Johnson & Johnson

Elijah Johnson (white jersey) grabs the nuts of Mitch McGray.

Ladies: This is probably not for you.

Not a sports fan? Probably not for you either.

Sports fans though heavily involved with filling out your brackets at work and are still in it, probably are shaking their heads in shame by now.

Kansas Jayhawks took on Michigan Wolverines.

And at some point in the first half of the game, this disgusting act took place.

KU’s Elijah Johnson…… for reasons still unknown…. well, Johnson grabbed the johnson of Michigan player, Mitch McGray.

Disgusting!!

He was slapped with a flagrant foul which could have led to him being ejected out of the game. And that pretty much would have sucked. Especially since it happened in the first half!

What the hell was he thinking? KU head coach said that Johnson made several “bonehead” moves. And I would agree this is one of them.

Maybe they had been trading trash talk which caused this action. Maybe Elijah Johnson secretly is looking to be going into the professional field of urology. Maybe it was his way of making a  statement about marriage equality which has been in the news this week.

(spoiler alert) In the end though, Michigan came back from about 15 points behind and forced the game into overtime. And then defeated Number 1 seed Kansas.

Now Elijah Johnson has that magical moment to haunt him for the rest of his life for his very stupid and poor decisions for this game.

 

 

What’s Up, North Korea?

Did you hear about this today?

Most laughable thing I’ve heard all month.

North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un,  had his military aim his so-called nuclear arms at various cities in the United States of America. Cities included Washington D.C., Los Angeles,  California, and even Austin, Texas.

Austin, Texas? Really??

Its the most ridiculous and funniest thing ever. North Korea doesn’t have the firepower or even enough of the ICBM’s with nuclear warheads to fire at the United States of America. Well, they can fire them but they won’t reach their targets.

ICBM’s range is barely 4,000 miles. And any city that was listed for those arms to be aimed at are FAR more than that. Austin, Texas is still over 6,000 miles away. Those things are just going to fall into the ocean and not hit anything that belongs to the United States. He can’t even reach Hawaii!!

Who knows why in the world the North Korean leader chose Austin, Texas to be on the list.

Perhaps he was pissed off because he didn’t get a badge or an arm bracelet for SXSW. Perhaps he was pissed off that he missed an appearance by Grumpy Cat. Or maybe he’s pissed off that Korean BBQ is not as great as the BBQ in Texas.

Whatever it is, the threat is totally ridiculous. And I found it really interesting that as an answer to North Korea’s threats to fire a missile at the United States, that the US Military sent a stealth bomber to neighboring South Korea AND BACK home like it was nothing.

So whatever, Kim Jong-Un. Be angry for whatever reason you want. Any attempt to bomb Austin, Texas from home is a very retarded military move.

 

A New Low

“Why would anyone steal a shopping cart? It’s like stealing a two-year-old.”~ Erna Bombeck

We have a new Family Dollar store in the neighborhood. Most were happy. Others excited to be able to obtain what they need at seriously low prices.

That is until this morning.

I totally agree with Erna Bombeck, after what I and about a dozen other neighbors witnessed.

This tall gentleman walked through the front door and proceeded out the back door of the main office building where many residents were sitting peacefully in the community room, having coffee and chit-chat.

Within moments, the man roared into the apartment manager’s office. Then he was seen walking side by side with the apartment manager for a brief moment out the back door again before they returned to the front of the building.

Several minutes later, no less than FOUR vehicles from the local police department had descended upon the property.

Nobody had a clue what was going on. Even one resident saw that many police cruisers and that many men in law uniforms that it made him very nervous. Most of the others were just curious as hell.

Personally I had thought that they were getting ready to forcibly evict someone from the premises. I know that has happened here in the past, but I never actually was an eye witness to it.

Soon, the large presence of police was diminishing. But they were still in force as one of the biggest, baddest looking cops was going wherever the apartment manager went.

Here’s what happened: 

This gentleman or whoever he was… came on to OUR property (which is private) and accused the residence of stealing shopping carts from the Family Dollar store that just moved in two months ago. Located across the street at the end of the block in the corner shopping plaza.

The fact of the matter is that SGC has had a huge collection of dozens of shopping carts for the usage of its residents. Many use it to keep their balance, others use it as a helpful device to carry things back and forth on the property.

This collection of shopping carts have been here on the property since anyone can remember. Far longer of a time since before even I moved in in 2005.

And this guy comes from across the street, representing this Family Dollar and accuses the apartment manager of harboring residents who are stealing shopping carts.

Telling this guy that they had been there for years just didn’t fly with this guy. But the apartment manager wasn’t just going to let him walk off with them. So then he threatened to call the police. And that was the explanation of their presence here earlier today.

The apartment manager was asked then to call his boss to see if they could produce some kind of documentation stating that SGC has had these carts for a while, but nothing was kept on file. And so the police told the apartment manager to surrender the shopping carts.

