Archive for June, 2004

This morning on my way in to work, I decided to pick up some fast food for breakfast. I made a quick right into the Burger King parking lot and proceeded to the drive through. After placing my order I followed the attendants instructions and pulled up to the second window to pay and get my greasy morning sustenance. The entire breakfast set me back $3.24, so I gave the pimple-faced order-taker a ten dollar bill. In return he gave me $6.26. Maybe you did not get that….he gave me $6.26 back in change. OK, so your quick math skills tell you that I was supposed to get back $6.76, meaning I was shorted a whopping (heh…whopper…whopping…no pun intended) ¢50.

Read full article

Monday night as I watched the news, I saw a story about four U.S. soldiers that had been killed in Rimadi, west of Baghdad. Their bodies lay in mangled heaps, still twisted and contorted where they fell. Each slain by a bullet to the head. Other news spoke of a Korean citizen, being held hostage my Iraqi insurgents. The hostage takers threatened that he too would see the same fate of the two Americans beheaded in recent months unless the South Koreans change their plans of sending soldiers into the area. The terrorists followed through on their promise yesterday after negotiations stalled.

Read full article

Each morning, my daughter Gabriela, hops out of bed, grabs her fuzzy blanket and drags it into bed with my wife and I. She enthusiastically informs us, Mommy, Daddy! I wake up! Sun is shining!

Lately, she has become more and more, well, independent. More stubborn too. Not sure where she gets that from (must be her mom, because I am always very amiable). She has begun using the word No much to often for my liking and she wants to do everything herself. She even refuses to eat her dinner most evenings. Until recently she loved taking her evening bath and reading a bedtime story with her bedtime glass of milk. Now she runs from me when I inform her that it is bath time. Not even my old failsafe, the bath time song, can succed in coaxing her.

Read full article

The cab driver maneuverd the beat up champagne colored suburban through the New Orleans highway traffic. The skycaps at the airport called him Pac Man. I wondered how he had earned such a name. I sat quietly in the back watching him as he somewhat skillfully drove with one hand while using the other to hold his cell phone. He spoke in low tones and in some dialect of his native Arabic tongue that I could not understand. Pac Man postured himself in a gangster lean with his left elbow propped up against the window, and his head and body slightly tilted to the left. This provided optimal position for holding his small phone to his ear. At one point in our journey he slid his right hand down the steering wheel and to the left to pull up the trun signal lever, indicating his intent to move the vehicle into the right lane. After making the lane change, he left the the blinker on for about five minutes, turning it off only after he had finished his conversation.

Read full article

Well this weekend started out hopeful, but then I suppose most disasters are unexpected. Just when you think everything is going fine, you sit back relax and put it on cruise control then suddenly without warning, the wheels come off.

I left work friday afternoon looking forward to a long Labor Day weekend. The work ahead of me did not seem too overwhelming. As, planned I met Lupe, our general contractor. Lupe is a robust man of about 5′ 4″ in stature. His salt and pepper beard and frizzy hair make him look like a miniaturized Mexican Santa Clause. He comes off extremely likable as well. At our meeting I wrote him a check for half of the total bill, which would be used to pay for materials. He assured me that he would pick up the materials bright and early saturday morning and get started first thing Sunday. Inside the house Rob, our painter had tarps down in various rooms and had already began priming several of the walls. Yes, I thought to myself. Everything seems to be going according to plan.

Read full article