People and toilets

I'm bemused by the actions of people...seemingly educated and professional people.

I had to take a dump at work today. Stall #2 (hehehe) was open so I walked in and this is what I see.

People so afraid of sitting on a bare toilet seat and catching something that they build a 'protective' layer for themselves to sit upon instead.

Feeling protected, they do their duty (hehehe) and leave. But instead of pushing their protective nest into the toilet and flushing it, or not, they leave it. No cares or worries about the next person's feelings. No cares or worries about essentially leaving trash behind. As long as they protected their own ass, why clean up after themselves.

I'd like to punch this fraidy cat bastard in the nut sack!

What this person/these people don't realize is that our restrooms are checked on, wiped down and clean every hour on the hour all day. One could literally eat off the toilet seat and not deal with as many germs as they would eating at their own desk!

Rant over!

Can you pick me up from the airport?

Stupid girl at work came to my desk Thursday afternoon and asked me what I thought about this question. Not specifically this question but her response to this question to someone...who just happened to be her father.

Stupid girl's father was coming into town at DFW Airport, from where I don't know and it's not required for the story. He calls to ask his daughter if she could pick him up from DFW Airport and take him to Dallas for an appointment he has. His flight lands at 7:30 a.m.

Stupid girl lives in Dallas. She's near the intersection of Mockingbird Lane and Central Expressway. In case you are not familiar, DFW Airport is about 25 minutes from her location without traffic or construction issues. She would not experience much if any traffic at 7 a.m.-ish going to DFW Airport but she may hit a bit on the way back.

Stupid girls tells me that she basically told her father, "No." She said she told him, "That's kind of early," and, "It would be different if we could go to breakfast..." and of course he pays. She said, "It'll cost like $15 for a cab. I will give you $15."

She came to me looking for justification in her response to "ease her guilt." She didn't get it from me.

I told her she was wrong and she was selfish for not helping out her father. I said, "It's your FATHER! It's not like it's a friend or a sibling!" I said, "You should do this for your father strictly for the fact that HE IS YOUR FATHER!" This is of course unless her father was a deadbeat but what I have gathered from knowing her, he is not. I ranted a little bit more and told her, "Even if my parent(s) were able to walk to my house in 15 minutes, I would tell them I'd pick them up! That's what we do as good kids to our parents who were good to us."

She still didn't get it. I haven't spoken to her yet today to see what she ended up doing. She wasn't late to work Friday morning so my assumption is that she didn't pick up her father from the airport.

She's a shitty person, a shitty worker and now she is a shitty daughter! I expected nothing less these days from her.

This is what's wrong with the world!

Part of a quote from a story about a grand piano I read at Yahoo!News:

...not responsible for...

Yep! Simple as that.

This coming from the spokesperson of a state agency in Florida called Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He goes on to say,

...unless it becomes a navigational hazard, the U.S. Coast Guard won't get involved.

My first thought is, this is a funny prank. It's obviously a prank unless someone is planning a "stunt" or something later and didn't inform the powers that be.

Second, I'd say this spokesperson for the Commission is a complete and utter dip shit! Saying we don't know how it got there and we don't know when it'll be removed because we don't do this kind of shit is ridiculous. Granted it wasn't the Commission's fault but wouldn't you think they would want to remove it for the potential of it becoming an issue? How hard would it be to break it down and put it on a skiff or something and dispose of it properly? Or light the damn thing on fire while it's on the sand barge and remove what's left because it will be significantly less. I don't understand this mentality of "I didn't do it so why should I clean it up?" It's not like it's an oil spill or something grand...okay it is a grand piano but you know what I mean.

Finally, if the Commission doesn't step up, why wouldn't the Coast Guard? Is the spokesperson speaking on behalf of the Coast Guard or just assuming what the Guard's response would be? My hope would be the Coast Guard would be smart and say, "Commission...dudes! You need to step up!" And if they didn't, the Coast Guard should and bill those lazy fuckers at the Commission.

