbor's sister. More proof that the old cliche about how you shouldn't do business with friends is true. If she refuses to pay her bill and I have to sue her, that will make for some very uncomfortable situations at home. Oh well.
Heard a great oldie on the radio this morning, Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me." I've always loved that song. I like it because it's clean. Cheap Trick's basic 3-chord approach always appealed to me. And also, who can't hear simple, guileless lyrics like this and not smile:
I'll shine up my old brown shoes
Put on a brand new shirt
Get home early from work
If you say that you love me
Especially when they're sung to such an enthusiastic audience like those squealing Japanese girls (remember, this was off the Live at Buddha Kan album). I'm reasonably sure that they had no idea what Robin Trower was singing about but I think they were so wrapped up in the moment that they didn't care. Robin and the boys were obviously inspired by them and a great piece of music was made. Thank God the recorder was rolling.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Pain and More Pain
I ended up going to a chiropractor yesterday because of my back pain. It felt better for a few hours but eventually stiffened up on me again. I could barely get out of bed this morning too, my back was so stiff. I did however manage to drag my ass to the gym where I got in a good 20 minutes on the stationary bike. After that, the hot tub and sauna made me loosen up but that wore off too. Right now, I feel like I have a hot spike in between my shoulder blades. It wouldn't be so bad in and of itself (as this has happened to me dozens of times) but for the fact that every-fucking-thing else on my body is sore too. Jeez, I really pushed too hard yesterday!
I ended up going to a chiropractor yesterday because of my back pain. It felt better for a few hours but eventually stiffened up on me again. I could barely get out of bed this morning too, my back was so stiff. I did however manage to drag my ass to the gym where I got in a good 20 minutes on the stationary bike. After that, the hot tub and sauna made me loosen up but that wore off too. Right now, I feel like I have a hot spike in between my shoulder blades. It wouldn't be so bad in and of itself (as this has happened to me dozens of times) but for the fact that every-fucking-thing else on my body is sore too. Jeez, I really pushed too hard yesterday!
Monday, January 12, 2004
Body For Life
Okay, okay. I give up. I have decided to yield to the inevitable and get on this program. I bought the book last night and read half of it in one setting. I must admit, some of Bill O'Neill's ideas are intriguing. Well, what do I have to lose, 'cept about 85 lbs. of fat? To me, a lot of the program is common sense, and to me, that's a welcome relief.
I did the first workout of the program, an upper body weight training session and I have to admit, I'm impressed. I'm also numb. Since I'm supposed to keep a record, here's what I did:
Dumbell bench press: 40#x15, 50#x12, 60#x10, 70#x8
Dumbell flys: 40#x8
Dumbell curls: 20#x15, 25#10, 30#x8
Seated dumbell press: 25#x15, 30#x10, 40#x6
Hammerstrength iso-lateral D-Y row: 90#x20, 140#x12, 180#x8
Ab crunches: 12#x15
The crunches are done on a power ball, holding a 12-lb. medicine ball on my chest.
My back and shoulder hurt and I can tell that my chest and arms will scream tomorrow. But I fell totally spent, which I suppose is the idea.
Oh, and my weight was 306 lbs. this morning. That's a loss of 7 lbs. over the last week. Now, I just have to take that fucking "before" photo.
Okay, okay. I give up. I have decided to yield to the inevitable and get on this program. I bought the book last night and read half of it in one setting. I must admit, some of Bill O'Neill's ideas are intriguing. Well, what do I have to lose, 'cept about 85 lbs. of fat? To me, a lot of the program is common sense, and to me, that's a welcome relief.
I did the first workout of the program, an upper body weight training session and I have to admit, I'm impressed. I'm also numb. Since I'm supposed to keep a record, here's what I did:
Dumbell bench press: 40#x15, 50#x12, 60#x10, 70#x8
Dumbell flys: 40#x8
Dumbell curls: 20#x15, 25#10, 30#x8
Seated dumbell press: 25#x15, 30#x10, 40#x6
Hammerstrength iso-lateral D-Y row: 90#x20, 140#x12, 180#x8
Ab crunches: 12#x15
The crunches are done on a power ball, holding a 12-lb. medicine ball on my chest.
My back and shoulder hurt and I can tell that my chest and arms will scream tomorrow. But I fell totally spent, which I suppose is the idea.
Oh, and my weight was 306 lbs. this morning. That's a loss of 7 lbs. over the last week. Now, I just have to take that fucking "before" photo.
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Sunday Thoughts
Well, I haven’t blogged in a few days and thought I’d spend this Sunday morning catching up. Megan’s off to church and Courtney spent the night at a friend’s house down the block so I finally have some time to compose my thoughts.
