Category: Uncategorized

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It Lives….

I am constantly inconsistent, I started this page with the hope I would post more regularly but as anyone can see that has not been the case. The notion of just closing up shop has been creeping in, why do I do this? I have no real direction, very little if no interaction with this site.

I was once a fierce blogger, and what was cool about it was the amount of engagement. I made real connections with real people who some I have actually meet in real life and still communicate with to this day on various media platforms. But with having your own site, it is more like talking to yourself with the hope someone will see…..that your are crazy and they would like to join!

I am aware that if I want to get more traffic on a stand alone site I will have to do more of my own marketing to find an audience were as with the blog it was easier to find people. One of the parts of the blog host I used was the ‘Next Blog’ button. It would take you to a random blog and this was where I met many other bloggers talking to themselves. I have been thinking about going back there and trying to relight that fire. I was actually surprised it was still there! It was free site so I kind of figure they would have deleted it after all these years of inactivity.

My last post was almost 3 years ago! Here is the page: https://feelingstoopid.blogspot.com/

I started that blog in 2005 and post all kinds of stuff, all of which are written like a spaz with very poor grammar and peppered with inappropriate things ha! I have wanted to go back and clean house; some of the post links are dead, some of the picture links/URL are broken, some of the posts are so cringe that I need to either edit them or just delete them, but there are tons of life moments and fun memories.

As I look back on this site I see all the post that I started with in 2005 and how the amount of post just started decreasing as the years went on. I started the blog when I had a desk job that was pretty chill, but as the years went on the job got more and more grown up with more responsibilities and my free time to blog got tighter and tighter. The want to write about nothing and everything is still there but the discipline to do so has about dried up.

But it is not dead, I am going back to my blog today to see what I can do to try and breath life into a past hobby I used to love…and still do. I will not beat myself up over the lack lusted grammar, the lack of actual focus and or general direction. I love seeing some of the old post and where I was to where I am. I also have numerous hand written journal that I have been working on through the years. One of which is a work journal; a book that I started when I first moved to California, and yes it is poorly written and sometimes hard to read but it was fun to read where I was….which was bad…to where I am now….which is good.

I need to create a scheduled time and day to blog, just like I do with all my work tasks. Set up a meeting with myself, for myself. And since today is Sunday and nothing planned today seems like a good day to start……

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Trying to Stay Up on Things

The more I push to try and get in here the more I seem to find ways to avoid it. I am not even sure as to why, mental block or just laziness. More laziness than anything, I have been wondering as to what is the point of doing this……why should I blog/post anymore?

This has always been a place to just let loose but the more I look at what I have done I am overly critical and over analytical of my own stuff. I love the written word, it is probably one of the most powerful tools out there. I also love the physically written word, in the form of calligraphy. I started playing with calligraphy, I am not to shabby but by no means will I be doing anything professional anytime soon. Is it just a fun hobby. It is one of those things you really have to practice to be good at, I have watched many YouTube videos and learned that I actually suck at calligraphy ha! But by no means has that deterred me from doing it ha! I keep a sketch book and a journal for all my scratching and attempts, it is actually very therapeutic. Kind of like those adult coloring books, and yes I have those too!

So, why should I continue this? I have almost deleted this page on numerous occasions, but as anyone can see I have not. It is an enteral struggle, why to keep doing something that seems to have no point or reason. This page has no real purpose or direction. May of the people I follow on the various internet platforms all have a purpose or general idea….but I seem to be lacking that.

I look at all the things I like: News, Fitness, Video Games, Comedy and general debauchery. And then I think, ‘How can I incorporate that into this page in a more coherent flow?’ The answer…..there is no answer. Why should I pigeon hold myself to any one idea or purpose?

Right now I am trying to just come in here once a week and post something….anything and as of late I am failing. I have no direction for what I do here, and I am ok with that. What bothers me is that I am so inconsistent with my post. I have no desire to turn this into fitness page, a news page or a ranting and raving page. For now it is just going to be a place I come to, just to be me…..I need to stop over analyzing why and just post. So forgive the poor grammar and punctuation, I will try to keep the spelling errors to a minimum but no real promises HA!

I am going to try and make this the year I actually commit to at least once a week posting….wish me luck! Ps…that is my logo so if anyone is thinking of stealing it…please dont….
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Day….Fuck if I know….

So….it has been over three weeks since California started their self quarantine. Gyms, salons, barber shops, tattoo shops, clothing stores, and anything deemed non-essential have been closed.