Lack of pride, ownership, sensibility, responsibility and just general smarts is why America, and the world, is going to shit. It's not Bush, Obama, Bin Laden, God, Allah, Buddha or the high school principal. It's the people that allow other people to be stupid and not pointing out to them that they should take a step back and THINK!

It's like if I saw that a neighbor of mine's house was getting robbed. It's not my job to watch the neighborhood so I won't get involved and call the police. It also only affects my neighbor right now and not the entire neighborhood just yet so until it happens to someone else why should anyone care?

Overnight this piano was placed on the sand barge. Overnight it could disappear. Would the Commission, Coast Guard and anyone know what happened to it if they didn't remove it themselves? It could have sunk into the water without knowledge and then a boat hits it and causes deaths or whatever.

You get the point, right?

End rant!

Stupid people at work...again

I find some of the best random blogging material by just sitting at my office desk listening or seeing what goes on around me.

I've posted about the stupid people at work and specifically the stupidest girl at work.

So, Monday she called in sick to our boss who has been out of town on recruiting trips for almost a month straight. The boss often has been sickly on the various trips and when she got back in town, she still came into the office. I'm not promoting it. I'm just saying for reference/comparison.

So stupid girl left boss a message saying she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be in until may be later after lunch time...approximately 1pm.

No big deal, right? Wrong! Stupid girl just happened to take off Friday for a three-day weekend where she apparently ventured to Austin, Texas for Austin City Limits. That's like three days of mindless drinking, partying and music listening. I'm sure the boss knew this was where she was going and then stupid girl calls in "sick."

Do you see where and why stupid girl gets her moniker?

Again, I don't care what the fuck stupid girl does. I care that her stupidity will somehow affect me somewhere down the road. What if I want to call in sick on a Monday? Now the boss will think, "Hm, [stupid girl] had a party weekend and called in. I wanted if [Jay] is 'playing' sick." See? It sets a trend for others that really isn't there but because of stupid girl, it's now in the thoughts of the boss.

By the way, I've told a couple of people or they were privy to the information the same time I was but they all say, "Isn't [stupid girl] too old to be doing this shit now?" She's 30...31 in a month or so. I take a more stand-offish approach and say, "30 is really just a number. Yes, maturity-wise you would think she'd be out of the going-somewhere-to-party-and-get-drunk phase but I guess everyone is different."

At the same time, stupid girl seems somewhat immature (mentally) at times. I think she spent more time acting like a frat boy in college than a sorority girl. Nothing wrong with that, but I would think the maturity eventually kind of just naturally occurs. I could be wrong since I purchase my evolutionist degree online.

So, what do you think? Is there an age that people should stop "partying"? I know partying is a very broad idea. For me a few years ago, playing Medal of Honor: Spearhead on my home LAN of seven computers was a party. Should I have grown out of that? Of course, part of your decision could be how much community partying is done (i.e. dance clubs, concerts, bars) versus in-house partying (i.e. LAN parties, house parties with close friends).

I'm a little skewed in my opinion because I don't drink or believe in completely wasting my hard-earned money. If I did drink, I don't see how economically smart it is to pay $5 for a bottle beer at some venue when I can buy a 6-12pk for the same or slightly more. I like listening to music but I don't need to see the band in person, especially from within the mosh pit or the you-got-charged-way-too-much-dumb-ass seats up front. I'm happy with just jamming to the music on my computer or MP3 player.

I'm just easy like that...easy like a Sunday morning!

Racists, racists everywhere

I just got a chance to write about this but there was an incident at my roller hockey game a couple of weeks ago.

No, it didn't involve me.

It could have easily been avoided but there's this uncanny knack that men cannot take the high road (I'm guilty of this once in a while as well). It bears no weight that most are at least in their late 20s and above on whether they act like a jackass or not!

This though was completely ignorant and 95% one guy's fault.

So, picture my teammate: about 6'2", Caucasian, biker mustache/goatee, definitely seems to have anger issues. He's on the bench with me and my brother when a team member of the opposing team seemingly (more than likely) takes a dive to draw a penalty. One is called on our team but for slashing instead of tripping. Weird but we move on.

