What a couple of weeks! Sorry so long.

This is a long post, but hey I have a lot to talk about.

Wow, so much has happened since my last post.
I have a beautiful leather bound journal on my bookshelf that has about 20 entries over the past 5 years! I started it right before I got married, and I just never have the time to write in it. This blog was suppose to serve the purpose of my journal, letting prosperity know what was going on in my daily life. While not as beautiful as a leather bound journal, it is just as hard to keep up with!

Lets start with a few weeks ago.

My job requires me to travel quite extensively, putting tons of miles on my car.
It was Monday morning, my breaks were bad and I had a 5 hour drive I had to take that afternoon in order to get to Beaumont TX where I was suppose to stay the rest of the week, more on that latter.

I'm broke so I decided to try to fix the breaks myself which begs the question: "When Fred Flinstone breaks his foot, dose he go to a doctor or a mechanic?"

A few days earlier I preformed another maintenance act on my vehicle, a headlight change, it was a easy fix, but I am still very proud of it as I am not a huge car guy. In fact I hate to work on cars because it leaves black stuff under your fingernails for weeks! I realized my passenger side headlight was out while looking at the reflection of a car sitting in front of me at the stop light. So I did a quick U-turn and flipped into the auto-zone to buy the light. 30 minutes later, I figured out how to replace it. It was dark outside so I had to do it in the parking lot of the store.

When my breaks started to sequel, I felt that I may be able to replace the break pads by my self and thus save the hundreds of dollars of bogus work a Breaks-R-Us store will always attempt to charge. A long time ago I had a car that I was about to sell that needed new breaks. I was going to sell the car for about 500, but they wanted to charge 1000 for new breaks and parts and said they could not allow the car to get back on the road because it was too dangerous. So i had to resemble everything in the shop my self and talked them down to only charging/replacing $250 worth of parts in order to get my car back.... Crooks!

So I am going to change my breaks but I own zero tools, I live in an apartment so I have no garage to work in, no jack stands to put the car up on, nothing! A co-worker allows me to use his garage, and if i needed (which I ended up using twice!) the use of his 1979 Jeep Wrangler to take to the store to get more parts or whatever I needed provided I could keep it running when it sat at a stoplight. A difficult task I might add! But that was a fun car, I want one now!

Several hours latter, I was done, my car got put back together and I had no extra parts lying around, a true sign of success!

Before even taking a shower, I hit the road to start my 6 hour drive, all of which I braced for a catastrophic wreak every time I hit the breaks, not knowing if I had done something wrong or not!
The next day I went to work at Silsbee ISD outside of Beaumont TX. Beaumont is a very strange town/area. There is so much racism there. I didn't know there were people out there that were still this racist (outside of several off collar remarks you can sometimes get older people and epically anyone from Craig's family).

A few days before my arrival a African American man was seen walking down the road a few hundred yards away from a car in a ditch. The police were called and they attempted to give him a field sobriety test which he refused. He then attempted to escape and the officers were forced to detain him and use a tazor. The man died in the back of the police car before they were able to get him to the jail. He had several wounds all over him which may have been from a wreak, the struggle, or all out police brutality. The black community in the area assumed the latter.

I should also state that Beaumont (or a town right outside called Vidor) is home of the largest population of Klu Klux Klan members in the entire south! Hard to believe, but even taking in the entire population of Alabama, its true! So, I will not get into the argument that the man was killed by this or that, or there was or was not police brutality because I have no idea what happened. What I do know, is the New Black Panther party based in Houston came down to hold several rallies and protest. "We are going to rip this city apart" actual quote. The KKK also held rallies.
Silsbee ISD received and a local ER received a phone call stating "I hope you guys are prepared because the hospital is going to be full of High School kids by the end of the day!" This threat may or may not have been related to the events that was going on. But there was suppose to be a rally in Silsbee latter that night.

I had no idea any of this was happening. All I knew is I walked into the library that morning, set up my area to meet with clients and a few minutes latter heard the announcement that the school was in lock down, police and police dogs filled the hallways and I was told to hide in the A/V closet. Needless to say, I was scared. My cell phone didn't work so I could not call or text my wife. I did have email that I could get to every few minutes to keep her posted. She was scared, I and I was terrified. About 2 hours latter, I found out the whole story. I decided that I would let Beaumont fight this out by themselves and drove home that afternoon.

The next week I came back, and was on low alert lock down because of a note found in the bathroom stating someone was going to kill every black student here. (of which there are about 10, 0 in Vidor)

The next week I had to drive to Beaumont again this time to work in Vidor, and Lumberton (the city of the incident) luckily it was without incident, and I have a very productive week.