All restaurants are take out only, the dispensaries (weed shops) are set for deliver only as well and food stores are only letting 50 people in at a time. We are told to stay six feet away from each other. The wearing of masks has been encouraged for everyone while out in public, a bit of a 180 turn from less than a week ago when they said it was not needed! I feel like we are just sitting around waiting for the experts to change their collective minds about what the next steps need to be.

One side of the fence points a finger left, the other side points right and the ones that are sitting on the fence are pointing up, down, left, right and flapping their arms like a tweaking pigeon! No one knows what to believe, even me…but what I do know is that we are facing a disease that was not here before and it is killing people. And yes the flu has killed more people, but the number of people dying from this is climbing and climbing. So I guess we will just have to wait until the end of the year to see if the COVID kills more than the flu, I am putting my money on yes….it will.

Part of staying home is finding new ways to do things that required us going out. We are eating out less and working out at home. We bought a resistance band set up and incorporated it with a circuit training system. Six stations for 30 seconds and then rotate! So far it has been a good way to get the blood pumping after a long day of sitting down!

Our punching bag stand has come back to life with a new purpose!
The sign of the times: Social Distancing
Wife on her computer and Seth playing Apex….or something like that
Live in quarantine….it is not that bad
Did I mention that the hair salons and barbers are closed?

It would seem that because California took this seriously from the beginning our numbers are starting to flatten out. This by no means is a reason to let up on the self quarantining, it means keep doing it until we are in a better place.

The kid’s schools have gone online, the wife works from home and pretty soon I might be working from home as well. My job is part of those essential workers so I get to go into the office, and by no means is that a complaint! I sit in my cubical and do my job. I have not done any driving for Lyft in almost 4 weeks now, I actually like going home right after work but I do miss the money ha!

The east cost is currently taking a beating because they took a little while longer to get on the stay at home band wagon. They are still trying to get everyone on board with it, lets see how long it takes them to pull their heads out of their asses and take things seriously. Time will tell…..

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My Corona COVID-19

It has been three weeks since Corona/ COVID-19 has taken over our world. Here in California we have been self quarantined since it started, the Bay Area was one of the first and now its all over the state.

The wife has been working from home for a week now, I work in an essential field so I still have to go into work, and that is not a complaint! The kids have been out of school now two weeks, and sadly we have very little direction from the school board on what is going on.

The collective world has gone on a toilet paper frenzy! No one knows why, but everyone went on a panic buy for all the TP!

Our Local Target a few days after the shit scare of 2020!
Modern problems need modern solutions!

I have not driven for Lyft in almost 3 weeks, because of the COVID fears! Lyft has become an essential part of our lives and now that I cannot we will soon feel it. One of my wife’s coworkers sent her this below picture of his most recent ride. At first I laughed but then I was like….he is not wrong!

Week two after the TP-Apocalypse, they do not even bother to take them out of the box. Just set them down and let the masses have at it!
What does a man do when faced with a virus named Corona?
Not all states have the same resources, my mom lives in AL. For a while they were reporting that there were no cases in this state or that state, but in reality it was that they did not have the test for it!

We have been on full lock down for a week now, I personally do not see much of a difference other than the panic at the Costco and food stores. I must say the panic at the food stores has really shown me that people as a whole are not ready. If we where to have a real shelter in place, martial law style, many people would be in trouble.

I wish everyone the best, may the odds be ever in your favor.

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Halloween 2019

Nothing says Halloween like almost 90 degree weather, but it is still that time of the year so off to the storage unit to get the decoration. I still have no idea what I want to dress up as; Lilly wants to do an Edward Scissorhands, Lucas is going to go as an post apocalyptic survivor, Seth is going to be a walking advertisement….(you will just have to wait and see) and me…..not sure. Anyone have any ideas, I am on the hunt for what I want to do this year. I have been thinking about just putting on my kilt, the helmet, and some war paint and I can be ‘The Dad!’

When dad goes Hollywood Viking! This will most likely be my costume lol!

So we put up the decoration while sweating, but it was all good. We have Sally all ready to greet the neighbors, the skulls, the pumpkins, the wreaths, Mickey and skulls…..did I mention we have skulls?!?

Sally loves meeting new people!
Pumpkins and skulls
Door wreaths, me sweating and skulls!
She is always soo excited when she gets to come out and play.
We even have corporate greed in the disguise of a child friendly icon to help bring out the inner toddler.
Gourds, pumpkins and skulls
House decorations and skulls.
Halloween 2018……I was just strange…..

