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• Small wins. Yesterday was the first time in probably about two years I actually worked out. It was just a light workout, using the elliptical for 20 minutes and doing several light sets of kettlebells. So, the total workout was probably 35-40 minutes. I hope to jump start some endorphins and make this a habit.
• BoyGeeding shared a sad story with me yesterday. He said he had a hard time with his assignment in art. He was told to draw a family tradition, and that stumped him. The art teacher asked why he wasn’t drawing anything and he said we no longer have family traditions. I spoke with him about that, made sure he felt he was being heard and understood, and then gave him a few ideas of things to draw. For instance, it’s in the decree that I get them every Super Bowl Sunday, so one tradition is for us to watch the Super Bowl together.
• My ex and our daughter just do not get along. I wish there was some way I could help. I have some ideas and ways we can work together to improve their relationship, but the ex doesn’t want any of my help. Not to mention, if she claims I’m controlling and manipulating, and won’t have a discussion with me on why she feels that way, the worst thing I can do is offer advice or try to help because I’d come off as the very things she claims I am. So, I basically just serve as a sounding board to my daughter and try to get her to at least respect her mother. The person I once knew is no longer there, she’s totally different, and in some ways it’s liberating knowing she’s not longer a part of my everyday life.
• I watched the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial live yesterday when Depp took the stand. I’m not saying anyone is guilty or innocent. But like him, I felt my ex had defamed me by telling others she was emotionally abused and not correcting her family when they told our children I physically hurt her. The first time I ever knew or heard she felt like that was when she said it to a judge. It still boggled my mind she never once informed me how she felt before pulling the kids out of school early and then driving 110 miles away and only communicate to me through her mother. Under her own will, she confessed her infidelity. My feelings were hurt, and I got upset. If anything, I felt emotionally abused and manipulated. Who makes abandonment and divorce their first step after 17-years of marriage and two children in a Christian marriage and not some form of counseling?
• I’ve been meaning to tell you about my experience of having to take a court mandated psychology examination so that my children could stay overnight with me and I could have more than nine hours a week with them. It was a very traumatic and unnecessary experience. If she didn’t twist my words, get my estranged sister of five years to testify and lie on the stand, exaggerate my depression and the pain medication I take for my back, one wouldn’t have been ordered.
  • It took three visits and about four months for me to complete. It felt like forever between my three appointments. Sessions ranged from two to four hours. Not knowing when he was going to finish writing up his report and turning it in to the court was excruciating. I wanted the process over as fast as possible so I could spend more time with my kids.
  • I had to request my medical records from all my doctors, even my dermatologist and allergist, and have them sent over directly to his office.
  • The court psychologist was straight out of central casting. Dry and emotionless, never smiled once. He often came across as blunt and rude, but in a way as if he wasn’t aware. I never had a clue on where I stood with him. He had a great poker face. It was intimidating as all get out. His office was next to a cemetery, which I feared was foreshadowing.
  • During my first session, I had to fill out a questionnaire or a test of sorts. This was the very first question I had to answer, and I was only provided two lines of space to answer. Keep in mind, access to my children was riding on how I answered – “Describe your childhood.”
    • I can’t exactly remember how I answered, but it was something along the lines of, “I grew up in a middle-income family in a small Texas town to a loving retired Army officer and Vietnamese mother who were 24 years apart in age. I was an A-B student who was active in sports and church youth group. My brother was seven years older and my parents adopted my cousin from Vietnam my senior year in high school.
  • My second session comprised of taking several tests, similar to ink blot tests, puzzles, and quizes which had no rhyme or reason. It was nerve-racking leaving having no sense where I stood or how well or bad I did.