On Monday I had to be in Vidor, Tuesday Vidor, Thursday Lumberton and Friday I had to be in Austin at 8 am to see my sister in law Naela graduate from UT school of Business (even though she could care less if I was there, more on that latter). This meant that Thursday night I had to drive from Beaumont to Dallas (6hrs) to pick up my wife and kids because we only have 1 car and then drive all the way to Austin (3.5 hrs)! Then I was going to go camping for Memorial day weekend Friday night to Monday in Lake Texoma (from Austin 5.5hrs) Luckily my sister Bethany pulled through for me and drove my family to Austin so I only had to drive from Beaumont to Austin and the from Austin to our camping location.

From naela's graduation

From naela's graduation

From naela's graduation

From naela's graduation

From naela's graduation

From naela's graduation

Its memorial day weekend so finding a camping space is very difficult. All the places we looked at were booked solid but because we booked about 1 month in advance, we got a spot on Lake Texoma at Eisenhower state park, one of the best in Texas. On Wednesday we find out that Lake Texoma was going to be closed due to high water so we had to scramble to find a place to camp and of coarse everything was already booked! The only option was a place in Oklahoma called Turner Falls. It is a first come first serve camping place so we had to leave as soon as we were done in Austin to make the 6.5 hour drive to our camp site.

I was in Beaumont so Ayasha had to pack all of the camping supplies for me without my help. Bethany took some with her in her car and I had to swing by my house to pick up the rest on my way. I get there at about 9 pm and It looks like the place is going to be really awesome.But our neighbors on either side of our campsite are playing music pretty loudly. Oh well, I am ready for a great weekend with me, my kids and my sister Bethany.

Ayasha stayed in Austin to hang out with her sister and then hitched a ride back to Dallas with her mom and had the weekend to herself. She hates camping. You may be asking "Why couldn't Ayasha and the kids hitch a ride to Austin with her mom instead of begging my sister Beth to take them". That's a great question, one that has no answer. And not because I didn't ask it either. More on Ayasha's family later.

The next morning I come to find out that there are no actual camp sites at Turner Falls, its just come in a put a tent where ever you want. So people were constantly walking into OUR CAMPSITE to put there tent up and we had to fight them off on more than one occasion. You can drink alcohol at Turner Falls so needless to say everyone was drunk. At about 3 am, some people came into our tent site and yelled "Where are these people at? Oh man they must have crashed" and kept yelling other things until they finally faded in the distance.

The next morning we went swimming and the water was ridiculously cold! but they were some pretty good swimming sites, one even had a diving board and a huge water slide into the river. People were pretty rude at the swimming holes and it was really packed because they let as many people who wanted to come in as long as they paid! When were were done swimming we had to deal with the mind spiting noises emulating from every campsite around us.

Its really not worth describing how loud the noise was because there is no way you would believe me anyway. It was pure torture that went on into the night well past quite hours. I even went to several campsites, shined a light in their faces so they couldn't see me and thought I was a police officer and in my deepest most commanding voice told them they had to turn their music off. We called the police 5 times that night and 4 for more the next morning. 7:30 am, I was woken up by 100 decibels of Tejano music. I think a tear actually came to my eyes at that point. Bethany was miserable, she felt like her head was spiting from all the noise.
Sunday however, most of the people left, and I only had to call the cops twice. When is that a good thing: "I only had to call the cops twice" Wow

My Mom, Step-dad, Ryan and Dillon came down that day and we all had fun swimming, sliding on the slides and diving of the diving boards. They even stayed late so we could all sit by the fire and cook rib-eyes and kabobs. Read my moms experience here including how we saw 3 people almost drown!

The kids had a blast, they loved playing in the dirt at the river but they didn't want to swim too much because it was so cold.

From camping

From camping

From camping

Monday came and I have to drive directly from Turner Falls to my hotel in Lubbock where I am working today and this week. That was only about 7 hours of driving! Other than long enough to pick up the camping stuff on my porch, I have not been home since the 17th! I saw my kids a few hours on the 22nd, and all or the 23rd, 24th, and the morning of the 25th but only saw my a few hours of the 22nd and a few or the 23rd.

I feel like a divorced dad, only seeing my kids on the weekend. But I am very excited because I will be driving home Thursday night(my car full of all the laundry I have been doing on the road and all my camping supplies I had to take with me from Turner Falls) After Thursday, I probably wont be going out of town for several weeks if not a whole month! I can't wait to see my wife and my kids!

When I get home will also be the first time that it has visitor free in a few months too! I will explain...

I think it was last summer, but it could have been the summer before, I can't remember, and really its not important what year it was; Ayahsa asked me if we would let her sister live with us all summer long (rent free) while she was not in Austin so she could work in Dallas. Why could she not live with her mom where she has her own room and a 3000 sq foot home? Who knows?

