Robbins Blog

Yes, I know we have lived here almost a month but does anyone have any insight into how my crap we have and/or more importantly have poorly it was packed and labeled? No, you don’t. Believe me. We still have not uncovered the alarm clock or several key electronic items. That said, we have found stuff we didn’t know we had – and frankly don’t want. I can’t believe a schlepped that stuff out of one house and into another on my sore back.

We do have a desk now in the office and I hate it. Well, the desk is fine but it is too high and I am forced to type is a lousy position. I’m not a good typist to begin with and this just makes it worse. Compound that with the fact that I have several documents to write for the office and these just are not getting done. The fan that I installed in here wobbles too. Pisses me off (though it is the only one of four done that does).

Right now, I am making some meat on the Traeger. Almost ran out of pellets but luckily a local store carries them. About 4 more hours to go and then the colon bustin feat can begin in earnest. Got a 8lb brisket on next to a 6-pound Boston butt. Sliced and pulled. Beef or pork. I got the bases covered. Not sure our Indian neighbors wanted to wake up to the smoke of craklin cow, but then again, they didn’t ask me last time they cooked curry. We will call it even.

To the question ‘is everyday in Texas in the 90s?’, the answer is no, some will be in the 100s. Have not gotten our first electric bill. I don’t want to know.

The house, as mentioned, is starting to come along. Max’s room is now done thanks to IKEA. The Girls room is mostly done but then again, it doesn’t matter since they will destroy whatever goes in there. For a house bigger than our last ,it doesn’t seem to have as much storage. Then again, it doesn’t have a basement – the mecca of packrats. Maybe I can put some stuff in the attic, but I fear it will melt or spontaneously catch on fire given the heat. Art is slowly getting unpacked and hung. The study office will take months to do…

MA has cleared out the center of the workout/storage room. The walls are stacked high with cookie jar boxes. Not sure where it will all go. Again, we got a lot of stuff/crap/art…

I have started in on the media room. Got things hung but not calibrated. I stiff need furniture and of course, some kind of cable management system. Black out curtains and some decorations will finish it off. At some point, I do need to get an electrician out to move some plugs too. Anyway, hooked up the PS3 last night. It is pretty neat – I did not know it had a browser and wireless connection on it (I bought it because it was a blu-ray DVD player and there was a $100 gift card with it). This makes sense I guess if you play on line games (which I don’t). Wall-E is now out as a game but we have not seen the movie yet. Just hard for me to get into gaming again given that I grew up in a totally different era where strategy not shotguns ruled. Our first couple of blu-ray DVDs have arrived. Not sure if I will replace my collection or not since up-converting a standard DVD works pretty well. It is the new ones that give me pause since they cost $10 more than other DVDs.

We have made a couple of trips to the local pool and it is pretty nice considering. About ½ of it is a kid pool (<2 feet). Makes it a little safer I suppose. Swimming lessons are next though Z is known for not being very cooperative when being asked to do something not on her timeline. She is more introspective. Yes, she might have gotten that from me. Maybe.

Oh, remind me to tell you that Vista is a piece of shit if you ask. I find it interesting that Intel has decided to not install it within their corporation. Oh yeah, Bill gates retired too. What a legacy.

Back to the kids. Meghan is starting to be more independent though she is a sponge. Thank goodness, I act like an angle most of the time, otherwise, there could be some trouble a brewing in the future. Now, if Z would stop showing her bad examples…

Maxwell is continuing to grow. He is in the that “coo, cry, crap” mode. Hey, I should write a children’s book (yes, I would have to get a different desk first and another Macintosh). Speaking of which, new iPhone comes out in a little more than a week. Interesting that people are just now figuring out that it costs $2000 over the two year period to carry a cell phone with data plan. We still might get one as MA’s phone contract is up. I hate the mafia like hold these people have on us. The FIOS bastards did the same thing to us. Way of the world I guess.

At least the HOA stopped being total dill-holes once they figured out we are new to the neighborhood. At this point the flowerbeds look good anyway. Now, we just have to figure out a landscape plan (and get permission to implement). I really hate that. Really.

