He’s been slowly working at it for a while now. The last couple days or so I’ve been waiting for it as he’s been letting go of one end of the couch and walking a good 4 or 5 steps before getting wobbly and falling down or sitting down. Apparently last night he didn’t stop at 5.

I’ll upload some video of it on Thursday.

- 53 days till the wedding. I know its cheesy and cliche but when it gets to 30 days, I’m going to begin a top 30 list of the best love songs of all time with youtube videos so you can immerse yourself in them. Got any suggestions? Hit me up on Facebook.

- Dan

- I miss Katie and Brady. It’s been a couple days since I’ve seen them.

- 60 days till the wedding. I’m stoked beyond imagination. I wrote my speech for the reception yesterday. It’s serious in parts, funny in others. I don’t want to be one of those guys that gets up there and talks for an hour. It’s short and sweet, to the point.

There is so much more yet to do though.

- If you’re one of the groomsmen, tuxes are at Men’s Wearhouse. I’ll get you the event number for when you go in to get fitted. Text me or call me if you have any questions. (they’re $130 which is 20 bucks cheaper than the other place we tried.)

- So I signed into Facebook today and was reading through everyone’s status updates. I learned a little something about the human condition I guess. Even though you’ve never met someone who has long passed, they can still have quite the effect on your life. You know that they’ve shaped and had a lasting effect on the one you love the most and their family, so it, in turn, has a lasting impression on you. I wish I could have met this person that meant so much to Katie.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I never knew that someone that I’ve never met could affect me. I learned that to not be the case. I feel for their whole family because I understand that when you lose someone you love, it doesn’t matter how long its been since it happened. The only thing that matters is that it happened and there’s a hole inside of you that can never be healed or filled by anything. You just have to focus on the positive things they left you with and know that they’re in a better place than we are. Then you can look forward to the day when you’ll meet again.

TMR

But let’s be honest here. I heard you speak after the Orange Bowl. You’re not exactly a genius so I don’t think this is necessarily about the education.

If I had the talent that you have along with the knowledge of how the layout of this year’s draft is going to be, I’d have stayed at Stanford too. Get your degree and come out next year. No point in wasting your talent with the Carolina Panthers. You do stand to lose out on probably about 40 million bucks BUT you won’t have to play for Carolina.

Maybe you’re not as dumb as I thought. Then again, I’ll bet you end up with the Browns, the Bills or (god forbid) the Raiders.

You’ll still get paid. You’ll still get to play. Just don’t end up like Jamarcus Russell. Oh you won’t. You have an education and you’re white.

Lucky you.

TMR

http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_2b896dbc-e873-5c92-8b10-54917b4a2b50.html

Honestly Galt… this is what you get. this is being tapped as the most pressing concern for our town at the next city council meeting. Really? the 2 idiots you guys voted for, Baby Huey and the president of SAMCRO, have tapped this as the most pertinent issue for our city tonight. You people should be ashamed of yourselves for wasting your vote on people who are going to bring up this kind of time wasting garbage. The only reason Baby Huey wants to bring in his own water bottles is because it makes it easier to hide his vodka in them because he’s a raging alcoholic. True story.

Why don’t they confront the problem of trying to attract tax money-making business into town? or making it a little easier on small business in town to survive by getting rid of Measure R or ending all the bullshit little fees and ordinances about everything that make it impossible to advertise your business in front of your own shop?

Do they think that we’re happy because they finally are getting the ball rolling on the new C Street interchange? It only took this city government 2 decades to finally get their heads out of their asses. Now, once it finally gets completely built, they can spend the next 20 years arguing over what @#$%ing color to paint it. Idiots.

This is what you voted for City of Galt. These are the kind of incompetent morons you voted in. You could have had a smart person from my gene pool. But “oh no”… you, being the community that you are, voted in the 3 biggest morons in town.

Congratulations. For Christmas, you gave them a little rope… and now they’re going to hang us all with it.

TMR

DO’S

#1) Scotch. You can never go wrong with a nice bottle of single malt scotch.

#2) Something you can spur future investment down the line and possibly make cash off of like power tools… or cattle. If you’re reading this and haven’t decided what to get me yet, it’s definitely cattle.

#3) Guns! Don’t listen to that old Christmas mantra of “You’ll shoot your eye out!” That’s bullshit! Buy them now before Obama sends them all to be melted down.

#4) Bacon.

DON’TS

#1) I saw an ad for a MEN’S jacket with fur around the hood. Men’s jackets don’t have furry hoods. You want a men’s jacket? buy a Carhart. or shoot a bear and make it yourself.

