IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES

I thought it was the Best dollar I have ever spent. My 1.00 pencil sharpener. It gave me instant satisfaction. It worked so well. Then a week later, tragedy struck. It broke. We get what we pay for.

So what did I do?

I bought a 2 dollar pencil sharpener. So for so good.

I'M Back

It has Been Awhile

I haven’t written a blog in quite awhile. Why? I really have no clue.
So here is what is and what should never be……..(just a play on words that really makes no sense to this entry - also the title of a great song by Led Zeppelin - the song does make sense but is not related to this blog)

A lot has been happening since my last blog and then again not much has happened.

My Great Aunt Edna passed away. Her Funeral service was beautiful. When you know someone is “TRULY” in a better place, you celebrate their life. Aunt Edna was one of the best people I have known. She was a great person to everyone.

My Birthday came and went.
We went to a restaurant we’ve never been. Le Parvenu in Kenner. http://www.leparvenu.com/
It was awesome. It moved into my Top 5 (the only problem is – who would have to fall out of my top 5).

Another Tax time is here and yes, I am stressed again. I think it stinks for people who work hard and pay taxes just to pay more.....oh well, we shall overcome!

I was fortunate to be able to speak at Church. The title of the message was “God is Awful.” I enjoyed the research and all what I learned.
Do me a favor, look up the word AWFUL in your dictionary.

I forgot to do my blood work in February, but all is well.
I’ll probably forget again in April.

I am reading KISS by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy. It is mind boggling. I was reading the book during the commercials while Lost was on. My head was spinning big time.
After Kiss, I will be reading The Shack, the children’s book, The Little Prince.

We’ve been watching some ok movies lately. Nothing that “knocked our socks” off. So I won’t go into detail on the flicks.
But I will say we watched (for the second time) August Rush. If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to.

I am changing jobs. New opportunity and new challenge. I am happy to leave the company I am currently working for. I trust that the “NU” company will be the right step for us. I gave it all up to the Lord, so whatever happens is what is supposed to.
My last day is St. Patrick’s Day. Should I wear green? Is green a “happy” color?

Speaking of St. Patty’s Day, I went to see Flogging Molly http://www.floggingmolly.com/ on March 1 (it was a part of their Green 17 Tour). Just like last year, it was remarkable. I will say this, last years opening bands were great. This year: The Mighty Stef http://www.themightystef.com/ were great. The Aggrolites – not.

The Dodgers finally signed Manny.
Hallelujah!!!!!!!!

I will have more later. I will get better with more frequent and hopefully thought-provoking blogs.

One last thing: a cool quote: "Apt words have power to assuage the tumors of the troubled mind." - John Milton (English poet)

Back to Reality...

Back to Life…
Back to Reality
With a continued slap in the face

Last Blog: 1-5-09: off to Mexico. “what fun..Rock n Roll High School!”
Well we are back and well the dreaded “R” word greets us.
But we are so thankful for the trip and the good “R” word: RELAXATION.
I will blog about the trip next but…

THIS AND THAT: A BACK TO REALITY BLOG…

“Back to life, back to reality…” Have you ever heard that song? Hate it.

I am officially on the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon. But I have always been a Kurt Warner fan. I hope he wins another Super Bowl.
I would love a Ravens- Cardinals Super Bowl, but wouldn’t be upset regardless of who gets there.

The economy AINT all that bad.
A while back we switched some $$$ from a Chase money market account to another investor. We went with the “guy”. We had to leave $2.85 in the Chase account. Explanation: too long to write or understand. BUT, great news, in 2008, that $2.85 made a profit. It is now worth $2.86.

Sports Illustrated – even though I cancelled – still send me issues. It is am ok magazine but I only got it so I could get the free LSU gifts (after LSU won the National Championship last year – football). In the latest issue I saw this news…
Jan Kemp passed away at the young age of 59.
Who is Jan Kemp? 1-Someone I applauded. 2-An example of how many Americans put sports in front of truth, honesty and “doing the right thing.”
Jan Kemp (died of complications from Alzheimer’s) blew the whistle on “academic irregularities” at the University of Georgia in the 1980s. She went through hell while trying to do the right thing. She was fired after complaining that the University exaggerated grades of many football players. She was awarded a $1.08 million dollar settlement after suing and was reinstated as English professor. Changes were made at the school – for the better. She was blamed by lots of fans for the school’s football struggles after the scandal. She attempted suicide twice after she was initially dismissed. After reinstatement she stayed on until her retirement in 1990.
I leave you with this. It is ashamed at how we put so much emphasis on sports that we are willing to overlook what is right and true.
When I think of Jan Kemp, I think of the fictitious character Batman. He did so right, but was judged unfairly by Gotham City citizens.
In the title, I wrote a "slap in the face". I will leave that alone right now....Adios

Have a great day!