This jerk walked away with three shopping carts that actually had “Family Dollar” printed on them. And that was the only case this guy had.

The joke is on him though. There’s more “Family Dollar” shopping carts on the property that neighbors have kept near their front doors for whatever reasons. But still, this was totally ridiculous!! Getting the police involved in something so stupid, wasting their time and efforts and the money spent of the tax payer.

It is so stupid that its for real. I could not make this stuff up!!

Question is: Do I boycott this particular store or not???

 

Post-Game Skate Night

“Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.”~ Wayne Gretzky

I should have titled this blog post From 6,073 to 0 in under 5 Minutes, but I thought a little better of it.

The Austin Blades went and did an hour of skating and playing after the Texas Stars game.

Most of us were excited. The mystery of it all was that nobody was for certain who was going to show up from the sledge hockey team. That led to six members arriving. So 3 on 3 it would be.

Although I did not recognize any of the foreshadowing that took place throughout the evening during the Stars game.

Six people show up. Eye candy was low. And the one person that I thought was still on the cheerleading squad was gone.

Texas Stars would end up losing 4-2. And that was another factor. When you are to follow the main event, and the home team loses? There’s not going to be a lot of people willing to stick around. Even though I had talked to about 15 people explaining what I was going to do after the game and they all thought it was cool. They didn’t stay either.

So about 20-25 people were left standing. And I think that they were family and close friends of the team.

I didn’t hear of any announcements to encourage the crowd to stay afterwards. Although its being said that it happened….. ONCE.

I just don’t think that when the home team loses, that the chances are great for people to stay behind.

This happened last season in Houston at the Toyota Center when over 9,000 people were in attendance and the home team lost. So everyone went home, except for family members and volunteers.

But our 3 on 3 would continue on.

The ice rink at the Cedar Park Center is much, much larger in length than what we are used to. And because of the fact that I personally have not been on the ice in about five months, in addition the length of the ice… just taking one lap around it to warm up nearly took everything out of me. But I pressed on.

My side of the three fell behind very quickly. I want to cry foul but wouldn’t have anyone to back me up on that.

Then I started to catch on fire, scoring goal after goal after goal. But it wasn’t enough as the other three would score tit for tat. We never caught up. I score, they score. I score, they score. On and on and on it went.

Eventually everything just melted together and before I knew it, the leader was doing a audio countdown from ten. As is his usual fashion when we practice.

We were done and off the ice and changing back into our clothes and it was only 11 PM.

Who knows what is next for the Austin Blades. Probably nothing like that again for the rest of the season. I have a feeling its just going to be a few more practices and then that will be all she wrote. I am HOPING that is not the case.

Anyone wanna take a ride to Houston where they are always in the mood for doing something more than practice????

The Rose Thief

“I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”~ Emma Goldman

I do not know who these people think they are and I do not know where they come from, but the last that I knew is if you walk onto another person’s property and take something from their garden without prior permission, that’s stealing.

Yesterday I saw exactly that and I had caught them in the act. This was not the first time either that I had caught this person messing around in the rose bushes and clipping off roses.

I do not know who planted them. They were here when I moved in. And I personally never mess with it even though I am aware that you have to deal with them once in a while to make sure that they bring back more beautiful blooms.

But I like them. If I didn’t, I’d have them removed. What I do not like is the fact that anyone walking around outside on the property thinks that they can just come up and take a rose or two without asking.

After a brief meeting with my apartment manager, he said that there was nothing that he could do or say other than “Don’t do that” to enforce people to stop stealing the roses. I then gave the retort that if he was not going to do anything about it, then I would. He nodded and I took that as the blessing to do whatever it takes.

I forgot to mention to him that he might wanna have some bail money set aside just in case I find the same people are doing it over and over and over again.

Yesterday morning, I had three small buds that were beginning to bloom. By the afternoon I had only two. And when I caught the person doing it, they were trimming back some of the stems on the rose bushes. But I gave no permission for them to do that, nor did I ask them to help prune the bushes. I don’t care if they think or believe that they are only doing something to help, stealing is wrong. And wrong is wrong. I also do not care if they think that they are entitled or deserving of a rose or two because they think that they are helping. If you do not ask, then you are in the wrong.

And its not like I would deny anyone IF THEY WOULD ASK FIRST.

But I only had three starting to bloom. And after the fact, I found three more buds that haven’t started to open yet. I would have had six. After that, I wouldn’t have cared if they asked for one. But now I have two and I don’t know if/when the other three will begin to open up.

I’m also sick of finding that those who are doing this aren’t even people who live here! They are people who are hired by home health agencies to help those who do live here. What the hell are they doing spending their time in my corner of the world? That’s not what they are here for!!

So I’m off for now to buy a slingshot and fill a squirt bottle full of water.