  • I learned my ex was interviewed, there was no telling how she distorted things.
  • In my third session, I had to orally answer a lot of questions. The first question was to tell him about all my past romantic relationships. Well, my ex was my only girlfriend and the only person I’ve ever kissed. That was a special gift I wanted to give her, one she never appreciated.
  • Once the report was finally written and provided to my attorney, I made sure to show it to my soon to be ex as soon as possible. Just seeing my kids nine hours a week was killing me, and I wasn’t able to give them a kiss goodnight throughout this entire ordeal. The report said I was not a threat or danger to myself or others and there was no need to restrict the children from me. She had plans that evening and I was hoping to watch the kids when she went out with her friends. Who better to watch the kids than their own father in their own home? Well, she felt the kids were better off being watched by a young teenage boy. I wasn’t going to  allow her or her lawyer to have a copy of it until an NDA was signed. There’s no telling how she’ll use it against me. And I’m certain she’s already broken the NDA by telling her mother, sisters, and best friend everything she could remember or even providing them a copy she got from he lawyer. She and her attorney drug their feet making me wait an entire week before giving me more time with the kids. They finally got to have an overnight visit with me the last week of their summer vacation.
  • What hurt through this whole process was how she alienated the kids from me. She kept saying she wanted to go by exactly what the judge said. But the judge said we could mutually agree to more than what’s on the order, and there were times she bent the rules. Like, when she was having a mattress delivered and she let me have the kids an hour longer. So, anytime it was in her benefit. But it was cruel not wanting me to see them on Father’s Day. What really stung was the last week of school in which she had to attend teacher work days and the kids didn’t attend school. I lived less than a mile away from her apartment, and since I worked from home, I could easily watch the kids when she was at work, like we always have done. The kids even wanted to stay with me when she was at work. But to alienate the kids from me, she arranged for her mother and sister to alternate days, driving 110 miles away, just to watch the kids in her apartment that whole week. What she doesn’t understand to this day is her actions set a precedent for how we handle things now. I plan for the future and make my decisions based on her past actions.  You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
  • These women claim to follow Christ, but nothing about this process was Christ-like. She was never willing to verbally talk and meet with me, even with a third-party of her choice. What’s funny is her maiden name has two t’s – the Christian symbol for a cross. When you take that first symbol of Christianity out, you are literally left with “Satan”.
• The judge also ordered both of us to take a six week parallel parenting course. Each class lasted three hours. It was excruciating having to be with her and hearing the instructor tell us over and over again about our failed marriage. The instructor’s last name was a bit ominous. Her name was “Threats”, but it was pronounced in a way that rhymes with “streets”. Yesterday I was talking to a friend in a divorce support group and he was telling me about his experience with their child facilitator, who has the name “Savage”.
• Amid a teacher shortage, some Texas educators are losing their licenses for quitting during the school year
• Netflix Loses 200,000 Subscribers in Q1, Predicts Loss of 2 Million More in Q2
• States with the Highest & Lowest Tax Rates
  • Texas residents also don’t pay income tax, but spend 1.8% of their income on real estate taxes, one of the highest rates in the country. Compare these to California, where residents owe almost 5% of their income in sales and excise taxes, and just 0.76% in real estate tax.
  • This was the top comment in the Texas subreddit I found this story in.
  • • Corporate and personal income taxes are low and zero, respectively.
    • Sales taxes are on par with most western states, above average for eastern states.
    • Property taxes are high, a combination of high statutory rates, soaring home prices, and lack of income taxes.
    • The government’s user charges and fees for things like vehicle registration tend to be low.
    • Gasoline taxes are low, but road tolls are high.
    • Utility prices are often below average, but electricity costs more than it should, especially after last year’s winter storm.