Saturday 12/6/08

Saturday – 12/6/08 – and an array of this and that

On Saturday, 12/6/08, I helped my little brother change out hi kitchen floor. We replaced old wood with new. He is putting the tile on this week.
Talk about me feeling out of shape. I didn’t realize before hand that the floor would beat me like it did. I actually wore out. I haven’t been physically beat like that in a while.
That work was a part of a great day. I had a great time working and hanging out with my little brother. We talked about an array of subjects and (not that we aren’t close) I felt really close to him on that day. I had an excellent day with him. Plus not to mention, we were treating to the Hanna Montana “Say What” marathon on Disney channel (it played in the back ground). Plus it was his birthday.
My day was capped off when my wife and I went to see Ricky Graham's Scrooge in Rouge. This was a pretty comical play. You can guess by the title what it is about. If you don’t know about Ricky Graham, you can check out his website. (Google Ricky Graham - you get a bunch but you can easily find his web page)
Also you can see if he was included in Wade’s Dinner piece. Scroll down and check it out - dated 11/15/08.
The night was capped off with a late night sandwich at IHOP. The sandwich did not look like the picture. In the future I will stick to the IHOP breakfast, no matter what the time is.

O.J. Simpson – no comment.

The economy – no comment times 2. IT goes without saying that it is bad. Everyday I am waiting for the next tree to fall.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis. I still haven't been able to look at the video on youtube, but I have to defend the former LSU Tiger. I am sure Kevin Garnett was wrong. He lambasted Davis then turned around and played like crud himself (probably only for a few minutes).

The Illinois Governor. - What can you say?

"Pie" de Manzana WOW

“Pie” de Manzana WOW

12/2/08

Every day – at least 99.999999% of the time, we – me and the 2 wonderful people I work with – eat at our desk. We eat with one hand whacking at a keyboard and one holding the phone to our ear. Sometime we get really talented and have 2 or 3 conversations at the same time.
Well today, I am taking a stand (hoy tomo un soporte). As I am eating my mouth-watering (articule regar) lima beans and rice, I will do no work.
I will let the phone ring.
I will watch drivers out of the corner of my eye try to get my attention and play like I don’t see them.
Today I am taking a stand and writing a BLOG. Or BLOG O in Spanish.
So here it is…

Have you noticed lately that almost everything you read (ads, products, etc) are also written in Spanish or have Spanish verbiage written on the label?
This actually does not bother me. I think it is alluring. Plus it helps our Spanish speaking brothers and sisters get along in our country.
Actually my views on our melting pot are not that interesting or controversial or anything like that.
I don’t have a problem with a person working their but off – even if they can’t speak our language. To be honest, a lot of people in our country should look at some of these hard workers and model them.
Now on to what this is about.

My last name is Cortez.
Do you know how many times get a call with a Spanish speaking person on the other end?
People in my own company asked me yesterday (on an email) if I spoke Spanish. The reason: A Mexican customer and out own company’s Laredo TX terminal pretty much speak Spanish top each other (even on emails). They usually copy “American” people on them and they do type in English. For a few days I was getting copied in on these e mails between the two parties that were in Spanish. Every word. Then I see a reply asking me if I spoke Spanish. Of course I can never give a one word answer but in a round about way I said no.
Then the guy responds in English “No wonder you never answered the question.”
Do you know it took a few more emails back and forth to actually get the question? I thought about replying in French or Russian, but I can’t speak those either.
Interesting.

So in honor of my Spanish speaking friends and cousins from Progresso I bring you a current Winn Dixie’s “Have a Better Holiday Dinner” or “disfruta de una major cena para’ las fiestas.”
(Thanks to my co-worker Lariesha)
Lariesha printed it because we are thinking about having food for our office prior to Christmas.
So we are reading this thing and I must say I know how to say HAM (jamon’) and dinner (cena). I am getting a kick out of it, especially the title of this blog. WOW APPLE PIE.
Here is a little rundown: cena de Pechuga de Pavo Asada; 3.5 lbs pechuga de pavo cocida; 2 lb de acompanantes Praters; 16 oz de salsa de menudos Praters; 16 pannecillos…..only $44.99. WOW
Wasn’t Menudo a Latin young dude singing group? From what I can gather, menudos means giblet.
Live at the Monterey Convention and Visitor’s Center…The Giblets!!!!!!!!
“Pie” de Batato o Calabaza….$5.99.
Galletita con Mensaje……..$9.99.
One final thought on our new traveler’s companion (my Winn Dixie Sale paper) to Mexico…
All this will be a great help while in Progresso in January.
Let one of the locals stop me this time, they will think I just walked out of an ELGROCERYO STOREO.
One last thought: Lo casero es major en el “Deli’ de Winn-Dixie.