"Angry man" responds to the call with something like "What was that?" "Are you seriously going to call that?" "That was a Dora-like performance!"

Where that last comment came from is beyond me other than the fact that the "diving guy" was seemingly (more than likely) Hispanic or Mexican. The Dora comment was pretty ignorant but I guess if one dug deep enough the correlation could be made...maybe. The point is there was really no need to bring ethnicity into it.

So, the immature bantering goes on between my teammate and the "Diver" and a couple of others on the opposing team. There is about 20 seconds left in the game and what players just happen to be left on the rink: White guy, the Diver and a few other Hispanics (presumably), and my brother (who looks Mexican like I do).

All of a sudden we see White guy get tackled by Diver. Which is just plain stupid to begin with because we are all "adults" but I do understand the Diver's reaction to the ignorant Dora comment. White guy gets out from under Diver but is in a kind of sitting position and then Diver's brother bum rushes White guy, knocking him to his back and sucker punches the White guy on the left side of his face.

It's not my altercation so I remain on the bench as to not bend/break any of the "rules" as I really don't know what the facility's rules are to begin with. I just know it's not my issue and I'm not friends with White guy or Diver.

My brother sees it another way. He's three years older than me and a little shorter and scrawnier. But he has the same temper - we get that from our dad. Anyway, my brother sees the sucker punch and goes in to pull Diver's brother off White guy. I yell from the bench for him to stay out of it. His wife and son are in the stands watching and I hear her voice the same sentiment. I keep a close eye on my brother because if someone did involve him, I would have jumped off that bench and leaped over the wall to bust some knees! Fortunately, the facility workers were able to separate and settle things if not temporarily. They went ahead and ran the remaining 20 seconds off the clock and the game was called. Our team was victorious.

We are removing our equipment in the locker room (basically the back side of the stands without doors or really a room) when I told my brother that I'm glad he stayed out of it. His wife and son again shared the sentiment. My brother said he wasn't getting involved until he saw Diver's brother sucker punch White guy. He just wanted to make sure it didn't happen again.

After a few minutes or so, when we were done de-equipping and getting ready to leave, my brother walks down to White guy and says something. My brother starts to walk back towards me and I hear White guy say, "No disrespect," and my brother says, "That's alright. I'm not Mexican."

My brother sits back next to me and says that White guy skated by Diver and said, "Chico." This apparently is what set off Diver. This is also some portion of what White guy probably said and "apologized" to my brother because White guy thought my brother was Mexican.

So, other than the obvious immaturities, I was a little bothered by the situation. Granted, I'm not Mexican but as I've stated time and again, I look Mexican, especially to the ignorant gringos of the U.S of A. especially in the border states!

Should I feel offended by White guy's comments even though it wasn't me and I'm NOT Mexican? Yes, because that very well could have been me he asininely called, "Dora" or "Chico." Would it have pissed me off like it obviously did Diver? Fuck yeah it would have!

Should I feel awkward by my brother's oblivious statement of "It's okay, I'm Hawaiian?" Because fucking White guy thought he was Mexican to begin with. And as such, his Dora and Chico comments could have indirectly affected us. Just because we aren't Mexican, doesn't mean we haven't had to deal with the outright ignorance, stupidity, racism and dickheadedness of White guy in some form or fashion.

White guy is obviously a pigheaded dip shit that doesn't know any better. Diver is probably an asshole too but it has nothing to do with him being Mexican. My brother is just a dumb ass for encouraging White guy and thinking that whatever White guy said was funny or intelligent sounding.