 

 

Breastaurants

This is a new one on me.

Never would I have made the connection to the pun.

For those of you who are like me and never knew, a “breastaurant” is a restaurant that has sexual undertones, most commonly in the form of large-breasted, skimpily dressed waitresses and barmaids.

I think the most famous and well-known example would be Hooters. But now there’s more competition in this market with the establishing of places such as Twin Peaks, Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill, Heart Attack Grill, Mugs and Jugs, and Tilted Kilts. All of them with skimpy dressed female staff members.

Hooters came along in the 1980’s. Just about anyone who has ever gone outside of their home has heard of Hooters. But now there seems to be a new challenge as Hooters is losing their grip on their reign over the category of top breastaurant. The overall sales for Hooters are slipping fast and several dozen restaurant locations have been closed across the United States.

It gives the perfect opportunity for its competition to come in and take the crown, so to speak.

Quite honestly, I thought that Twin Peaks was a gentleman’s club. But they’ve adapted their audience to include women and they even have a children’s menu. I guess I was way off!!

I know that there is a Bikinis less than a mile from my home. But I’ve not braved the journey to go inside. 

These kinds of places on average sell a meal to one customer at $12/person. But consumers are spending much more at an average of about $20 per person. These places can say what they want about their fine service and great food, but everybody knows why these kinds of places exist.

I have been to a Hooters. It was my one and last time going there! I entered the location in Wichita, Kansas as I was traveling through. Sufficed to say that I will never willingly step foot into another Hooters.

Burned food, watered down soft drinks, music so loud you could not hear yourself think, and outrageous prices. And even though every waitress in there was rather busty and large-breasted, they had the worst people skills I had ever seen!!

Most of the waitresses only had the vision of ample bosoms because they twisted their t-shirts so freakin’ tight in a knot in the front by their stomachs that it probably was cutting off circulation.

This location was known that the waitresses were more than happy to take photographs with you….. as long as you brought your own camera. But when a friend asked them for a picture, they all snarled with contempt. They gathered together but there were no smiles. Just a bunch of girls leaning forward to show off what their mothers had given them, that or their plastic surgeon. And just as the flash went off, they scurried away like cockroaches who just been exposed to a light source. Needless to say I tore the photograph of me with the waitresses into shreds.

So yeah, I have no desire to go to any other Hooters any where else in the world.

Yet in the current economy, Hooters seems to be slipping and other breastaurant chains seem to be gaining. So the power struggle to stay on top is definitely in full swing.

Pardon each and every pun in this post. Both intentional and accidental.

 

Tournament Time

The time is here, it has come for the 9th annual USA HOCKEY Disabled Festival.

But here I sit at home. No packed bags. No final check on equipment. Nobody from the Austin Blades are  going.

Pretty sad.

After joining forces with counterparts in Houston last year and winning 3rd place, one would believe that our team would re-group and aim for gold this year.

It never happened.

The idea was actually discussed at a team meeting before the 2012-13 season even began. A meeting that had no leadership in attendance and the ones really doing any of the talking were the leaders ON the team.

After a unanimous vote to NOT attempt to use funds or even raise them as a team to go to this tournament, it was very painful and disgusting to me to hear individual players talk among themselves after the meeting stating a desire to still try to go to Philadelphia.

It made no sense. Why in the world vote NO when your heart is saying YES?

Houston had already made up their minds that they were going to strive to go and that meant doing anything that they could to raise the money.

I believe there were several factors involved for the Austin Blades.

For one, it was estimated that each individual player would have to come up with $2,000 a piece in order to take care of transportation, lodging, and everything else that would be involved in going to Philadelphia. I think that each of the Austin players defeated themselves in believing that they would never be able to come up with that kind of cash. Never in a million years.

Upon that hearing that assumed magic number… each player immediately gave up.

Also, two of our ice rinks were stripped and torn away from us as the ice rink was sold. Leaving us with only one sheet of ice. And that sheet of ice was to accommodate for everything from hockey to skating lessons to figure skating. The sledge hockey team was seemingly thrown into this mix and we’ve not been able to have access to a full sheet of ice during any time that we have had practices.

At the beginning of the season, there was a series of bake sales that took place. With me taking care of my niece so that my sister could at least go to work once a week, I never participated in those bake sales. The scheduling of them was just not convenient for me to attend. And it pissed off the entire team that I was never there. They never quite understood.

There was but a few bake sales and then that disappeared. I suspect that the money that was earned from all of them went towards buying ice time for practices. But that’s information never willing to be confirmed. It would however stand to reason.

Times since then have been very few and far between that the Austin Blades have been on the ice, for any reason at all.

Meanwhile, Houston has been going at full force.

I did make a personal attempt to raise the money for MYSELF to be able to go. But out of the estimated guess of $2,000 that I needed, I was only able to raise $260. The link to the website was even on the Blogroll. Still is. But that’s all I was able to receive.

