Big Government - Bad; Ron Paul - Good

The following video is a good example of why Ron Paul is a good man to have in congress. This video shows Ron Paul giving context to the Swine Flu, and asking people to take a step back and not panic... and especially not allow government to create a panic in order to justify their efforts to grow.

Keep up the good work, Ron.

Man Class

Photo by: thomashawk

The other day I listened to a podcast where Jason Calacanis was talking about growing up in a greek household where the father made a living as a bar owner.  As a kid he had the opportunity to see a lot of things (the relationship between police and the bar owners, thieves getting beat up in the bar, etc.) and learn a lot of unique things. 

The thing that stuck with me was his recollection of his father teaching him how to tip people as a boy.  At dinner, he showed him how to fold a $5 bill, how to approach the bus boy and made him call the busboy over to tell him that he's doing a good job and give him the tip.  He also explains how that skill came in handy after moving to L.A..  He's able to get tables at busy restaurants in most circumstances by tipping the staff in a respectful manner (without being flashy or condescending, as some people in L.A. have a tendency to be).  The same method applied to cable guys and telco workers have apparently yielded similar results.

As I was thinking about things that fathers pass down to their sons, I realized that a lot of the skills that were formerly passed down have been outsourced to clubs or organizations or are not taught at all.  The boy scouts teach some of the basics of being an outdoorsman - starting fires, navigating, tying knots, etc.  Other skills are left to first jobs, school, or even worse, the internet.  

I'm not saying that Dads are doing horrible jobs at passing down what young men need to know.  It would be hard for any Dad to hand down all the skills necessary to function smoothly as a grown man.  I just recognize that it would be beneficial to have as many of these skills as early as possible in life.

My point in writing this post is to say that I think there's a need for a class where the essentials of being a man are taught - a Man Class, if you will.  Of course this requires a decision being made on what the essential skills of manhood are. 

Here's my short list of skills that would be taught in Man Class:

• Basic auto care (Change tire, check fluids, change oil, use jumper cables, etc.)
• The basics of home repair (clogged drain, leaky faucet, replacing door handles, etc.)
• Introduction to beer
• How to tell a joke/story
• How to tie several effective knots
• Basic bartending skills
• How to tip/"grease palms" properly
• Basics of grilling and entertaining guests
• How to make small talk, talk to anyone, etc.
• How to talk to women (without using cheesy pick-up lines)
• How to drive a standard

There have been numerous occasions for me to use all of the skills listed above, and I only know a few of them well.  Man Class would need to be "hands on", in order to ensure proficiency and confidence should the occasion arise.  

Anywho, men will pick these skills up eventually, but I'm of the opinion that teaching these skills early on is always much better than having to learn them in a pinch.   Man Class would give males a head start (or get them caught up, in my case) in perfecting grilling skills and auto maintenance.   I'm just saying.. if it were out there, done the right way, I'd sign up for Man Class.  I'm definitely not volunteering to teach the class.

Dallas Anniversary Trip – Mini Vacation

This past weekend the Katester and I headed on to Dallas as per the anniversary weekend plan.  We packed up Wed. night, left work early Thursday, got the plutinator to the parents, rented a convertible solara from Hertz at the airport and headed for the Westin Galleria. 

The weekend didn’t really go as planned, for a few reasons… most of them stemming from problems with altering plans and habits – first with the rental car and second with the iphone.

Idea #1 – We will rent a convertible and have some fun like we did a few years ago, when we rented the convertible mustang and went to the Texas State Fair. 

Problem #1 – It rained all weekend, cost an extra $25, had a horrible blind spot, and upon trying to rent the car, Hertz informed me that my license was expired.  “Happy anniversary sweetie!, you’ll be driving me around in dallas traffic, in a convertible, in the rain all weekend.  Love you!“

Idea #2 – continuation in part of #1 – Let’s use the iphone for everything! 

Problem #2 – Using google maps with GPS for the first time to find locations in an unfamiliar city in a car your wife doesn’t like driving in heavy traffic is not a good idea.  Just FYI on that one.  Apparently, someone in dallas suggested to google that our restaurant (Texas De Brazil) was in Downtown dallas near the grassy knoll.  I didn’t realize that google would relay that to me as fact.  We ended up 10 miles from our restaurant when we should have been being seated for our reservation.

Additionally, I ordered tickets for Studio Movie Grill on my iphone on Friday night for a show Saturday night.  I didn’t print anything out, or write a confirmation number down because I thought I could leave the window open in safari.  When I went back to the window to bring up my confirmation number, the page reloaded and my info was gone.  Nice.  So, when we arrived at the theater and they had no record of my tickets or my credit card being charged for that location, I was stuck looking dumb and out $20… though I could verify that SOMEONE got $20 for me… but I could’ve bought tickets to the houston location for all I know. 

To sum up the rest of the snafu’s for the vacation, we waited 1.5 hours in the West End at a restaurant called Gators for beef and chicken nachos (backed up due to a national middleschool volleyball tournament occurring nearby.  We finished up and went down the street to the marketplace (a 4 or 5 story mall with an arcade occupying the bottom floor)… which was completely closed.  Then we tried to go to Tutankhamen, where the line was two hours long and we couldn’t get tickets… that about sums up the rest of the problem weekend.