So, it bothered me a bit. I'm over it but I wanted to write what I was feeling/thinking at the time. I'm just as racist as the next White guy but I've written before about how I don't think it's racism by me when I hate and make fun of every race. :-) Most of the time I'll make fun of your intelligence, your overall life skills and your wife or family in general (even though I don't know her/them). Sometimes, deep down in my mind I may have some damn good racial slurs waiting to creep out of my vocal chords but the odds are I won't bring them to the plate unless the other person brings it first. Even then, I really try to keep my arguments precise and to the point and if your race had nothing to do with it, why even bother mentioning it? It's a waste of time and effort for the argument and it just shows the ignorance of the person who flung the race card because they can't hold their own without turning it to race.

I guess that's all I have to say about that.

In the news 09/02/2010

Headline from the Star-Telegram reads:

Bedford high school student turns in dead woman's purse

Click here for article while it lasts

Just a few questions:

1. Why did the kid(s) take the purse in the first place?
2. After taking the purse, did they immediately say, "Let's turn it in"? or...
3. Did the teens feel guilty and decide to turn the purse in once they found it belonged to a dead lady?
4. Why not just keep the purse? (it probably didn't contain much valuables)

I'm not condemning the kids. I just like to wonder without ever getting answers. I like to frustrate myself like that. Besides, as a teen, I'm sure I did a lot of "questionable" things too. But now that I'm an adult and father, Hell hath no fury like me being pissed off! :-)

It reminds me of a time in junior high when me, my older brother, a guy friend and two girl friends were walking along a walking/running trail in the local park. I found a wallet. Opening it up revealed a driver's license, credit cards, and $500 in cash. Whoa! There was five of us and that meant $100 each. Booyah! The girls were sisters, one was very God-fearing and the other was a tad more wild than her older sister. They both agreed though that returning the wallet would be the "right" thing to do. WTF? What dumb ass goes for a jog/walk with a loaded wallet? Finders Keepers, bitchass! The girls' opinion somehow won (probably because I was the only male - bro is gay, guy friend was in the closet at the time and then the girls) and they returned the wallet to the address on the DL. I can't remember if they mailed it or did it in person but the guy somehow knew their home address. A few days later they came to my house - they lived two houses from me - to show that the guy thanked them by sending them both a dozen red roses. Again, WTF? They didn't find it. I found it!

No, I'm not bitter after all these years. Okay, maybe just a little bit. I mean I could have invested that $100 at age 13 and by now 20+ years later it could have been a million dollars or more! So, why be bitter?

New overdraft protection rules

I saw some articles in the papers today regarding the new overdraft protection and credit card "laws." I don't fully understand or care at this time. I'm sure once I get dinged with some bullshit charge, I'll be up in arms about it and some customer service person is going to get an ear full. You can see different articles here, here and here while they last.

That being said. I did get some notice a few weeks or more ago about my bank and opt-in for overdraft protection. It's funny that I kept the paper in my backpack as I fully intended on commenting sooner. So, without further delay, some gloriously ignorant (IMHO) verbage from the "letter to loyal customer:"

You need to decide if you want to:

1. OPT-IN - This means you want [bank] to authorize and pay your one-time debit card and ATM transactions when there may not be enough money in your account to cover the transaction.
2. OPT-OUT - This means you DO NOT want [bank] to authorize and pay your one-time debit card and ATM transactions when it appears that there is not enough money in your account to cover the transaction.

Here are a few examples:

1. At an ATM: You have $80 available in your account and you use your debit or ATM card to withdraw $100 at the ATM.
• IF YOU OPT IN: We may, at our discretion, authorize and pay the withdrawal. This could result in an overdraft in your account, which means you may be charge an NSF Charge-Paid Item fee of $38.
• IF YOU OPT OUT: The transaction will be declined. You will only be able to withdraw $80 from your account. You will not be charged a fee.
2. At the convenience store: You have $2 available in your account and want to purchase coffee and a snack for $8 with your debit card.
• IF YOU OPT IN: We may, at our discretion, authorize and pay the transaction. This could result in an overdraft in your account, which means you may be charged an NSF Charge-Paid Item fee of $38.
• IF YOU OPT OUT: The transaction will be declined. You will be able to purchase $20 worth of items, or have to use an alternative form of payment. You will not be charged a fee.

