Bag of Randomness for Monday, June 6, 2022

• Over the weekend, the Chase Tower’s logo was removed. I wonder how much that costs.
• I attended several church events this weekend. At one of them, while the feature speaker was talking, a gentleman fell over and was seizing for several minutes, off and on. Poor guy, it was his first time visiting, and he kept apologizing. Thankfully, everything turned out fine.
• I heard a great segment on NPR, I think This American Life, about students being concerned about an auditorium named Robert E. Lee. Most students were uncomfortable with the name. A questionnaire was given out to all students asking who they thought the man was famous for. High schoolers being high schoolers, one of the top tallying answers was, “The first man who ate ass.” That had me laughing in stitches. Back to the story … the school then watched a documentary on the man. It turns out it was named for a former superintendent who was instrumental in integrating the school, he just happened to share the same exact name as the Civil War general. When the townspeople originally named the auditorium, they thought everyone local would just know who it was named other and no one would mistake the name for someone else. The late superintendent usually signed his name “R.E. Lee” and that’s now the updated name of the auditorium.
• Anytime I hear “superintendent” I think of Ralph from The Simpsons saying Super Nintendo Chalmers.
• I’ve gone without the kids for about 11 straight nights. It’s been hard. And I still get that PTSD feeling the first 60-90 minutes with them.
• San Antonio is not a fan – Gov. Greg Abbott’s Response to Uvalde Shooting Torched in Texas Paper Op-Ed: ‘A Powerful Man Does Nothing’
• I have not heard of this restaurant until now. I guess I should give it a try. Our local taco joints sure do like the double entendres. – Dallas-born Velvet Taco to spike to 100 restaurants and grow internationally – “Nobody does what we do. Nobody has a chicken and waffle taco. … Nobody does a 420 blazin’ taco with Fruity Pebbles on it.“

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Bag of Randomness for Thursday, June 2, 2022

• If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I like to post my current streak along with an athlete and jersey number representing where I’m at in my streak. Yesterday, I marked 77. Initially, I wanted to use the jersey number of one of my favorite childhood athletes, Jim Jeffcoat. But, even with the Mavs out of the playoffs, I thought using Luka, who also wears 77, would be more timely or relevant. Well, to my surprise, Jim Jeffcoat himself saw my tweet and commented. This made my day. Looking through his Twitter timeline, he doesn’t tweet or reply often, so I feel honored.
  https://twitter.com/SlimDaddy77/status/1531999264813076481
• One manager I worked for at Fidelity Investments had a daughter that Jim Jeffcoat’s son took to prom.
• I thought I’ve been holding up pretty well. It’s been months since I had a breakdown, but I think a combination of things got to me yesterday.
  • DaughterGeeding FaceTimed and wanted to show me her newly decorated room. She had such an assortment of lights I thought she was in an old disco hall. BoyGeeding made a surprise appearance, with a surprise haircut. The boy hasn’t had a real haircut since the separation and he’s been very protective of his hair. But, for some reason, his sister talked him into allowing her to cut his hair. I don’t know how many younger brothers would be brave (or crazy) enough to allow an older sibling to cut their hair. It was only a partial cut. I think she will complete the look later in the evening. I noticed their mother was in the background, but trying to stay out of sight. Knowing her body language, she seemed to be in a perky mood, as if she’s fixed everything and all is right in the world.
  • What has been really difficult is when my kids show off their new rooms to me. This will now be the third place they have lived since the separation. I’ve never been invited inside any of their new homes. The kids were thrilled and proud to show off all they’ve done decorating and arranging furniture, but behind the smile I put on my face was a wall of sorrow. It’s heartbreaking to see how well the kids can adjust to life without me in it. It’s hard to be happy for them when you know it only came to be because of a tragic and selfish event. Sure, I want them to be happy, but something just feels out of place. Outside, I’m showing I’m happy for them, inside I’m screaming, “It shouldn’t have to be this way.” It’s weird. I don’t desire reconciliation, but I miss being a complete family unit. I’m not sure if that makes sense.
  • There was one more surprise, and I’m sure this is why their mother was hanging around. She bought the kids a puppy. That bothers me, and I’m not sure if I can put my finger on it. In a way, I think my ex and her mother think if they just move into a rent house (which they recently did) and get out of an apartment, get a dog, and do a few other things, those will be bandaids that fixes everything regarding the kids emotional well-being. Also, I couldn’t help but think of the first three weeks of the separation and how sad DogGeedingII and OtherDogGeedingII were (and BunnyGeeding, as well). For those three weeks, the dogs were longing for them. Like clockwork, at 5:00 PM every weekday, DogGeedingII would go through the doggie door into the backyard and sit and look at the gate facing the garage, waiting for the three of them to come home. After a while, he’d get tire of sitting and then would lie down. You know, in that sad, lonely look, where dogs will lay their head between their extended front two legs and then their eyes do all the talking. I’d try to call him back inside, but he wouldn’t come. Eventually, I picked him up and carried him inside, but he’d just dart out the doggie door again. It was as if he was telling me, “Dude, you don’t understand, if I’m not waiting at that spot, they won’t come home.” I’d bring him back inside and lock the doggie door, only for him to walk at the door, look at me, look at the door, look at me, and then begin scratching at the door so I would let him out. I’d tell him, “No. They’re not coming home.” He would stare at me for a few seconds, then scratch more rapidly. We’d repeat this several times until I finally pick him up and hold him in my lap as I try to watch the evening news. This scene played out every day for about three weeks until the old dog finally learned this dreaded new trick.
  • Everybody is whole and complete. No one needs another to be complete despite what Jerry Maguire says. Yes, I know I’ll always be my kids’ father, but it’s hard to watch being replaced, and them getting used to and embracing the new normal.
  • I wish I could feel some of the justice and vindication Johnny Depp is feeling.
• As you are reading this, I’m probably under anesthesia undergoing another back procedure. At least it’s just a day procedure. I couldn’t find anybody at my church to help this time, so I had to call an old friend who lives in Mineral Wells to drive an hour and a half to take me. I suppose I could have managed things with an Uber, but he said he owed me one.
• Marion Barber III scored the first official touchdown at what JerryWorld, the Death Star, ATT Stadium, or whatever you call it. That man has been battling depression for years.

