Never mistake malice for stupidity. People may seem like they're being shitty and mean toward you, but in reality they're just ignorant little pissants. There is this manager at my work who I began to suspect she had it in for me. I kept telling myself, she was just doing her job. Weeks and months would go by, I would keep to myself, work hard, and let the details sort themselves out. She has forced me to re-evaluate that first sentence. 
I'm sure she's a nice mother, grandmother, and wife. Well... I'm sure she's a mother. Whenever she tells me to do something, she ends it with a crocodile smile. Ignoring that eat crap and die grin isn't easy, it's her little way of saying 'fuck you'. Technically she is my boss. She isn't my superior. That list is very short, but I'm sure she isn't on it. She is also the one responsible for forcing me to 'voluntarily' step down from my management job. I'm chalking that experience up to a deal made under duress. We see this all the time in retail. If the people in charge like you, opportunities for advancement open up. If some of the higher ups decide they don't like you, then you languish in purgatory, your life becomes miserable until you get fed up and find work elsewhere. Then it's not their fault, you see. No one got their hands dirty and the 'undesirable' is gone. When I did step down, I had to write a letter explaining it was my idea. (Ha!) and in no way is Lowe's responsible or liable. I did write that with a straight face. In truth, I was tired of fighting for my job. Three years, perhaps more, of being under the microscope was getting on my nerves. They were looking for an excuse to fire me for a long time. The reason I cited in the letter was my hearing had degenerated to the point that I could no longer serve customers to my satisfaction. While trying to take the high road on this, I voiced my dissatisfaction with Lowe's and their 'all inclusive' environment. Speaking from experience, I can assure you it's all lip service and bullshit.
But I don't let that pull me down! As of this week, I've sold 30 books. That's great and I'll feel better when a couple of zeroes are on the end of that number. For strict word of mouth, that's not bad. This weekend I'm going to do a little research on how to market and promote the book. If all I had to look forward to was my crappy job at Lowe's, I'd have gone off the deep end. What makes this torture bearable is that I'm plotting to escape. So yeah, I totally identify with Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. I can put up with the gestapo commandants because I'm secretly digging the tunnel out of the death camp. Retail stores are where living souls go to die.

Sorry for not posting. Visitors from out of town and a disagreement with AT&T regarding internet access limited my internet time. As fate would have it, my friend's grandfather got very ill, very quickly. He passed away suddenly and long story short, my friend ended up spending a little more time in San Antonio then he intended. We got to spend a little time together, but events conspired against us. Not that I'm holding any grudges. On the contrary, I'm grateful for the time we had. With careful planning, we managed Cowboy Breakfast and made it out to Kreuz Meat Market in Lockhart, Texas, while still fulfilling his family obligations. My wife and I spent time with our friends. Short, but quality time.

A couple of interesting things happened. They had a mechanical bull set up at the breakfast. As we passed, I couldn't help but notice the man about to ride the bull. Long white Gandolfian beard, this 60ish gentleman handed his walking stick to a friend and proceeded into the bull pen led by an operator. What caught my eye was the red on the cane. The man riding the bull was blind! A mixture of fascination and awe struck me as I saw this guy last the full time on the machine. Torn between saluting his bravery or shaking his hand and hoping some of the greatness would rub off, I settled for applauding his effort. At least that way he knew we were watching.

The second noteworthy item was seeing the look on everyone's face as they bit into their lunch today. Indescribable. I can't believe no one has heard of this place. Let me say it again: Kreuz Meat Market (Pronounced: Kri-its) If you come to Austin or San Antonio, make the trip out to Lockhart. You'll be glad you did. 

By now you noticed that I tend not to drop names. Part of that is I like to afford a little privacy to my friends. On the same token, I try not to call attention to detractors who try to bring me down with insults or condensation. I did mention my wife's name. That's not slander or praising her, or as Lyle Lovitt says: 'that's no lady, she's my wife.' 

The annual cold that sandbagged me for a few days seems to have run it's course through the family. My littlest is rebounding quite nicely and has been fever free for almost 24 hours. 