So, my thought is if the person doesn't have the money, then the transaction should be declined from the beginning. If they can't pay $80 or $8, what makes the bank think they will be able or want to pay the $38 overdraft fee?

To me, this is basically enabling. The way a parent enables an adult child - adult child has a job but instead of pays his/her bills, gets a tattoo; adult child owes money for electricity or rent, asks parent for money and parent pays the bill; next payment time rolls around and the adult child has put them self in the same situation; parent pays again. Hopefully you get the picture.

Using an ATM/debit card isn't like writing a check that you can float. It won't work if you don't have the a greater balance of funds already in the bank than your purchase amount. After the fact clearing, is one thing but letting people use more funds than they actually have is just stupid. It's kind of why we are in the economic bust we are in: too many people who couldn't really afford a house, bought a house and now they have to foreclose. If we'd stop people from making stupid decisions in the first place, we wouldn't have to clean up after them.

In the news 08/10/2010

From an article at ClickOrlando.com

Tyler Shepard received a ticket in the mail for more than $100 after the city snapped a picture of him running the light at Conroy and Vineland roads.

"I was not very happy about it, because I don't have a lot of money. I'm in college, so it was a very hard ticket to pay," Shepard said.

Click here for article while it lasts.

Like a couple of the commentors said, "Shepard, grow the fuck up! You broke the law. You pay the fine!"

Do people really think that the excuse of "I'm in college" going to really work?

These kind of kids are America's future?!

Why aren't valid offers of clean-up assistance being accepted for the BP oil spill?

From an article on Pegasus News:

The banker has 12 skimming vessels specifically designed to remove surface oil from the Gulf that are immediately available and at least 13 more that can be made available over the next few weeks.

Click here for article while it lasts.

I mean seriously! Isn't some valid help better than no help? Is BP wanting to be so secretive that they would much rather continue the toxicity pumping into the Gulf versus help stop or siphon it off? And technically, the Gulf of Mexico (at least the part being affected I guess) is "owned" by the U.S.A. so the U.S. government should be forcing BP to accept all measures of quality clean-up assistance.

I mean they went to Kevin Costner and James Cameron. Why the hell not companies that actually have things that can assists NOW!?

Anyway...

In the news 06/17/2010

I would have punched her face too and then some. I don't know when this happened but it was on the YouTube most popular page. What I see in the video posted is nothing wrong that the police officer did other than let the situation escalate almost completely out of his control. Before the chick, who isn't even really involved until she shoves the cop, gets popped, you can see some male holding her back. He apparently was the smart one out of the three. What pisses me off more is that women think they shouldn't deserve the same retaliation as men. If a man had swung at the officer, they would have just turned this into a black "racial" thing instead of a black, female racial thing. Again, why the fuck the NAACP has to get involved is beyond me. It wasn't a racial thing. It was a stupid mother-trucking human being thing. Black or white wasn't the issue. It's just complete ignorance and stupidity! Just like all the YouTube comments...I would have punched her and punched her and punched her and had lunch and then come back and punched her some more. Oh, and yes, if it was my mother or daughter, I would definitely think differently. Then if I saw this video, I may get a little more perspective on what went down. After, I would probably punch my mother/daughter/wife in the face too for embarrassing me not just in town but on the World Wide Web!

---

In a story from Dallas News,

"I thought that was a racist move on their part to have that picture of a little black boy with his head in a trash can," Wallace said.

Click here for the article while it lasts.

Okay, why does the NAACP or any "black" agency always have to cry wolf...er, racism!? That was my first thought when I saw this article and photograph...that someone was going to blame racism. My immediate thought after was not that the situation screams racism. It screamed a little bit of stupidity on the librarian's part but racism? Puh-lease! Reading anything into this other than a good idea with a bad marketing plan gone bad and you are the reason America is so jacked up these days: the dumb are getting dumber and the rich are profiting off the dumbness!

Besides, how the hell does the mother know, the kids know or anyone know for that matter, which "little, black boy" this is as don't they all look alike?