    Overall, Texas has clearly graduated into a medium cost of living state with at least a medium tax burden. Certain cities like Austin and Dallas can be on the higher side of medium, while other areas are still medium or lower medium. For the upper half of Texans, the spread between wages and cost of living still seems to be good. This isn’t the case for the lower half of Texans, especially with cost-of-living inflation over the past decade compared to wage growth.

• A loyal reader sent me an email and used the word “obstinate”. I have a limited vocabulary, so I had to look it up. It means stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts to persuade one to do so. Obstinate is now added to my vocabulary. I wish I could eliminate the obstinate person in my life.
• Masks are no longer needed for public transportation and there were three mass shootings over Easter weekend. Things are starting to return to normal.
• DaughterGeeding had a softball game last night in Fort Worth. Since the ex left me with the short-range electric car, I had to borrow my friend Jimi’s car just to make it to the game. I’ll always remember him as someone who helped me rebuild my life and help raise my children, no matter how direct or indirect.
  • The coach provided an address which lead everyone to one of two parking lots which was much further away than the other one. Instinctively, I texted my ex ,who was on her way, the address of the closer parking lot. After I sent the text I regretted it. She doesn’t want to have that kind of communication or relationship and she could turn around as a form of harassment.
  • After dropping off DaughterGeeding, BoyGeeding and I had an about 90-minutes to kill before the start of the game. So, we went to Whataburger. We ate there two days ago, and as always, I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich for him. Over the past several months, they have taken it off the children’s menu, but it could still be ordered as an entree. Actually, it couldn’t be ordered online, but you could still order it in person. Yesterday, I was informed that it’s not offered whatsoever. So, I had to order a cheeseburger on Texas toast without the meat just to get my boy a grilled cheese. Come on, Whataburger, parents depend on certain menu items!
  • The game ended at night. As the kids left with their mother, I instinctively thought of how much she hates to drive at night, and the lack of confidence she has in her only functioning eye while driving at night. I thought how proud I used to be to fill that need in her life, that I was a guardian of sorts. Yeah, I’m also worried about my children’s safety, but there was a certain amount of pride I had feeling I was protecting my whole family. But, I certainly don’t want to experience the feelings of being a neglect, unappreciated, and ignored spouse. I’m trying to focus on that freedom of knowing I don’t have to love the rest of my days feeling overlooked.
  • I hope one day I will be able to love another woman who will allow me to help raise her children as I earn her trust and respect. Meeting cool woman like BagelGirl, PetSittingMademoiselle, and PopCultureJenny give me hope there are great women out there and I don’t have to settle for things I felt I had to settle for before.
  • This park had a merry-go-round. I think that now makes a total of three that I have found in the DFW area. They have become almost nonexistent. There’s a rumor (look it up) that it’s still illegal to ride a merry-go-round in Idaho on Sundays.
• This 20-year-old Japanese baseball player threw the first perfect game in Japan in over 28 years (with 19 strikeouts), and then, in his very next game, threw eight more perfect innings. Remember the name Roki Sasaki. He’ll be playing at a MLB ballpark near you in the foreseeable future.
• A few of LiberallyLean’s most recent posts are about his annoyance of how talk radio hosts have butchered the meaning of the Law of Parties in light of the news that Dallas Cowboy Kelvin Johnson was in the same car where bullets were fired which killed a man. Each time he did this, I kept thinking about the Wayne Brady skit from the Chappel Show. You have no idea how much I’d love to sit next to him and hear him lecture me about the Law of Parties regarding that skit, pausing and explaining various aspects of how it would be applied or interpreted. Sure, he could write about it, but it would be great having the audio and visual aspect of him lecturing. The skit is hilarious, but if you aren’t into vulgar stuff and cursing, it’s not going to be for you.
  