The other day, I wrote my mom an email lamenting that I had to depend on my in-laws to buy Megan a car. She responded to me with the mother-of-all ass-kickings, telling me to get my head out of my ass and realize that the good in my life outweighs the bad by 90% to 10%. She also told me that she was mad at me because of the "aloof" way I acted when she and so much other of my family were down for Christmas. Some of what she said about me were over-reactions, I thought, and some were dead-on. Needless to say, I didn’t really feel like writing that day and even though I attempted a few times to do so, in the end I deleted all of them. Even though I hate self-pity, and would hate to write anything that sounded that way, I want to avoid writing in a way that sounds like I’m trying to "keep a stiff upper lip." I want to write honestly in this journal. And, honestly, I felt a bit ashamed after talking to my mom. But later, I felt better. Taking a swift kick in the ass from her is like shock treatment; it isn’t pleasant, but it clears the head.
Resolution Status
I have been in the gym every day this past week, including Saturday when I went in for some cardio work (treadmill, stairmaster, etc.). I’ve also been keeping with the religion of dieting, with the exception of Friday night when we went to my favorite restaurant in the world - Alamo Café - and had fajitas. I think one or two "bad" meals over the course of a week isn’t doing too badly, though. And although I haven’t weighed myself lately, I am beginning to see a difference in the mirror. It’s still subtle and no one else has noticed, but I can tell. I’ll climb on the scale this week.
Movies
Erica and I went and saw The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise last night. I enjoyed it, for what it’s worth. I can remember really being into the James Clavell novels about Japan (Shogun, Noble House, Gai-jin, etc.) back in the 80’s and this movie brought back nice memories of those. The cinematography was beautiful and it was convincingly acted, so what’s not to like? Well, the ending for one thing. About halfway through, Erica leaned over to me and predicted that the movie would end up with Tom Cruise’s character either committing ritual suicide or dying with his Samurai lord on the field of battle. Either would have been an honorable death in keeping with the Bushido code of the Samurai. And the movie seemed to be moving inexorably in that direction too until the movie-makers apparently lost nerve and tacked on a typical Hollywood contrived happy ending. Not since A.I.: Artificial Intelligence have I seen a movie where the ending felt so jarringly out of sync with the body of the movie. But still, dishonest ending notwithstanding, it was an enjoyable 2 ½ hours and I‘d recommend the movie. A lot of critics (amongst whom I do not consider myself) love to hate Tom Cruise movies. I’ve heard all the criticisms too, how he’s less an actor than a movie star, and how his movies are special effects extravaganzas, etc., etc. I think those criticisms are all bullshit. I enjoy Tom Cruise movies and can’t remember the last bad one he’s made. That includes Vanilla Sky and Eyes Wide Shut too.
The Heartbreak Kid
Yesterday, while at the gym I noticed a guy on one of the stationary bikes. He was really buff, had a ponytail and a really familiar face. It came to me almost immediately that that was WWF superstar Shawn Michaels working out at the same Bally’s that I frequent.
There are two professional wrestlers who live in San Antonio, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. My nephew Bobby met Stone Cold at North Star Mall a few years ago while in town visiting us. He told me that Stone Cold was totally "in character" when he met him and that he even hollered at Bobby for squeezing his hand too hard when he shook it. Bobby told me this with an ear to ear grin on his face, too. Anyway, I screwed up my courage and went up to Michaels and said "uh, ‘scuse me but aren’t you HBK?" He smiled and said that yes, he was. We chatted for about five minutes about wrestling, back injuries (he was recuperating from one) and such. What a nice man. What a nice, gracious man. I mean, I’m not a nobody but I’m certainly no one famous and here he is, the fucking Heartbreak Kid fer cryin out loud, a man who is a legend in professional wrestling, talking to me like I’m an old friend of his little brother or something. That’s nice. That’s class.
I don’t know if Vince McMahon explicitly tells his people to be nice and accommodating to the public or not but in my experience professional wrestlers are about the nicest celebrities you can ever meet. I remember chancing across Val Venis, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho in the Atlanta airport about five years ago. Though none of them really chatted with me (as they had a crowd around them) they all graciously signed autographs for me. Contrast that with future NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith whom I met a few years back in the Dallas airport. Though he signed a scrap of paper for me, he was quite the diva about it. Fucking jerk never even looked me in the eye, either. Even when I told him how great he was (and he was definitely great in the early and mid 90’s) he just muttered "hey, thanks" to the air over my right shoulder.
Erica and I really got into wrestling a few years ago when we were still in Alabama. Mostly, we got into it because of The Rock, and we stopped watching it after he left. Admitting that you’re a fan of professional wrestling ("redneck catharsis" I called it) in polite company is kind of like admitting that you have a heroin addiction. After meeting Shawn Michaels though, maybe I’ll start watching it again.
That’s all for now.
Well, I haven’t blogged in a few days and thought I’d spend this Sunday morning catching up. Megan’s off to church and Courtney spent the night at a friend’s house down the block so I finally have some time to compose my thoughts.
