Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Warrior - ECoach - P90X

A Helpful Husband Is A Good Husband

  We took water, cookies, and brownies to the zoo with us in our cooler.  We bought a 24 pack of Dasani water at the grocery store for a couple of bucks on sale to share with everyone.  Last time we were at the zoo, that amount would buy one bottle of water.  It's like going to a movie theater except we didn't have to sneak the cooler in by stuffing into my wife's purse.

We put the cooler in Trey's Jeep stroller and wheeled it in.  We paid for everyone and headed for the place that my wife had picked for lunch.  It was as far away from the entrance as you could go and still be in the zoo.  I think we were actually starting to get close to the San Diego zoo when we got there.

Not that it really mattered since we would have walked all the way down there if we were looking at animals.  Now we would just look at them on our way back. 

I Want Another Birthday

After the day we had yesterday, you couldn't blame Trey for asking for another birthday.  We got up and had a breakfast of French toast as a family.  Yes, I said, as a family.  Breakfast.  Us.  That's a great way to start the day.  He loves it when he gets both his parents at the same time.  We tag-team on him so that he doesn't get raised by the babysitter but that has its own price.  Nothing is free but we felt this was the way to go.

We went to the zoo where we had lunch and brownies with some of his friends.  We chose brownies since he doesn't like frosting.  It seemed like a good cake substitute and resilient to summer weather as well.  The brownies were a hit.

We walked around and looked at every animal they had.  It's a small zoo but we were tired when we got done.

Trey had gone the whole day without a nap.  As soon as he got in the car, it was over.  Briefly.

We drove downtown to meet with Ninja and his wife and daughter for dinner.  We hadn't seen them in a while and may not see them for another while.  He's the one that is going to do the illustrations for my book.  He's slammed with college right now so it might take him a while.

We parked away from where we were going to eat because we had promised Trey another train ride and what better way to celebrate his birthday then with a train ride.

I had my camera with me this time.  This smile explains more about what he thinks about train rides than I can explain with words.

I haven't created the new photo album yet.  I'll try to have that up tomorrow with captions.  I took about 100 pictures.  I don't know how many I'll put up but don't expect the captions to be all that witty as I hurry to get them where people can see them.  Feel free to offer suggestions for captions.   

We're Off To The Zoo

Not this zoo but it is a good picture.  Trey has invited a bunch of friends out to celebrate his birthday and we're headed for the zoo.

He's pinging off the walls right now and so this is going to be a very short entry this morning. 

I'll create a new photo album with the pictures that I take today.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Being in the casino business our weekends come when everyone else's ends.  =)

I Don't Venture Into the World of Politics Much but . . .

Nearly every entertainer that comes through here does some little blurb about our soldiers and the crowd cheers.  Some of them have songs that are dedicated to the soldiers.  Some have songs about soldiers.  All this is fine and if you like hearing applause, it's an easy trigger.

I recently had a friend ship out to Mississippi where he'll be training for a couple of months before he goes over to fight in the war.  There was a band there playing patriotic music.  Wives and kids were crying.  Lots of pictures were being taken.  A couple of TV stations were there doing reports, interviewing soldiers and family.

Most of the entertainers take the political safe road and say that no matter your stance on the war, we need to pray for the safe return of our soldiers.  I can go with that.

Others thank the soldiers for defending our country.  These are the ones that leave me thinking, "defend us from what?"  My friend is heading over to a mess and may not come back and in what way is he making me safer?  I'd rather have him here where he could be called up if my country were actually attacked.

I've been around now for 4 decades and I don't remember ever feeling like I was in danger of invastion.  If someone does get stupid and decide to parachute their invaders into our desert and try to take over this country, I'd like my friend and all the other soldiers here, near me, actually protecting me.

Now, I realize that I sound very selfish when I say that but unfortunately I don't any stock in the companies that are making money off of this war. 

Will my friend come back alive? 

I hope so.

If he doesn't, will he be a hero who died defending the people of his country? 

Sadly, no.