I am sorry to say that it has become very apparent in the last week or so that Barack Obama doesn’t have a clue and is a show pony. Sad, really. Even worse is that the USA Today crowd he talks to doesn’t see that. The media of course, doesn’t care as long as he is a democrat. Speaking of which, it is not a good sign that the next President will also get to pick a Supreme Court Justice. Not surprised that, with the agreement of the ACLU, the liberal four decided that child rape as not heinous enough of a crime to warrant the death penalty. In fact, one justice has decided that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Luckily, I think he will retire next (none too soon). On the flip side, I have been pretty interested in this “Robert’s court”. He seems to be doing a good job with opinions that seem to irk both sides alike. That is good I guess as legislative courts are bad for the country.

Oil prices rise again. Why? Inability to come to agreement on what to do in congress (yes, the McCain tax free summer idea was a boob). I just do not understand why we can not have simple votes on stuff everyone agrees with. Don’t got piling on amendments that will cause good bills to fail. Democrats tried this a zillion times with the war and now with taxes on the oil companies. Republicans filibuster. Nobody wins guys? Did you see the movie War games (Ally Sheedy at her finest). Anyway, an excess tax on oil companies is not going help prices (though I am not necessarily opposed to it IF – and big IF – it is crafted correctly). Quit doing stupid things like the stimulus package and spending money on pork AND pass some speculation requirements will help the oil price issue. Oh, get rid of the ethanol mandate too. That’s pretty ass backwards (yet again, good idea legislated poorly).

Oh, if you were ever wondering what kind of person, would chop up their credit card into really small pieces and send it to the CEO of Bank of America to make a point, say hello. There is fraud protection and then there is the actual ability to use your card. They do not seem to differentiate. I am – for now on – going to be a one man band of consumer activism.

BTW, you should have received your stimulus checks by now. Hope you spent them wisely (which would be to NOT spend it but save it OR spend it on something just frivolous as hell that makes you happy – like a custom Klose BBQ grill).

Finally, “Burn Notice” starts new episodes on USA starting July 10. Monk and Pysch the week after I think. It is a good show (and just released season 1 on DVD). Firefly (another great show) is being released on Blu-ray next month I think. Stargate SG-1 is releasing a movie direct to DVD in two weeks. Not sure why I like that show outside of Amanda Tapping and McGyver, but it grew on me over the last 10 years. Anyway, it all looks good on the Visio TV I got. Normally, I am not a discount kind of buyer on these things but it has been getting good reviews and the price was cheap enough to take a leap. In the end, people were right. It IS a good TV – maybe not the reference system that Pioneer has with its Kuro models, but MORE than good enough to watch TV and DVD version of Dallas (which MA is now watching given where we live and the fact that she had never seen the show before). Plus, I got it at Costco which doubles the warranty. Love good shopping. Happy days.

All right, we finally are now up and running.  We have cable, internet and phone (after a 13 day waiting period) and US Mail (after an 11 day waiting period).  If you need our new phone or address, send us an email, as we’re not going to post it.

There will not be any new photos, though, for another week or so.  There’s still a lot of important unpacking to do first  (like find the  box with the alarm clock – it’s most likely in a last-minute, un-marked box). 

 Kids are adjusting to their new home.  They love their playroom and are excited to show it to MoMo on Friday.  Max is getting a lot bigger, grabbing onto things and amusing the girls with his new skill.

…because the lawyer laden monopolistic society we live in allows horrible service from companies like Verizon to slow roll people on necessities like Internet access. It is like living in the Bush, though only miles from Sydney. Not sure how people do it. I ALMOST would use dial up for the next week just to get by if I did not get some connection at the office…

Should be good to go on the 17th, assuming there is not some ‘issue’, which frankly there has been for every item in this house. Give it couple of more days after that and I might get May’s images up and loaded. Have not taken any in June…too consumed with moving the cardboard jungle.

Not without some last minutes drama, but we have secured a house in Murphy, Texas.  Don’t know where t that is?  Well, we live pretty much next door to JR.

More in a couple of days.