Stupid drivers post #10

Do stupid drivers really think that the more they ease forward at a traffic light the faster the light will change?

There is a reason they paint this really wide white line. It's called "The Stop Here Dumb Fucker" line! And most lights have this crazy knack of usually changing quicker when you are ON this line versus behind it or over it. Sometimes it really doesn't matter but the light definitely doesn't change faster the more you ease over and beyond the line.

In fact, you look more like a dip shit for easing forward instead of just waiting for the light to change! Especially you clinically fucked up drivers that ease so far beyond that you are 1/4 the way into the intersection!

If you reflect upon how stupid you are or were, you'll maybe realize that the extra few inches (feet in some cases) didn't help you get to your destination any quicker.

It did make some random person waste his precious time posting about your dumb ass and you are never going to know. But it made me feel better letting the world know of your stupidity and hopefully learn from it. It's a down right dirty shame I don't have a picture of you or your vehicle. I think I'd exceed the Internet's bandwith with pics of ALL the stupid drivers.


Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

Memorial Day - yesterday, today, tomorrow and beyond

This is technically what I would call email spam. I think most of this shit is baseless, worthless and empty. The only reason why I'm sharing is because I believe this - that our military, our FIGHTING soldiers in particular, deserve all our respect and appreciation. What they do, right or wrong in your eyes, they do it because they are following orders; they do it for Americans; they do it for their families; most importantly, they do it so I don't have to. I think injured soldiers, physically and/or mentally, deserve the governments attention, care and support until death because that's what the soldiers pretty much agreed to.

So before I get too high on my soap box. I share this...

It is the
VETERAN,
not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the
VETERAN who
salutes the Flag.



It is
the
VETERAN
who serves
under the Flag.



ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD,
AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

We need to trim our "garden" and keep it that way

Okay, seriously!?

I get an email from the "landlord" saying that the city is pressing to have the alley ways more clear than they have been. They are no longer going to warn the tenants. They will just fine them.

She was nice about it and this is part of what she said:

You all do not have much back there but there are some weeds that exceed the 8” limit – behind the fence and garage. You need to trim them and keep them trimmed from now on.

I can't believe that this is what she considers "overgrowth" in the alley.

How stupid!

I will pull this shit up and leave it in the alley just to spite them. But then again, I may not be quite as angered when I pull it up and I will probably think more clearly and chunk it in the neighbor's yard.

Quote: "I was only inside for a few minutes..."

This is a few days late but I'm okay with that...

From the Star-Telegram

Arlington woman’s parking mistake costs her $640

Click here while the link lasts

All I have to say to this woman is, "Shut the wholly fuck up, stupid ass bitch!"

Pardon my French but stupid, ignorant people like this make me want to hit them with a bat multiple times. I'll tell them to stand up and then proceed to beat them down again. They'll continue to stand and I'll continue to beat them. That's how stupid they are!

Parking illegally is illegal no matter how long you are doing it. Would you stop your car in the fast lane of the highway because you wanted to make a quick call on your cell phone? Hell no! I mean it's thoughtful but it's dumb and ILLEGAL!

So, now this stupid woman is probably putting out more money to fight the ticket. That shows even more how smart this dumb woman is! Oh, and the article says that she was just going inside to see how long it would take to pay her daughter's fine. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

I guess one thing is good about her hiring an attorney to fight the fine. She wants to "raise awareness." Good, people should know how much they are going to pay when they get busted for doing something illegal even if it's not seemingly as bad as "driving drunk or speeding in a school zone."

Geez, the rationale of this woman! I'd be embarrassed if she were my parent!

Food, Inc [The Movie] (2008)

I just got an email from my Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility class. Yep, the one I just did my presentation in yesterday.

He forwarded a link to a movie that will be playing on KERA Channel 13 (locally for Dallas) from 8-10pm tonight.

It's called Food, Inc (2008)...official web site here. The trailer looks pretty interesting. I think I may have to watch it...for brown-nosing and actual-learning purposes. I'm always inquisitive up until the day/time of actual execution. Things, more interesting ones, come up and I take the better option of the two, three or more.