Anywho, I’m working on being more flexible.  I shouldn’t have insisted on holding on to the hope that the forecast would be wrong, justifying the convertible and shouldn’t have tried to find reasons to use my iphone.  I could’ve saved at least $100 and kept those precious years that were cut from my lifespan while in the passenger seat for a crash course in Katie Earnhardt Jr.’s aggressive driving whiling swearing program on I-635.

Other than a few snafu’s dotting the weekend, we had a good time.  The Westin Galleria was awesome.  We got it through priceline for $75/night, which is less than what you can expect to pay at a Holiday Inn Express. 

Each morning, we were able to wake up and head directly into the galleria for breakfast at Le Madeliene’s or the Corner Bakery and have our Starbucks as required by our caffiene addictions.   During the day, Katie was able to shop and I was able to relax in the room during her non-shopping times and watch the satellite TV on the LCD TV. 

Lastly, when Tutankhamen crapped out on us, we went to the Museum of Art’s art exhibit.  We saw Picasso’s and Van Gogh’s and had a pretty good time even though we were hoping to see mummies and such.  Who can complain about that? 

The weekend was really spent forgetting mistakes and having a good time… which Katie and I seem to always manage to have regardless of the circumstances.   It also helped that at the end of each mistake was something extremely great.  We got lost, then found Texas De Brazil and had the best meal I’ve had in years.  We paid $38 for two tickets to Studio Movie Grill, but ended up enjoying the movie and the food... and the same with the Tutankhamen exhibit.  We missed it, but ended up getting to see some amazing art.  So, I’m happy with the trip overall. 

Updates...

Here we are in April, the month Katie and I were married. We will celebrate our 3rd anniversary tomorrow, but without a formal celebration. That will come in the form of a trip to Dallas, where there will be a four star hotel, shopping, dinner and a movie AT THE SAME TIME and other various fun activities.

Katie and I have been well. We had the TV mounted, cables run through the walls, bought new end tables and a new coffee table and have been fixing things up around the house to our liking. Eventually, we'll replace broken door handles, leaky windows in our bedroom, add insulation to the attic, replace the hot water heater, possibly add a second bathroom, and maybe even knock out the wall separating the dining room and kitchen. Big changes need to be made.

As far as the fam, Katie and I have been getting by. My second round of physical therapy is over, and my shoulder is still doing well. I see the doctor on Monday and will get his opinion on what to do next (I will decline another manipulation if offered). Katie managed to get herself a (first) kidney stone over the weekend (not a pleasant easter for this and other reasons), but last night that passed - literally. So, we're hoping it was just the one stone - that there aren't more waiting to lodge themselves somewhere painful.

At work, she's been busy with her job, directing recruiters and I've been busy with my job corralling HL7 messages between applications. My last few months have been spent receiving electronic lab results, sent by labratory testing facilities to doctor's offices when lab tests are completed. We are also sending prescription information electronically, in real-time to pharmacy applications, all through this medical message standard called HL7. As they fill the prescriptions, we receive periodic electronic updates which give our clients the ability to track prescriptions for their patients more effectively.

This all sounds great, and in terms of what it provides clients (paperless lab results, higher pharmacy efficiency and better order tracking all around) it is. It's just tedious work getting our application to communicate correctly with other people's applications using these HL7 messages.

At a certain point, I was literally waking up in the middle of the night going over HL7 messages in my head. I'd wake up and tell myself, you're at home... you don't have to process these messages. Go to bed. Then an hour later my brain would be at it again. Good times.

Well, I'm going to go harass pluto now. He's been outside for the better portion of the night, so I'd better give him some attention before he turns his energy on the furniture or himself.

At Home Without Pay + Shreveport Electrician Recommendation

Words have been flying few and far between lately here on the blog. I've been busy and without much to say, but this morning I am off work (paid hourly now, so I lose money for time spent on errands), waiting on a TV installer to cut holes, run cables, mount my TV and get the heck out of here.

The good news is that I'm waiting on the TV installer to get things done here, so I can finally satisfy Katie's desire to have the TV mounted, the furniture rearranged, and have unicorns covered in doilies prance daintilly around the room.

Last week, we had an electrician come out and put a recessed outlet above the fireplace mantle. We decided to use Garison Electric in Shreveport because I worked with the wife of one of the Garison family members for several years and they're good people. Sure enough, they sent Bubba out and did a great, quick job. So, if you're looking for a recommendation for an electrician in Shreveport, call them up.

Today will be the last of the hole cutting and ballyhoo over getting the living room arranged to Katie's specifications. I'm hoping that she will finally lift the Jihad that she placed on me until I got around to having the work done.

In other news, I'm back in physical therapy. The orthopaedic doc I see wasn't happy with the progress my shoulder was making three weeks after stopping physical therapy, so he sent me back... after I politely declined another manipulation under anesthesia. Two doctors and a physical therapist have told me, now, that this will resolve itself in a year under normal circumstances (sometimes longer). However, no one seems willing to take action accordingly. They keep recommending treatment. At this point, my range of motion is limited enough to accept that, but soon, I'll be pushing this point more aggressively.

Katie's enjoying her new position at LSUS and I'm enjoying my new (6 months now...) job. Things are going well with us, the dogs and the fam, so I'm going to cut this off here. I've had rants to make recently about doctors and politics and such, but I figure Fox News and Keith Olberman do enough of that for all of us. I'll try to keep the airwaves clear of that for a while.

Anywho, I guess I'm going to go check on the installer now. I hear less noise now, so either he's stolen something and left or he's getting close to being finished. Gotta go.