Goings on...

Goings on………….10/13/08
10/14/08

I have many things in my archived mind to Blog about, but lately I have had a bit of Bloggers Block (so-to-speak). I can blame it on the Dodgers (I am BLUE this morning) and LSU, but…
Yesterday was anon-stop day at the office. The trucking world was running on all cylinders despite it behind a Holiday.
But in the middle of the day, I had to pause (albeit) for about 10 minutes, and the stuff (junk, crazy news stories, and some informative) I saw in that little lump of time was remarkable.
Here are some of the tidbits I picked out to “discuss.”

From Yahoo News (and every other news outfit): “Dow Jumps 936 as Government Pledge Bank Aid.” So Wall Street stormed back (if you ever get to see that Big Brass looking Bull, you will enjoy) from last week’s terrible losses. That was great news. Even though I don’t know much about the stock market and such, I do know we have lost about $8,000.00 in about 8 months. I know I am not the only one. I wasn’t looking at our Wachovia statements, but that little pull this past Sunday made my finger rip into the envelope. 5 seconds later I threw it in the file. I’m sure the Presidential Nominees will educate me on what all this means, so if I can make it through the Campaign ads and the debates and the Presidential Hopeful Prayer Breakfast at Wade’s house, I might learn more about the Government’s Pledge. They know it all and have all of the answers.

This one KILLS (for lack of a better word) me.
From SFGate.com: Class Surprises Lesbian Teacher on Wedding Day.WHAT? What class? The middle?
Basically, some First graders in San Francisco took a field trip to City Hall last Friday so they could toss rose petals on their teacher who was just married (to another woman). The 18 students were from Creative Arts Charter School. The mayor of S.F. officiated.
First – the kids don’t know any better BUT they also have minds that will soak up everything. One of the children’s parents came up with the idea. I wonder about that parent’s other views.
Second - ????? I am still scratching my head as to what they are thinking here.
Liz Jaroslow (the school’s interim director) said “It really is what we call a teachable moment.” I guess the teachable moment would be to teach them young? I’m just guessing.
Of course the trip didn’t go without opposition. Chip White, Press Secretary for the “Yes on 8” (to outlaw gay marriages) campaign said “It’s just utterly unreasonable that a public school field trip would be to a same-sex wedding. This is overt indoctrination of children who are too young to have an understanding of its purpose.”
According to White, unless Prop. 8 passes on Nov. 4, children will learn about same-sex marriage in school. I wonder if the Bible study will be down the hall.
Parents noted that although controversial, most didn’t see a big deal about it. Two children were held out of the field trip by their parents. This is my blog so I say HOORAY for those parents.
Parent Marc Lipsett said “How many days in school are they going to remember? This is a day they’ll definitely remember.” And that is a problem.
For those first graders, in this case 1+1 does not equal 2.

I figured out how to win the Lottery…

From Foxnews.com: Boyfriend of Kansas Woman Stuck to Toilet Wins Lottery for Second Time This Year If you recall, this was the lady who was stuck to a toilet seat for 2 years. Google “woman stuck to toilet seat” and you will get all of the info you need. Her boyfriend won the lottery twice this year. His latest winning ticket was purchased in Great Bend, KS. I actually stayed in that town for a week a few years back. Nice town. I believe the biggest Wal Mart in the state of Kansas is in Great Bend.
The way I see it: I will gather all of the books I either want to read and/or re read. I will buy an old Atari game in a garage sale. I will stock up on air freshener. I will quit my job. I will have my wife play the lottery.

From Yahoo Mail: Go to HUDforeclosed.com for “INCREDIBLE DISCOUNTS ON REAL ESTATE.” I’m not sure, but if you are in the market for a house, this might be a good web page to (at least) look at.

And Finally…
From TheLeafChronicle.com out of Clarksville, TN.
Man picks up ‘dead’ Fox, Wrecks after I t RevivesGuess what the man’s name was?
Tommy Fox