In the end, after all the boasting and bragging, I'm sure I'll end up watching it just because I truly am curious AND I have no life...tonight!

The shit end of the stick

Last night was a very depressing night. Not depressing where I want to kill myself but depressing enough. I am destined to be on the shit-end of every stick. I guess it is partly due to my own fault. Well, this time it was anyway. Let me tell ya...

I went to play tennis out in Colleyville to meet my friend Keith around 6:15 p.m. I was off work and decided to head out there a little early to avoid traffic. I stopped by Mom and Dad’s just for a bit to see what my nephew, Robbie, called and left a message for on my cell phone. I couldn’t understand his mumbling ass.

Anyway, I stopped by for just a bit and then I left. David, my other nephew, asked for a ride, with his friend, to Wal-mart. I told him he’d have to find a way home because I was only going to take him because I had tennis plans.

On the way to dropping them off, I stopped by my brother Vern’s because I had a DVD of Adam’s (his son) to return which he left at my house when he spent the night. I figured this was a good opportunity to talk to him about buying his Explorer. Well, before I got the chance, he mentioned that James and James Michael (brother-in-law and his son, my nephew) had stopped by earlier that day to buy it. James made him the $2,500 offer Vern was going to get from CarMax and Vern agreed to it.

I told Vern that I was going to buy it from him. I just hadn’t had time to see him and talk to him about it. You can’t imagine how pissed, upset and just deflated I was after hearing that. I mean the Explorer isn’t anything spectacular but since Vern has had money he has taken much better care of his vehicles than when he was younger. If CarMax gave him an offer of $2,500, then I would think it was at least worth that much.

Two weeks ago Vern and his wife were over our house and talked about selling the Explorer. Marti (his wife) said she took it to CarMax to see how much they would give her. They told her that she could sell it on the street for like $4,500 but they were only going to buy it from her for $2,500. She was surprised they offered that much but was going to drop it off the day they left on their way out of town. I told her that I had $1,500 that I could give her right now. She laughed and so did Vern and said, “Why would I take $1,500 when I could get $2,500?” I said, “Hell, I was just offering.” I recall Marti saying she’d be willing sell it for less to a family member and depending on who that family member was but I guess she was just talking. I would think I would be the perfect, best and only family member worthy of them cutting a deal for.

So, after that evening, I couldn’t stop thinking about buying the Explorer. I thought about offering him $2,000 although I would go up to the $2,500 but what kind of sell would it be if we didn’t dicker on the price a little bit.

For days, my wife and I talked occasionally about it and she kept telling me to call Vern. It was like Wednesday last week and she mentioned that we should just offer him the $2500. I thought I had time and I told her that I would call him. I kept pushing it off and pushing it off (like a dip shit thinking I had all the time in the world). Finally, I thought I’d see him this past Sunday to play hockey but we ended up not playing. I should have called and talked to him then, but I didn’t.

Monday, me, my wife and kids went to NRH20 in North Richland Hills. I called James Michael on the way out to see if he wanted to go. He said he didn’t have any money but I told him I’d take care of it.

We were leaving NRH20 around 5 p.m. and as I started the van, the wife asked me again if I had called Vern. I told her not yet but I will. James Michael was in the van and heard our entire conversation. We drove to Chuck E Cheese’s down from NRH20 to eat and let the girls have some fun. I bought James Michael food and drink. I dropped James Michael off on the way home and, again, I should have called Vern but I didn’t.

I figured I had time.

So, we get to yesterday when I do see Vern and I find out what went down with James, James Michael and Vern.

Do you get the picture? James Michael knew I was looking to buy Vern’s Explorer. He’s been there EVERYTIME my wife and I talked about calling Vern and making the offer. So, it’s quite funny – not literally – that all of a sudden Tuesday afternoon James Michael calls Vern and tells him that his dad is on his way over to buy his truck and wanted to take it home THAT day!