• Watch Tom Cruise Really Fly A Fighter Jet In Top Gun 2 BTS Video

This has been a long time coming. #TopGun pic.twitter.com/qlaXZRIPNt

— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) April 18, 2022

• At my daughter’s softball game Friday night, I sat at a table next to the bleachers by myself. Because the coach asks all players to arrive a full hour before the start of the game, I had time to kill and started to read a book. An old woman came by and asked if she could sit next to me as she waited for her family to arrive. I said sure. I thought she’d leave me alone since I looked preoccupied, but she just kept talking to me, and I didn’t mind in the least. Heck, I welcomed it. Over the past year, I know what it feels like to be lonely and wish someone who actually wanted to talk to me was available. She told me about her husband who died two years ago, her granddaughter driving home from aTm who loves to country dance, and how she wants to trade in her convertible mustang for a truck because it’s easier to get out of and prefers to sit high.
• At our son’s soccer game Saturday morning, the ex handed me a bag of church clothes for BoyGeeding, which I thought was odd. When we finally had a legally binding possession schedule and starting swapping, I thought it was odd she never had them pack church clothes. It seemed she did this on purpose. I wish I had the kind of relationship in which I could ask her if we could come by and pick up some church clothes or ask her to have them pack them the next time, but it’s like walking on eggshells with this woman. She’s very big on them not bringing stuff from the other place over. So, I frustratingly bought several pairs of church clothes. She has seen them wear these clothes at church, and even complimented the kids on how nice they looked on them. So, her acting as if she was doing a nice thing for me seemed out of place. I hate it the kids have to live out of backpacks.
• The kids and I still don’t know why they aren’t deserving to have both parents in their lives equally. I hate feeling like a glorified weekend dad. At the start of my possession period, I start to feel a weird bit of anxiety, as if I can’t believe my kids are actually with me, and then I start missing them even though they are right there, like they could be snatched from me anytime. Eventually, it dissipates. I sent a text a friend in a divorce support group who has gone through a similar bitter split. I appreciated what he had to say and sharing he also has those feelings. ” I get that feeling also when I pickup my kids. Anxiety and almost not believing that they will be with me. This is normal and due to the trauma we suffered. Time is about the only thing that heels that. Once you get in the rhythm, it goes away. I still have the same feelings now and then on the short weeks. I see the emotion coming, I recognize it and process it.“
• Several times over the weekend, DaughterGeeding asked if she could have some food she found in the pantry. About the third time, I told her this place is her home. She doesn’t have to ask permission to eat anything she finds. She told me she just didn’t want to get in trouble because she and her brother have to ask permission to eat anything at their mother’s.
• There’s a new Abercrombie & Fitch documentary on Netflix. I’ve never owned a single item of the clothing and have only set foot in one of their stores once. I recall the first time I saw one of those stores and mentioned it to my father, who told me it used to be a popular brand when he was growing up in the 1930s.
• The bagel store BagelGirl works at is owned by a Jewish couple, which means they observe Pass Over, which means I don’t get to see BagelGirl for ten days. If she doesn’t become SecondWifeGeeding, I hope it’s someone like the version in my mind I made her out to be.
• First death row inmate to face execution in South Carolina in a decade chooses to die by firing squad – Richard Moore, 57, is scheduled to be put to death on 29 April for the 1999 murder of a store clerk
• $100M Ad Campaign Aims to Make Jesus the ‘Biggest Brand in Your City’  – “He Gets Us,” an effort to attract skeptics and cultural Christians, launches nationally this month. But Christians still have questions about how the church markets faith.
• I was a fan of the show. This could be interesting – ‘Mad Men’ Star Kiernan Shipka Wants to Make a Sally Draper Spinoff Set in Los Angeles
• Forty-eight-year-old retired Seattle Mariner, Ichiro Suzuki, threw out the first pitch in full uniform Friday night. And they clocked the ceremonial first pitch at 84.5 mph. Fastest ceremonial first pitch in baseball history?
• I was flipping channels yesterday and came across the movie Twister, which I haven’t seen since its initial release. Off-hand, I don’t think I ever knew Philip Seymour Hoffman was in. It took me a while to figure out what else I’ve seen Jeremy Davies or even find his name. Lost and Saving Private Ryan.
• I saw a reporter tweet the following in regards to this story, “There’s a story about MUNICIPAL BONDS AND ABORTION.”  Texas Lawmaker Warns Citigroup Against Paying for Out-of-State Abortions – A state representative threatened to introduce legislation that would bar local governments from doing business with companies that had such policies.
• The suspect in a South Carolina mall shooting, which left 9 wounded, has been released on house arrest and ordered to wear an ankle monitor after a judge set a $25,000 surety bond, the Columbia Police Department says. – The suspect will be allowed to travel from his home to work while he is under house arrest.
  • Before opening up that story, ask yourself if you think the person is white or black?
• We ate at Whataburger yesterday. While I was ordering, DaughterGeeding was holding her phone up to her face. The cashier, who was wearing a “Manager” tag, asked DaughterGeeding to stop recording because it was against restaurant policy and she was just enforcing the rules. Turns out DaughterGeeding wasn’t recording, she was just reading something and turned the face of the phone so that the manager could see it. We simply nodded our heads politely as if we were in agreement and finished our order. DaughterGeeding and I both agreed what just happened was, in her words, “Stupid,” but there was no benefit in debating and the worker looked beatend down enough.
• Sportsmanship.