We love Halloween in this house, I have only missed a few years in my entire life. My first child I had when I was 19 so I have been a dad my entire life! So at no point have I ever stopped with my trick-or-treating, and yes I even did it all through high school! One year, while in high school, I did not have a costume so I put on a suit, tie and a London Fog over coat and went as a business man, it was quick, cheap and easy…..all the things I love ha!

We have a ‘Just Boys’ camping trip planned for this up coming weekend, nothing big just one over night stay. I got my one day fishing pass, I was going to go for the full year but the next season starts in January so I will just wait till then and buy the whole season. The last time I went fishing was last year and did not even get a nibble. I hope to be a little bit more successful this year! With high hopes I will trek on HA! I have never been much of a fisherman but have always fantasized about it, just one of those strange things that has always floated around in my head…..along with the endless scenarios/day dreams of what would a zombie apocalypses really be like, building a log cabin from scratch, what to cook for dinner, what I would do if I won the lottery, what to cook for dinner, how cool would it be to have super powers, what to cook for dinner, wondering what I would have done differently if i could go back in time, wishing my car could fly, what to cook for dinner…..I could go on but I need to get off, it is my turn to figure out dinner.

So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything!

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The Lyft Life

Sometimes you get a ride that makes for an interesting story; it could be comical, raunchy or enlightening. This was a ride that was….human.

I get a ping to go pick up a ride that is 45 minutes plus, it never says how much more than the 45 minutes but I just guessed it was going to be a San Francisco run. Most of the ones I get like that during that time of the day are.

This was not to be the case, not two seconds after I accepted I got a call from one of these third party request companies that help people get rides form Lyft. Usually older people that do not have cell phones use these companies. They tell me that this ride is going to be a three hour ride……! And they ask me if I was willing to take it, the last two people declined the ride after they arrived to pick him up. I do not know what the policy is about this but that is a real dick move, because if someone is requesting a ride like this you know that they are in a bind.

This was also not the first time I had gotten a request to go to this town from this area. So, not one to back down from a challenge, I take it. Turns out that my rider was an older gentleman that came to the hospital from Merced for his pre-operation visit. He is having a kidney removed in two days….ouch! He cannot drive, recently totaled his truck and no one in his family was able to take him, or pick him up! My man is just not having a good day, or year as it turns out. Just to help you understand what type of ride this is, this is a screen shot of the ride there:

It is 3 hours from Palo Alto and then it’s a 2 hour drive home! This was going to be one hell of a fare!

So, he jumps in and we are off. Right away I know that this is going to be interesting, he is a talker! I will not give details, private conversations about life, family and shared experiences are to be held between those two people. But I will say I know that he loves to fish, how to cook fish every which way to Sunday and that he HATES snakes. There was no more than 10 seconds of silence the entire ride, and by no means that is a complaint! I have had long rides where the passenger said NOTHING! I always gauge the level of conversation within the first few seconds of any ride I give. And this guy….was not shy about what he had on his mind.

It was because of this talk I made the decision to take the kids camping, just the boys this time. I have taken Lucas out but this will be the first all boys camping trip. We are going in about 4 weeks so it gives me time to get my fishing license and get all the gear up to par, get maps and make plans on what we will be doing that weekend. Time is running out, we are always battling time and even short little trips like this will never be forgotten. Life should be more about experiences and time well spent than anything else. Make plans, go to that restaurant that you have always want to go to, set a goal even if it’s a small one, live life before you are 10 years down the road wishing you had of done something.

You can never get back yesterday but you sure as shit can make plans to take tomorrow!

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Veggie Burger King Whopper

After reading all the hype I felt I should at least give it a try! The Impossible Whopper from Burger King is 100% meatless, but is said to bring all the joys of meat. Now, let’s put this up here right away: This is NOT a healthier burger. In a side by side comparison they are equally bad for you. And the Impossible has more sodium, so if that is an issue you might want to avoid…..EATING FAST FOOD!

And just some food for though if you will: Why do veggie companies keep trying to make vegetables taste like meat? Why not just let a veggie patty be a veggie patty? The answer: It would taste like old hippie underwear and no one would buy their products!

I am not hating on people that chose to not eat meat, everyone has their reasons. These are just ramblings that roll around in the vacuum my brain resides in. To each their own, if it makes you happy, it’s legal and nothing bad comes from it….have at it!

As I mentioned the nutritional difference between the two is very minimal, they are both bad for you. Enjoy them with the same same and equal caution of all fast food. And if you do not believe me here are some visuals take right from their web page:

During a break from my Lyft Life I pulled into a Burger King to see if they have finally found a way to make veggies taste like meat.