To all the germs and flu bugs out there, this is my message to you:

Is that the best you can do?

A good friend is coming for a visit. It just so happens his in-laws live in the same town as I do. There is a rule in my house: No one leaves hungry. Even if the person has a cracker on the way out the door, the rule is met.
'By all means,' I told him. 'Take care of family obligations first. I'm off all weekend and of course, at your disposal.' We agreed on dinner Friday night.
Cooking for my friends is a joy for me. After careful consideration, I'm going with Chicken and dumplings, cheddar biscuits and salad. Perhaps I should pick up a bottle of wine. Better yet, that really fine tequila I discovered.
His wife is graciously allowing some guy time while she visits with the rest of her family. I'm thinking road trip, but maybe not this time. There's plenty to see and do around town. To be fair to my wife, we should go out as a group. I don't want to be selfish. Stuff like this is better when it's shared.

My oldest daughter is of the age where she'll be getting her drivers licence soon. While I'm worried like every parent is about this rite of passage, I wish to impart some wisdom about driving a vehicle. Those of you who don't know, I did some stunt work back in my early days. What I learned then got me out of some serious scrapes. What should have been a fatal accident, turned into a close call.
Driving instructors are going to cover all the basics of defensive driving, and that's a good thing. Here are some rules to live and drive by.

• Let the other guy go first. The world is full of people who have to get across the road/lane/city now. They speed up, cut people off and try to beat the stop light. They're trying to get where they're going because it's important to them. These folks have a death wish. If you see one of these guys coming up behind you, let them by. Chances are you'll be passing them after the ambulance pulls their broken body from the wreckage... or at least when the cops pull them over.
• Where ever you go, pad the travel time by 10%. That way you're not one of those guys I mentioned previously.
• Trust your instincts. If something doesn't look right, don't do it. Many years ago, my new car and I found ourselves at an intersection behind a truck carrying some sheetrock. My girlfriend was suggesting I speed up and go around the truck. I couldn't put pin it down, but something looked out of place. Not really knowing why, I put the car in neutral and took my foot off the clutch, just as the light turned green. When the truck took off, the top layer of sheetrock slid off and landed exactly where I would have been if I had done what my girlfriend wanted me to do. The whole load wasn't secured or tied down. There is no doubt in my mind that sheetrock would have gone into my windshield and ruined my day.
• Make a decision. A lot of accidents occur because the driver changes his or her mind. Don't be that kind of driver. 'Oh, I want to get off... here.' and slide across three lanes of traffic. Yes, I've seen it done. No, I'd rather take the next exit and double back. If you are going to pull out into traffic, or anything, for that matter, commit to the action 100%. No wishy-washy erratic impulsive driving.
• Properly adjust your mirrors. A lot of blind spots can be eliminated or reduced simply by adjusting your rear view mirrors. Turn your mirrors so that none of your vehicle is in the mirror. I blame cop shows that feature the good guy on stakeout. We see him in his car, through his side view mirror. That's just Hollywood, folks. In reality, you should place the edge of your car slightly beyond the frame of the mirror. Trust me on this one. It won't eliminate blindspots all together, but 95% will be gone.
• Always look for the escape route. Make it a game. 'If the guy in front of me were to suddenly go berserk, where would I go? By the same option: adjust your driving so that there is an escape. Somebody's tire can blow and send the car in front of you turning, twisting and screeching. If you've spaced yourself far enough away, you can steer clear of the accident and be the one who got away.
• Drive with your thumbs next to your hand. What's the first bone in the body to break during a head on collision? Not the chest or ribs, although you might think it's those, but your thumbs will dislocate or shatter before you hit the airbag. (Speaking of which, don't count on an airbag to deploy.) You might end up with a few scrapes and bruises, but even from a small impact, your hands could be bandaged up for a few weeks. You'll lose weight because you will have trouble feeding yourself and forget trying to text someone.

I'll think of some more, but these are the major points I wanted to cover.