https://twitter.com/TodayInSports3/status/1515405813774528517

• Easter was the first real holiday I had to experience alone after the separation. It was really hard not seeing or being able to speak to my children that day. I invited the ex over to have one last Easter egg hunt for the kids at GeedingManor, but she declined. What I felt hurt the most and was exceptionally cruel was when she posted some pictures on Instagram on Good Friday with the following message. It’s the last sentence that kills me. She had the audacity to write “family is everything!” when she was literally destroying our family and was doing nothing to keep it together – not even willing to go to one counseling session or meet with our pastor. I guess it just proved a point I’ve made over the years. She never intended to start a family with me, she just wanted to add to her’s. I made a mistake post separation when I apologized to her for calling her a cold-hearted B. She’s more than lived up to it.
  
• BoyGeeding had a soccer game last night. It’s weird, I feel like my ex is allowed to act like herself at these events but I’m expected to stay away from the pack of parents and quiet, otherwise I’m intruding or giving the perception that harassing her. The last thing I want to do is give her any more ammunition to make a case against me.
• There’s one father at the soccer games who annoys the living heck out of me because he yells at his son and teammates the entire game. I guess every game has “that” dad. If he was forced to give me a nickel for every time he yelled his son’s name, I could orchestrate a hostile takeover of Twitter before Elon Musk. It really annoys me when he yells instructions at my son, who doesn’t like being put on the spot. There’s been a few times I wanted to introduce myself in a respectful and polite manner and ask him to at least stop yelling instructions to my son. I mentioned my annoyance to DaughterGeeding, and she informed me she and her brother and mother stayed in a residence on his property for several months after the separation and claimed he actually is a nice guy, just overly competitive. So, I think it was his kids I let take my dogs for a walk around the soccer field a few weeks ago. I suppose it’s just best for me to bite my lip.
• I heard one of my favorite comedians reference this quote when talking about his divorce, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
• Teacher would rather be redeployed to Iraq than go back to the classroom
• Kentucky man sues employer for throwing him birthday party, and now they owe him $450K
  • According to court documents, the employee had notified the office manager that birthday parties trigger his anxiety disorder, and that “being the center of attention” will cause him to have a panic attack. The employee asked the office manager days before his birthday in August to not arrange a birthday celebration as they did for other employees.
• Netflix, Hulu argue they aren’t ‘video service providers’ before Ohio Supreme Court
  • If the Supreme Court agrees, the streaming services would be subject to the same video service provider fees paid by cable companies. Those fees in Ohio are 5% of the companies’ gross revenues they earn in the city and go directly into city coffers. The streaming companies argued they are instead “specified digital products” under state law. Therefore, they pay state sales taxes, and Ohio would lose money if the court determines they owe the local franchise fees since they would be exempt from state sales tax under Ohio law.
• Molly Shannon Says Gary Coleman Sexually Harassed Her: ‘He Was Relentless’
• Woman who sued Tennessee sheriff for forcibly baptizing her is found dead
• This may be the most entertaining baseball play of the year, and we’re only like two games into the season.
• Alaska has one heck of a mosquito problem.
  
• This German serial killer had some interesting last words before being executed by the guillotine in 1931. Thankfully, nothing bad happened in Germany after that period.  His split down the middle mummified head is currently on display at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.
  

A catcher's view of Nolan Ryan warming up! #MLB #Baseball #Legend pic.twitter.com/dqEHryvkRB

— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) April 13, 2022