We're going to the zoo Tuesday but I saw Animals last night

Eric Burdon and the Animals played in concert last night.

I haven't been doing security for the concerts as much as I used to, which has it's own interesting story.  I did do security for the Animals and the night before I was down there for Tracy Lawrence.

I felt a little bad for about 15 seconds during the Tracy Lawrence concert.  I sit up right next to the stage where I can see the whole audience and I also grab people that jump up on stage.

I'm not into country and the crowd was pretty docile.  They were enjoying the concert but it didn't look or feel like there were going to be any problems.  So, I'm over on my chair, laying back a bit, feet stretched out and crossed.  Pretty much, I'm kickin' it waiting for the concert to be over.  I had never heard of the of the songs and none were pulling me in.  A couple of the country bands have surprised me and bit quite enjoyable.  No offense to Tracy but it just wasn't my kind of music.

so there I am, arms behind my head, just about laying down (at least as much as you can in a chair), watching the crowd in case someone does something surprising.  Tracy is singing and walks over to my side of the stage and is singing to the people in the VIP section where I sit.  I'm still trying to watch the crowd but I'm pretty much blind now because I'm in the spotlight.  There is a little two foot railing between the VIP section and the stage and Tracy's right there singing.

He decides to have a little fun with a woman whose boyfriend has left momentarily.  Mabye he went to get drinks, or to pee, or maybe he went out to the car to listen to the radio.  I don't know but his chair was empty.  Tracy stepped over the railing and I managed to pull my feet out of the way before he stepped on them. 

I'm sure he was wondering what the hell kind of security he had with me over there acting bored (well, I wasn't acting but you know what I mean). 

Oh well. 

When he went down into the crowd, it was a different story.  I go into high alert when the entertainers do that.  I stand and actively scan and get ready to jump the rail if I need to go out and rescue them from a crazed fan.  He didn't see that part though so he's left with the impression of security sleeping in the wings.  =)

Someone Watches Too Much Simpsons

The entertainers that come through here stay at the casino where I'm in charge of security.  I try to make sure that they are safe while they are here.  I find out where they are staying and I have surveillance keep a dedicated feed up on the hallway.

Most of the entertainers use aliases that their room is listed under.  You have to know the secret name in order to get through to them.  I get that alias just in case.  Just in case of what, I don't know.  I have the entertainer's manager's cell number and that's who I contact if I have something come up.

Anyway, most of the names are unique but non-descript.  You can't call up and ask for John Smith and end up connected to the entertainer's room.  A few months ago, we had one stay here that used a unique and memorable name as his alias.  I can't tell you the entertainer's name in case he uses this name in other places.

The room was listed under "Dick Click."

"Hello, I'm trying to find a Dick Click."

Meet my daughter and her daughter

They were over for the barbeque we had the other day for Trey's birthday.  They are going to be moving to PA at the end of the month where my daughter will be going to college.  She has a scholarship for Penn State.

Side note: I've been working on a post for the results of the Myers-Briggs test that I took.  It discusses my expectations for others when it comes to intelligence and knowledge.

An extra side note: It also says that I'm the type of person that can't go from start to finish in a straight line.  I'm the type of person that has to interject side notes into everything.  Maybe it's right, maybe not.  Back to the post (until the next side note).

I have to say that it's weird that I'm a grandpa which is why the title of the post is the way it is.  Here she is grabbing *grandpa's* foot.  That's just so wrong.  A lot of people don't believe me when they find out that I have a 19 year old daughter.  One coworker thought for sure that I was putting her on so she went around and got a second and third opinion. 

This cute little girl is named Bella.  Trey calls her Belly Button.  It's cute so my wife and I call her Belly Button too.  She might not appreciate it when she's a teenager but I'm going to get a kick out of it.

   "Look how happy you were when we started calling you that," I'll say.

"Fine Grandpa," she'll say as revenge.

Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement and call each other, "Hey you."

Yes, Seriously, We Called The Cops To Help With The Lawn

Protect and serve, right?  My lawn needs some protection.  The best way they could serve right now is stop the encroachment of the desert on my lawn. 