The other day, I wrote my mom an email lamenting that I had to depend on my in-laws to buy Megan a car. She responded to me with the mother-of-all ass-kickings, telling me to get my head out of my ass and realize that the good in my life outweighs the bad by 90% to 10%. She also told me that she was mad at me because of the "aloof" way I acted when she and so much other of my family were down for Christmas. Some of what she said about me were over-reactions, I thought, and some were dead-on. Needless to say, I didn’t really feel like writing that day and even though I attempted a few times to do so, in the end I deleted all of them. Even though I hate self-pity, and would hate to write anything that sounded that way, I want to avoid writing in a way that sounds like I’m trying to "keep a stiff upper lip." I want to write honestly in this journal. And, honestly, I felt a bit ashamed after talking to my mom. But later, I felt better. Taking a swift kick in the ass from her is like shock treatment; it isn’t pleasant, but it clears the head.
Resolution Status
I have been in the gym every day this past week, including Saturday when I went in for some cardio work (treadmill, stairmaster, etc.). I’ve also been keeping with the religion of dieting, with the exception of Friday night when we went to my favorite restaurant in the world - Alamo Café - and had fajitas. I think one or two "bad" meals over the course of a week isn’t doing too badly, though. And although I haven’t weighed myself lately, I am beginning to see a difference in the mirror. It’s still subtle and no one else has noticed, but I can tell. I’ll climb on the scale this week.
Movies
Erica and I went and saw The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise last night. I enjoyed it, for what it’s worth. I can remember really being into the James Clavell novels about Japan (Shogun, Noble House, Gai-jin, etc.) back in the 80’s and this movie brought back nice memories of those. The cinematography was beautiful and it was convincingly acted, so what’s not to like? Well, the ending for one thing. About halfway through, Erica leaned over to me and predicted that the movie would end up with Tom Cruise’s character either committing ritual suicide or dying with his Samurai lord on the field of battle. Either would have been an honorable death in keeping with the Bushido code of the Samurai. And the movie seemed to be moving inexorably in that direction too until the movie-makers apparently lost nerve and tacked on a typical Hollywood contrived happy ending. Not since A.I.: Artificial Intelligence have I seen a movie where the ending felt so jarringly out of sync with the body of the movie. But still, dishonest ending notwithstanding, it was an enjoyable 2 ½ hours and I‘d recommend the movie. A lot of critics (amongst whom I do not consider myself) love to hate Tom Cruise movies. I’ve heard all the criticisms too, how he’s less an actor than a movie star, and how his movies are special effects extravaganzas, etc., etc. I think those criticisms are all bullshit. I enjoy Tom Cruise movies and can’t remember the last bad one he’s made. That includes Vanilla Sky and Eyes Wide Shut too.
The Heartbreak Kid
Yesterday, while at the gym I noticed a guy on one of the stationary bikes. He was really buff, had a ponytail and a really familiar face. It came to me almost immediately that that was WWF superstar Shawn Michaels working out at the same Bally’s that I frequent.
There are two professional wrestlers who live in San Antonio, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. My nephew Bobby met Stone Cold at North Star Mall a few years ago while in town visiting us. He told me that Stone Cold was totally "in character" when he met him and that he even hollered at Bobby for squeezing his hand too hard when he shook it. Bobby told me this with an ear to ear grin on his face, too. Anyway, I screwed up my courage and went up to Michaels and said "uh, ‘scuse me but aren’t you HBK?" He smiled and said that yes, he was. We chatted for about five minutes about wrestling, back injuries (he was recuperating from one) and such. What a nice man. What a nice, gracious man. I mean, I’m not a nobody but I’m certainly no one famous and here he is, the fucking Heartbreak Kid fer cryin out loud, a man who is a legend in professional wrestling, talking to me like I’m an old friend of his little brother or something. That’s nice. That’s class.
I don’t know if Vince McMahon explicitly tells his people to be nice and accommodating to the public or not but in my experience professional wrestlers are about the nicest celebrities you can ever meet. I remember chancing across Val Venis, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho in the Atlanta airport about five years ago. Though none of them really chatted with me (as they had a crowd around them) they all graciously signed autographs for me. Contrast that with future NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith whom I met a few years back in the Dallas airport. Though he signed a scrap of paper for me, he was quite the diva about it. Fucking jerk never even looked me in the eye, either. Even when I told him how great he was (and he was definitely great in the early and mid 90’s) he just muttered "hey, thanks" to the air over my right shoulder.
Erica and I really got into wrestling a few years ago when we were still in Alabama. Mostly, we got into it because of The Rock, and we stopped watching it after he left. Admitting that you’re a fan of professional wrestling ("redneck catharsis" I called it) in polite company is kind of like admitting that you have a heroin addiction. After meeting Shawn Michaels though, maybe I’ll start watching it again.
That’s all for now.
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