Vern was saying shit like “ah, man” and “why didn’t you tell me before” and shit like that. I told him I had mentioned to him about it but I didn’t know about the extra money until a few days ago that the wife was getting in the mail that I could get him the full $2,500. I told him I should have called but I knew I was going to see him to make the offer face to face but obviously got undercut in time by James Michael and his dad.

Vern wanted me to call James Michael and try to pull on his heart strings to influence him to talk James out of buying it but James Michael knew his dad’s plan was to let him drive the Explorer. James told Vern that he was buying it for Tina (my sister) but fucking Tina doesn’t go anywhere. She sits on her ass all day playing MOHAA (Medal of Honor Allied Assault) and the other times she is fucking sleeping. James said their van is falling apart and he’s planning on trading it in and getting a new truck. So, I ask why does he need the Explorer? Just to fuck over Jay (me), that’s why. I think it's genetically coded in my family members to want to blatantly fuck over their siblings. I guess it's recessing in my body or my conscience is too strong.

You don’t understand how pissed I am. It’s unbelievable that James Michael wouldn’t have my back. Rather he fucked me over for his own gain. I expect it from my brothers and sisters but NEVER did I expect James Michael to fuck me over in such a way as this. I mean after all I’ve done for him, tried to do for him, and then he fucks me over. I mean he fucked me over in the past when he bailed out on helping us move when he told us he would be there. This is a little more – no way more – than not showing to help us move.

Of course, we could always say that it was my fault for not calling sooner and blah, blah, blah. But James Michael knew all the way up to the day he called Vern that I was going to offer Vern the money for his Explorer. He could have stepped up and said, “Dad, Uncle Jay really wants to buy it,” but he didn’t. In fact, you would think he would think it was really shitty that his father is willing to fuck over and undercut me like he did. I just can’t believe it. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about how much we have tried to help his worthless ass out and he screws me over...me!?

Then we look at Vern. Vern could have been a bigger man and stepped up as well and told James that he had already been in talks with me about the Explorer but didn’t realize I was serious. I tried to help him see that it isn’t that bad to bail out on the deal and sell it to me. I mean the Explorer is now on a destiny to be fucked up. Every freaking vehicle James and Tina have is fucked up, either by themselves or their selfish children. I told Vern that he knows it’s going to be driven to hell by James Michael but he wouldn’t call James and tell him he had already been in talks with me. I mean Vern wouldn’t even step up and help his own fucking brother - the one and ONLY family member that hasn't asked him for money or tried to screw him over. I understand he didn’t want to cause a riff but what the fuck should he care. First, he’s going to be in Florida. Is he really going to give a shit what the rest of the family fucks think of him back in Texas? Second, I’m his fucking little brother. James and Tina have already tried to fuck him over for $6,000 and who knows what else.

And yet, Vern went ahead and sold the Explorer to James this afternoon.

So, I’m destined to always get the shit end of the stick from my family. Hence, I have decided to excommunicate all the mother fuckers. I’m tired of getting shit on for nothing and not getting the respect I’m due for trying to help out the trailer trash scum mother fuckers! Even Vern...I cannot let go that he didn’t have his own brother’s back. He couldn’t do this ONE thing for his brother. He couldn’t do the RIGHT thing. James Michael couldn’t do the RIGHT thing, either. I’m sick and tired of it.

I have no reason to see these fuckers. I only got together with them for my kids. So, they could have a sense of family but do I really want them to have this kind of family? FUCK NO! They are better off joining a convent or something!

So, mark this day in the books. All friendly communication has been discontinued between me and my ENTIRE family excluding a one or two nieces or nephews that haven't crossed me yet. I have no desire to see these people nor speak to them. I’m done with it and the wife and I wipe our hands of them.

Well, it’s now late, about 12:13 a.m. I need to get to bed. I start my first class of the Fall 2006 semester tomorrow. It’s called “Contemporary Moral Problems”. How coincidental is that...I’m taking a class on moral problems?

Good night!