#2) STDs. I realize herpes really is the gift that keeps on giving but no… You’re better than that.

#3) Anything from Bed Bath and Beyond, Pier 1 imports or Ulta. Again… You’re better than that. I do need a new beard trimmer but DO NOT buy it at Ulta. I’ll just use a sharp rock.

TMR’s Christmas Shopping QuickGuide

Yes – Booze, Cattle, Guns, Bacon

No – Furry coats, STDs or anything from a feminine store.

Got something you think should be added? Leave it in the comments!

I loved that dog. She did her own thing but listened when she knew she needed to. She did make some things a little harder on me but I didn’t mind. I would often only be able to find one shoe because she’d steal the other one and hide it somewhere. She was quite the thief. She stole hats, toys, socks, shoes, you name it. She once stole a man’s lunch pale, opened it and ate the entire contents except for the lettuce from the sandwich. She picked the sandwich apart and only ate the ingredients she approved of. On my birthday, she stole and ate two whole cooked chickens and when I found her later that night, she was laying on her back on the porch with her belly protruding, asleep. Totally content.

She loved everyone. Yeah she jumped occasionally but you had to tell her to stay down and she would. She knew not to jump when I had my son in my arms. She was really good with him. She made him happy. He loves dogs and he really liked her. I’m glad he’s not old enough for me to have to explain what happened today. That’ll be a tough day when i have to give him the “death of a pet” talk. I’ll get him another dog though soon but it won’t be like Bella. No dog can ever take her place. They can only make their own.

Her final gift to me before that semi-truck took her away? 2 dead rabbits and a giant hole in my yard that she dug trying to catch a gopher last night. I can fill the hole in my yard. The hole she left in my heart will never be filled.

I miss my dog.

-TMR

__________________________________________________________

Whose brilliant idea was it to name the game between Galt High and Liberty Ranch the “Milk Bowl”? Everywhere you go, you hear people call Galt a little redneck town. It’s not. We’re semi-rural, yes, but we are by no means rednecks. Calling this game the Milk Bowl just gives people more fodder to believe that we are some Podunk little town in the middle of nowhere. Our city is significant to this region and we should be working to make sure people treat us as such.

Whoever named it couldn’t have been more creative? They couldn’t have called it the Hwy 99 Bowl or something? What about The Crosstown Clash? Showdown in G-Town? Anything would have been better than the Milk Bowl. Except maybe East Galt vs. West Galt. The last thing we need to do is divide this town more than it already is especially since we didn’t need to build an entire new high school in the first place. It’s obviously too late for that though so I’ll save that for another rant.

Maybe since we’re such a small little hick town that’s filled with honkies, when they chose the new mascot for Liberty Ranch, it should have been the LRHS Cows or the LRHS Garth Brookses. Then maybe they could play in Conway Twitty Memorial Stadium. This town is not filled with toothless hillbillies. Please don’t give people the opening to believe that it is.

Plus it’s a lame excuse for a name anyways. You’re better than that.

TMR

I’ll tell you what a real fan is. I have the right to tell you because I am one. I watched 90% of the giants games on TV the last decade and went to a quite a few. When they lost, my day was over. If they won, the party had just begun. I was there when the team was a shitbag doormat in last place a few years ago, still cheering and hoping they could pull it out. I was in the stadium the only time Bonds ever hit 2 in the bay in a single game. Walk into my living room and you’ll see autographed memorabilia from McCovey, Mays, Marichal and my hero growing up, Will Clark. I have a gigantic picture of Juan Marichal blasting Roseboro in the head with a bat during a fight as a testament to my pure hatred of the Dodgers. I am by no means a “fanatic”. I am a fan. I have been a REAL fan since I was a little kid.

You are not real fans. You are jumping on the bandwagon. So please… stop posting or saying things in favor of the Giants now. We got here without you. We’ll win it without you. Don’t weight the rest of us down by grouping yourselves in with us now that there is something to be excited about.

I bet you went out and bought yourselves some Miami Heat jerseys too, you blood sucking leeches…

TMR

Prop. 19: Legalization of Marijuana

I choose not to partake in the smoking of the devil’s lettuce so I’m going to vote NO. Though I think taxing it is all well and good, nothing good can come of making it acceptable. I have never met an enlightened or smart stoner. Allowing people to grow their own freely without taxation works against the proposition as well. There is no regulation and no consequence.