"Stop, in the name of the law."

Most cops either don't make enough money or don't manage their money well enough to live on just on job.  Many of them take a second job.  I worked with an officer that had 3 jobs. 

His wife didn't work so he worked 3 jobs to support them.  Man oh man, was he tired.  There were nights that it probably just wasn't safe for him to be on the road.  I remember one morning when I came in and saw a printout of his shift log.  Complete jibberish.  He had typed in random letters and symbols and had even spelled his name wrong.  That's tired.

The chief told me about a time when he heard one of the computers beeping quickly and non-stop.  He came out to find out what had malfunctioned to find the sergeant asleep at the keyboard.  Her fingers were on the keys and the computer was trying to tell her that she had exceeded the character limit for field she had been filling in before falling asleep.

I've woken up driving down the wrong side of the road.  Lots of officers have fallen asleep at traffic lights.  The light turns red and they fall asleep waiting.  It cycles several times before they wake up.  I know this really makes you feel confident about your protection at night. 

I Find Myself Under Attack

I've seen it coming for the last couple of months but I didn't think it was going to be like this.  I should have seen it coming but I was in denial. 

The desert is trying to reclaim my yard.

These are my roses which have done absolutely wonderful this year.  I have loved turning the corner when I'm coming home and see these.  My wife and I were sitting on the front porch talking last week and the fragrance from the flowers was so nice.

The rest of the yard, not so good.  I live right on the edge between houses and the desert.  Mine is the last house on the street.  The desert is trying to reclaim my yard and right now I'm losing.

I feel that it's my duty as the first line of defense to put up the best battle that I can.  If my yard falls, the desert can move in to take the neighbor's yard.  It could be a domino effect that all started with my failing.  That's too much of an emotional burden for me to handle so I have to do everything I can to win.

Truth be known, I have thought about throwing in the towel and doing some kind of desert motif in the backyard.  I wouldn't have to fight the desert.   I would save on water.  It could still look good. 

A couple of things stop me.  First, I really enjoy my little bit of green.  I don't think that I'm supposed to be living in a desert.  It goes against my nature.  Second, it's a great place for Trey to play.  We play kick the soccer ball around and play catch with the football.  Third, I think it will help when I go to sell this place in a couple of years.  We've been told by a couple of people (one a realtor and one who plays in real estate) that we are probably looking at a good resell price when we go.  A yard will help it sell.  Fourth, and not least, is that going with a desert motif might encourage the scorpians, black widows, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes to move in.  We see enough of those things without putting up a neon "Welcome" sign.

So all you green thumbs out there, what do you do when your grass wants to turn into dirt?

Happy Birthday to Trey

He's pretty good with his letters, don't you think? 

The funny thing is that we forgot that he doesn't like cake.  That's not completely true.  He's okay with cake.  He doesn't like frosting.  He's having a party at the zoo next week with his friends so we'll probably do something like brownies as the treat.  He likes brownies - as long as they aren't frosted.

Yesterday was a party with my parents and my oldest daughter.  I don't know if it qualifies as a party but we had some good fun.  I cooked up some steaks on the grill and we did barbeque beans.  Trey likes steak.  Everyone loved the beans.  I didn't tell them my secret but I'll whisper it to you (roll that beautiful baked bean footage). 

Trey laughed and yelled and skipped around the whole night and just made everyone's day.  He loved all the presents that he got, moving from one to the next to the next.

Trey, my dad, and I were out on the back patio when I was cooking up the steaks.  Trey was playing with a basketball with my dad. 

"Shoop it," Trey would say. 

My dad watched him a bit and said, "It won't be long before you need a hoop."

"That's going to happen in about 45 minutes," I said.

Here's Trey out playing on his new hoop this morning.

I'm sure I'll have more to add but I have quite a bit to do today.  I did create a photo album in the right sidebar with pictures from yesterday and this morning.  I'm going to add some captions to them because that will be a better format than putting them in this post.