And I will give this two thumbs up for taste! This is vegetarian fast food, take it for what it is but as far as palatable…totally awesome!

I would order this again, and if I ever get the urge to go vegetarian I would give more products by Impossible Foods a try. I have tried various meat-like products and was not impressed, but I am willing to give this company’s stuff a try. I mean, why not I eat anything and everything!

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FaceBook Ad Scam

As an avid FaceBook user I see all kinds of ads, mostly the normal run of the mill stuff. Car and truck ads, video games and fitness/nutrition. But lately I have been out right bombarded with scam advertisements on FB! At first I just laughed and kept scrolling but then, it was one after another after another! I started screen shooting all the ones I saw every time I went on FB yesterday. I reported every one of them and even got a report back that day! I do have a few reports on a couple I did not screen shot, I wish I have each ad post for each report back I got.

1) This device has been in the exercise world since the 1950’s, right along with the vibrating belt, they did not work then and they do not work now!

2) This one actually got taken down, and when ask by FB what they could do to make my experience better I asked: Why does FB allow obvious scam ads to run on their site? I have yet to hear back on this topic.

I had to bring one part of this ad up a little closer, please read this out loud for me and tell me what is wrong here!

And as of today I have only seen one Chevy truck ad and a protein shake ad, nothing scammy or questionable.

So strange how one day I am assaulted by garbage ads and the next day nothing! Normal advertising does not bother me, I do not even notice it for the most part, but when the bullshit ads come flooding in I will report and block!

I do have fun trolling on some of their pages but they never respond to my chatter. So I just end up reporting them and moving on. I have be reporting all ads I see no matter what they are, even if they are legit. It’s either repetitive or irrelevant, everyone needs to do their duty!

I am a consumer, and here is my response to the snake oil salesmen!

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Summer Party

(Stock photo of charcoal found on the Internet)

So there we were….at a summer house warming party. Nothing to out of the ordinary; coolers full of ice and drinks, people walking about, tables all set out with various food stuffs and a grill that seemed to be already manned; or so I thought!

As man rules dictate you go to the grill and make small talk with the man at the helm. You do not bogart, you do not give advice and you definitely do not touch…..unless it is painfully obvious the man with the Scepter of the Grill does not command the power.

As I watched him try to light the charcoal I could see that if I did not try to respectfully try and help out our food was going to taste like lighter fluid. He graciously admitted he had no idea what he was doing and even apologized for handing off the grilling to me. For me it was not an issue, I actually like doing this.

I have made many mistakes using charcoal so I would not boast to being an expert but I do know a thing or two. I did not see a charcoal chimney so I just used the grill itself to get them going. Step one: put all the charcoal in a pile in the center on the bottom grate. Step two: add lighter fluid and light. Step three: keep the flames going until almost all of the coals are white. Step four: spread the coals out, put the top grate on and close the lid.

And like I said I am no expert but this time it all came out perfectly; this is definitely a solid notch in my man card!

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Just Another Day

Life has been just plugging along. The kids are back in school, I am now on the morning schedule (0530-1330) and wife is still doing the wife things.

I am not a morning person, it literally takes me more than an hour from waking up to getting in the car. I am in bed by 2100hrs and up by 0400, and I hates it, loath it and have strong dislikes for it! But…..I am out early, absolutely no traffic coming or going, they gym is just about empty and I can even squeeze in a nap sometimes. So in all, the early shift is not all that bad.

I have been doing my Lyft thing, but I do need to get on that hump a bit more aggressively. I have a disease and the only cure is money money money! Nothing much to really report in the realm of passengers or crazy stories. I was playing with my ‘FindMyPhone’ app the other day and say that I was right next to the Apple UFO!

I would love to see the inside of this place! But I have no skills that Apple would want so I guess I will just have to do what all the other plebs are reduced to….looking for videos of it on YouTube! And yes there are a few, and yes I live vicariously through YouTube and Google Maps. I have taken many virtual walks through Cranford New Jersey, Bayway Elizabeth NEw Jersey, Baton Rouge Louisiana and even random streets in Mexico. I advise anyone with some time to kill to use Google Maps to go back and visit any place their little white van has gone to!

And like I said above, life has been plugging along. Weather has been good, getting my routine reset and everyone is in good health. I am still here playing with my webpage, still not sure what to do with. But playing with it none the less, I use Instagram and Facebook more than anything. It’s cheap, easy and fun….what else can one ask for?