(Note: I had originally stated to vote Yes but after re-reading and thinking over my position and reading my sample ballot for further information I have changed direction.)

Prop. 20: Congressional Redistricting

I’m going to vote NO because it sounds like someone’s attempt at a power grab. Plain and simple. I don’t mind how it is right now therefore I don’t care for it to change.

Prop. 21: State Park Vehicle Surcharge

This is the stupidest thing on the ballot so far. Why do I need to pay 18 bucks on top of my already doubled vehicle registration? To save the rhinos? @#$% the rhinos and the Red Tailed Hawks. If we do that we wouldn’t have to pay a day use fee to enter the parks. Okay. So you’re going to raise the price even for people who might not even go to a state park that year? Just raise the day use fees. It’s not fair to tax everyone when they probably won’t even use the service. Just raise the price for people who do if you need the money that bad.

Vote NO on this piece of shit.

Prop. 22: Prohibits the State from taking local funds used for transportation or redevelopment.

Vote YES. The state can spend their own god damn money. Just cut the wasteful spending and you’ll have enough to give yourself a raise, you corrupt Democrats.

Prop. 23: Suspend the Emissions law from going into effect until unemployment drops back to 5.5% or lower for a full year.

Honestly? Vote NO. This is nothing but some car companies and energy companies trying to get us to open a backdoor to canceling out the law we passed a few years ago. We need to look after our environment but 5.5% unemployment isn’t going to happen. It wasn’t that low when the times were good so why should we wait until then to do something about our environment when we can do it now? If you vote yes on this, you’re a @#$%ing idiot.

Vote No on Prop. 24. The shit is fine the way it is.

Prop. 25: Changes the majority needed to pass a budget from 2/3 to a simple majority.

Vote NO on this. The legislature just needs to get their shit together and work out a deal and compromise. They need to stop taking it out on the state workers… bastards.

The part I do like about this is that they will lose out on their pay and travel expenses. They should lose that anyways. Bring back a ballot measure with just that and you have yourselves a deal, my friends.

Vote YES on 26.

Tax increases should need a 2/3 majority to pass. Bottom line.

- NO on 27.

Representatives should not able to draw their own district lines.

Governor- You have a choice between 2 bowls of shit. Pick wisely.

Lt. Gov- Vote for ANYONE BUT GAVIN NEWSOM.

Galt City Council- Joseph Bitondo (I’m not real sold on the rest)

Galt High School Board- Pat Maple, Dennis Richardson & Mark Beck (Vote for Art Oelsner and consider yourself a mindless idiot who wasted their vote. Just throwing that out there.)

Feel free to vote how you want to, all kidding aside. I’m just telling you how I’m voting. You should vote my way though. I’m right.

As always…

Ride Evil, my friends. Ride Evil…

-The Midnight Rider

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Death-of-the-McMansion-Era-of-cnbc-1051033821.html?x=0

All that I have to say is…

NO SHIT.

This is why I hate the sensationalist media. They take common sense facts that everyone SHOULD know and blow it up into this story-worthy topic.

This is common sense Economics 101, folks. The reason these gigantic track homes were built was because there was a demand for them when anybody and their mother could get a home loan. They could make a premium on them with the upgrades and stuff like that.

Now nobody can get a loan to buy a home that size. They don’t have the money to buy them in cash either so they are sitting. It’s supply and demand. If there’s no demand, you stop building up supply. Stupid.

I think the reason I hate track homes so much is because they are hastily built while sacrificing quality of workmanship. They built all of those huge homes (The Keystones) in Galt in about a year. So somebody was skipping nails and screws somewhere… I have heard nothing but countless problems over there whether its fault concrete foundations, bad drywall work, electrical fires, you name it. They built those “McMansions” (or whatever stupid name you want to call them) quickly so that they could make a premium quickly. That’s all. It was a total scam.

For example, you walk in to the “design center” and talk to the home builder rep. They offer you the cheapest, shittiest carpet imaginable as your base option. Then there are “upgrades”. Level 2 is a little nicer, level 3 a little nicer than that, and so on. But to upgrade, you have to buy level 2 and 3 so that you can get to level 4. So by the time you’ve finally found a carpet you like, you’re spending 15 grand on carpet. Little do you know that if you just buy the base carpet, and come see I don’t know… maybe me, you’d only be paying 6 grand for the exact same carpet.

The headline of that article I had you read should say “End of the era of home builder scams.”

Thanks experts for telling me that a product is going off the market that nobody can afford anymore. Thank god we have you to show us what is really going on… morons.