Grudging Appraisal of My Aging Situation

I've been having a lot of trouble coming up with ideas to blog about. I mean, I know it's hot, but Durango's already taken care of the weather reports.

I've been feeling old lately. At the end of August I'll go have my first ever surgery. Then I'll get to spend up to 6 weeks on crutches. Apparently 4 decades is hard on the hips. I'm having cartilage, bone and labrum stuff repaired in my right hip. I think I have to be there at 6 AM. It's going to mostly suck.

I've been watching the UEFA soccer championships. I'm rooting for Germany to win the cup although Spain are the favorites. I've kind of thought about trying to create an American European Football League where every state in the union would have a soccer team and would have a 7 month qualification time followed by a 4 month tournament similar to the UEFA Euro. Imagine an American Championship soccer game with Texas versus California. It's got me back to questioning where the popularity of American Football came from when you can easily watch 45+ minutes of action without commercial interruption with the more appropriately named Football (aka Soccer)?

Last weekend I played a new MMORPG called "The Secret World". I played because it was a free Beta. I left thinking, "You know, I think they might be on to something." I shot zombies for a few hours with my shotgun. Then I went to an old amusement park and tried to dismantle rides that had gone off kilter while ghosts and demons tried to stop me. I don't know: a haunted amusement park and an old sea town overrun with zombies. You might want to give it a try. I figure with my hip surgery coming up, I'm going to need a new game to play so I bought it.

Last Saturday, I tried, via Facebook, to help a high school friend of mine fix her television. It was something about exchanging a PS3 for a DVD player and the video was mostly in black and white with lines or what not. The description left so many of the details out that I assumed I missed something early on. I mean, what kind of connection (HDMI, component, s video, RCA)? Does the DVD player connect directly to the TV or does it go through a receiver? Anyway, it made my head spin for a couple of minutes and then I told her to drink until the picture quality didn't matter. I'm not sure how helpful I was. I may or may not have already been drinking.

I've taken up bowling. For the last month I've been bowling at least twice a week. My average has gone from a 123 to a 144. My high game went from a 160 to a 204. I think I'm a natural. Did I mention my fingers, hand and arm hurts all the time and I'm going to have to have hip surgery in August?

Gary Johnson is the first Presidential candidate who I have ever actually wanted to win. For the last 10 years or so I've always voted Libertarian. Actually, I vote Libertarian and if a Libertarian is not running then I vote for the person with the longest name. My thinking being I want fewer laws. Libertarians believe in shrinking government; and people with longer names have to work that much harder to sign bills. Barack Obama was a bad idea (name is too short). You need people like Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Gary should change is name to Garinaldo or something.

Anyway, for some reason, I really like him. The God thing was kind of a troll to see if I could get some people to complain about my inappropriateness. It didn't work.

God Wants *You* to Vote for Gary Johnson

I get tired of people expecting the government to babysit them. One of my pet peeves is when people only accomplish anything when "it's God's will".

If you believe in God then you must believe that he created you with the faculties to take care of yourself. God doesn't want to take care of you. He's got better things to do. That's why He created you with the ability to take care of yourself.

And if God doesn't want to take care of you he certainly doesn't want the United States Government to take care of you.

Therefore, God wants you to vote for Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson for President. It's time we started taking care of ourselves.

The Firestone Experiment

I may have written once before about my one and only trip to "Just Brakes". I had just graduated from college, had very little cash and my pads went out on my car. I could still stop and everything, there was just an annoying grinding noise when I did.

I took my car to Just Brakes. They said I needed new rotors, new pads, do something to the brake line, I can't remember what else. They wanted $300+. I said, "Can you just replace the pads? I've only got $50." After much pressuring concerning the safety of my brakes, they finally acquiesced. Three years later, the breaks started grinding again and I took the car to the now defunct K-Mart. They replaced the pads no questions and asked for $30. I even warned them that I might need new rotors. I've never even considered doing business with Just Brakes again.

As time went by and my pocket book became more bountiful I quit paying so much attention to people trying to oversell me. However, recently, my local Firestone has started the annoying habit of trying to sell me tires every time I walk into the store. It's kind of an ongoing joke between me and my girlfriend. I convinced her to take her car to the same Firestone to get her oil changed and they told her the same thing. But, they are conveniently located within walking distance of my house and a place to stop in for a drink so I tend to take my car there when it needs something so I can either walk home (for the long jobs) or walk to the pub (for the shorter jobs).

About 10 months ago I decided to perform an expensive experiment. I spent about $600 on four new tires, balancing and alignment at the local Firestone. These were all recommended by Firestone (in Flower Mound) for the safety of my vehicle (which was only a 15 months old at the time).

Now, my car is 22 months old and I had to get it inspected. I took it to a new Firestone (one in Irving) to get the inspection. And guess what they told me. Go ahead, guess. I'll wait. They said, and I quote, "Your car just barely passed the inspection. You need new tires and an alignment because you have uneven tire wear. Your tires had just enough tread left to pass inspection, but they won't last much longer."

I'm going to take their little write up about me needing new tires and an alignment to the Firestone in Flower Mound who did the exact same job less than a year ago. It'll be fun. I'm thinking I'm going to have to find a new place to do business. It's too bad. The guys at Firestone are pretty nice. Of course, I think what I need to find is a well qualified narcissistic auto mechanic. Someone who loves repairing cars, but won't sell a glass of water in the desert because he doesn't like the people. Wouldn't that be cool?