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, June 1, 2022

• After work, I took DaughterGeeding to a restaurant of her choice for her birthday dinner, Waffle House. On the way home, we saw some rentable electric scooters at a park. For all three of us, it cost us about $30 for a half hour of use. We had a blast checking out the local part with plenty of shaded paths. I think she’ll carry this memory for a long time.
• Texas Artist Meets with Uvalde Families to Plan Custom Casket Designs for School Shooting Victims – Trey Ganem, who also designed slain Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen’s casket, has donated his services to families of the Uvalde mass shooting victims
  

  

• A Uvalde coroner is haunted by identifying the bodies of children and an old friend
• There’s talk of razing Robb Elementary School and rebuilding it. Here’s what happened after other school massacres
• First Lady Jill Biden tells Harpers Bazaar that she and the President conduct their marital spats over text so the Secret Service won’t hear them arguing.
• What to do with Texas’ $24 billion budget surplus?
  • The state of Texas’ economy is booming and now lawmakers are looking at how to best use the fruits of the labor market. According to lawmakers the state’s general revenue fund has grown to approximately $12 billion as a result of the economy. The rainy day fund also holds approximately $12 billion. The staggering surplus puts Texas in a situation it likely has never been in before and also create a challenge for lawmakers on how to divide it all up.
• This news is a little old, but it’s new to me – Turkey Changes Its Name to Türkiye, Ends Confusion Involving a Certain Delicious Bird
• Utah woman rips out part of sister’s eye with her teeth in drunken brawl in car, police say

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 31, 2022

• Today is DaughterGeeding’s 12th birthday. Per the stupid divorce decree, I get to have both her and her brother from 5:00 PM – 8:0o PM today. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this, but WifeGeeding will have to attend a teacher workday session today. So, she’s asked me if I would watch them while she’s at work. I consider this progress. As you may recall, last year for her teacher’s work days, she had her mother and sister drive from 110 miles from East Texas on alternating days to watch our children instead of granting me any additional time. That hurt, and I felt she was setting a precedent for how she wants to handle things in the future. However, she did ask if I’d be willing to forgo my possession time from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM since I’ll be watching the kids all day. I understand where she’s coming from. But remember, this is the same woman who would only allow me a monitored five-minute speakerphone call with our son on his ninth birthday after alienating both kids from me for four straight nights. What did I do? Well, I first talked to DaughterGeeding. It’s her birthday, after all, and asked what she wanted to do. She was indifferent.  I thought it over some more, and even though the kids will be with me during the workday, I still have to work, so it’s not like I’m playing with our daughter and son the entire time. I actually have to work. I’m just lucky I get to do it from home. So, I don’t think it’s fair for me to sacrifice my time that’s specifically stated in the divorce decree, especially when you consider her past actions. No matter what, not only do both of us adults have our professional obligations, our daughter will wake up and go to bed at her house, so daughter and mother will have some quality time together. She also gets the kids the majority of the time anyways. Perhaps if we shared the kids 50/50, I would have been willing to sacrifice the evening time to help balance things out, but I’m already working from a deficit.
• Someone on The TICKET referenced Just For Feet, an old shoe store I which used to fascinate me. I think after your twelfth purchase of shoes you got a pair for free.
• I’m sure this is important and our lives will end up changing because of it, but I’m not sure how – US Takes Supercomputer Top Spot With First True Exascale Machine
• Dang it, it only comes in child sizes. I want one for myself.
  
• Gov. Abbott attributes mass shootings to mental health issues a month after cutting $211 million from mental health commission

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