I reluctantly said yes even though it would put a huge strain on us. We did not have an extra bedroom so she left her stuff in the kids room or in the living room where she slept. Tempers ran high and by the end of the summer it blew up into a huge argument where I am a horrible person, Naela hates me, Ayasha thinks I am a jerk, and my summer in ruins. It was bad! Naela still hates me.

SO... this time around Ayahsa ask me if Mohamed, her brother, can stay with us for a few weeks.

I said NO!!

Mohamed joined the military and finished basic training, he is in the reserves so he needed a place to stay that was close to a college that would offer a ROTC program so the government would pay for his school. Ayasha tells me that the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) offers the program and its the campus closet to our house is the only campus that dose. Mohamed cannot live at home with his mom in Arlington because there is no public transit system, Mohamed doesn't have a car and it is too far from the DCCCD campus near our house. I show here a website where he can go to DCCCD in Arlington (where their Mom lives) at UT Arlington, pay DCCCD prices and have the ROTC so he can stay with his mom. Why can't he stay with his mom? That's another great question that was never answered for me...

I still say NO!


She tells me that Mohamed and Naela are going to be getting an apartment together and Mohamed will only be staying with us for 2 weeks while Mohamed buys the apartment and lives there alone until the being of summer when Naela will join him when she is done with school. I thought it was a stupid idea for Naela to be paying for 2 apartments but whatever, if that is what they want to do with their own money, fine by me.

I agree under the terms that he is staying with us for 2 weeks, 3 weeks max! Apparently, either Ayasha was lied to or she lied to me because 2 months latter Mohamed is still living in my apartment, keeping his stuff on the floor in my living room and sleeping on my couch. 2 weeks ago, in the middle of all my traveling, Mohamed voiced his opinions about me to Ayahsa and they were something along the lines of I am a horrible father, a worse husband, lazy, and I don't make enough money like a "man is suppose to" What are we in the 60's? Its great that my hospitality is rewarded this way. He went on and on about how I am a horrible person. He moved out this last weekend and now Naela and he have an apartment together, so they can have parties now about how much they hate me and think I am a horrible father, and husband and how Ayasha should divorce me and take the kids, I thought that Mohamed had voiced to Ayasha. Whats worse is Ayahsa may be listening to them.

Ayasha and I had a huge argument before I left on my 3 week travel trip. Its been really hard because we havn't been able to talk to each other face to face about it yet. By the way, you should read Ayasha's blog here her blog. The argument we had was about 1 day after writing this blog by the way.

I wish I could get along with Ayasha's family. I understand that every family has its own peculiar dynamic, hell look at my family! But, I just don't get them. I can tell you one thing, if anyone needs a place to stay... you are damn sure not staying at my house!

Oh and my keyboard on my laptop is broken, I already talked about the shift button but now the "n" key is becoming hard to press.

And, I have made zero progress on my weight loss since the last post.

Mohamed has sense apologized, via text i might add, and I don't feel any better about it. In fact, because it was sent as a text I will include it here:
"I just wanted to say that i was sorry for getting in the middle of you and ayasha and sometimes i forget that i don't see everything ans as her brother i have that nit of bias. I just wanted you to know this a please don't think i dislike you. Also I thank you for all you've done for me."

Also, I have been happy to hear from an old friend of mine, David Downey. Its good to talk to him the couple of times I have over the past few days and I really wish he lived near by so we could hang out. But he lives in South Carolina as he is a Sargent in the Army and lives on base. Growing up he was my best friend and I have always had a sense of kinship with him because I think I was the only one who could understand his youth and his family and he was the only one who could understand mine as both of us had very unique upbringings. His only problem is sometimes he can say some things with out thinking of the consequences, it can get him in trouble with friends, family and most recently his wife. He is probably the best friend I ever had and wish that we were able to spend more time together when we were growing up and now.


I hope everyone realizes that this blog, while I don't mind if other people read it, in fact I want hundreds of people to read it and comment on it, it is not for anyone but myself and in it I am brutally honest and let all my honest feelings out.

Well, I think you are now up to date. Thoughts?

pictures to come latter.

****update****

Some fact checking

1. Naela lived with us right after I lost my job and while she did not give us money for rent she did buy more that her share of groceries for us as well as diapers for the kids. She was a large factor in us not starving during a tough time.
2. Ayasha's said that the kids and Ayasha could ride with them to Austin but they were leaving at about 2pm so she would have had to take a half day so I made the decision to have Bethany take us instead.
3. Ayasha told Mohammed to apologize via text. He wanted to call me but she thought that if I saw him calling me, I would not pick up or answer and just start in on him. She thought that texting was the best way for him to get his message across.