I found the lack of inspiration and willingness to sacrifice to make it to Philadelphia by the team lacking and pathetic. There’s no drive whatsoever! Only fear and self-intimidation.

This entire season I have been struggling in the back of my mind of whether or not to actually quit the team. But using that as a threat isn’t the point. The point is that the team seems to be slipping back into a comfort zone of doing seemingly nothing to go forward or get ahead. And that really kills my personal dreams and goals of participating in this exciting sport.

I know that Houston would welcome me with open arms if I end up there. They have always been inviting the Austin Blades to join them for a practice or two. Even challenging us to friendly competition…. going as far as to pay for gas and hotel. But the Austin Blades did nothing. It wasn’t even discussed as a team.

See what I mean by lacking??

Sledge hockey to me is not a hobby. Its not just something to do in order to get me out of the house for a few hours a week. It is a passion, a heartfelt interest. I’m driven by the idea of playing. It took more than three seasons to even get jerseys! Or something that would even resemble us as a sports team. And that was only done because I had a fire under me to push, push, push.

So much for the Austin Blades I suppose.

The team going from Houston is playing under the team name of Texas Stars. Which ironically is the same name of the semi-professional hockey farm team nearby. The Austin Blades will be playing on their ice after they play a full game later this weekend. But I seriously doubt anyone will be sticking around to watch us play. We tried that when our team had it together and we went to Houston for the first time. Over 9,000 people in the stands and nobody stayed behind to watch.

But I will be hoping and praying that Texas Stars do well this year in Philadelphia. The teams in that pool are many so there will only be two games played before they start a semi-final round, going by points. They must win five games outright to bring home the gold!

I noticed that their second match is against G.L.A.S.A., the same team that ruined us last year. I hope for some athletic vengeance on the ice. Games can be watched online at fasthockey.com, but they are not free! I think its something like $7.99 per credit. And of course if you buy more credits, the price goes lower per credit.

I am hoping for the gold. And at the same time, I know that deep down I will be totally miserable about it…. KNOWING that members of the Austin Blades, including myself, could have been a part of it.

So I will wear my green and black this week. And then I’ll be on the ice this coming weekend in our Austin Blades jersey doing my best to represent.

Speculation and rumor has it that the tenth annual tournament will be in Florida. NOW is the time to start planning for it, for those of us who didn’t go to Philadelphia. I’m going to be busting some serious ass to raise enough funds for that to happen. Even if the rumors are wrong, I will do what I can to get there and it doesn’t really matter where its located. Just as long as I AM THERE!!!!

 

 

Hate

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Well this is something that I never thought I would be writing about.

Hate. More specifically, hatred against me.

Someone on Facebook had asked me if I was the one called Dambreaker. In which, I am.

They showed me the URL to this Facebook fan page that literally was a small group of people…. 17 in all, including 3 administrators… “Die Dambreaker!” was the name of it.

No, its not German. It was die, as in, wished you were dead.

Evidently, there are some people who do not like this blog. And that’s fine. You can’t please all of the people all of the time. I know that eventually my own personal opinions are going to come out once in a while and there will be things that I discuss that people in general just may emphatically disagree with me over.

But hate enough to want me to die??

I joined the group. Did a little spy work. The three in charge were women that were in my past at some point in time that I either left behind or chose not to associate with. Women who were on my Friends List on Facebook before I deleted or blocked them. I know this because of the photographs of me that were on the page. Of course with written words or messages across my face either to make me look like the devil or a victim of a serious beating, and whatever else have you.

It appeared that there had been people in the past who took a stand against their hatred. And those people were banned from the page. And their names were dropped by the administrators afterward.

So I will only comment on this to set the record straight: I do not HATE anyone. Yes sure there are some people that I am aware of in my life that I feel are making the wrong decisions in their lives, but they are the ones that are making the decisions and therefore they are ultimately the only ones who deals with the results. There’s nothing that I can say or do to “help” them. But I do not hate them for their actions.

I was successful in reporting this  page to Facebook and in a couple of hours, the page was removed. So its no longer there… for those of you who are fired up about this and wanna go fight. Its gone! And I looked again this morning to see if  another one was made, but there was nothing there.

My only hope is that these three women get over whatever ill feelings that they are still harboring so that they can get on with their lives. I just simply refuse to be a part of it.

It was a very difficult pill to swallow when I first realized it was there. But when I found out who was behind it, it began to make a little more sense and I was able to dismiss it fully and have it removed.

Too bad, so sad. We here though at Dambreaker, are moving forward… never to look in the rear view mirror.

Thank you for your support!!!

 

The Cliffs Of Insanity

The Cliffs Of Insanity

If you are a movie and film buff or just a fan of just a few, then you probably know The Princess Bride. And with that, you get a giggle every time you hear the shouting of “Look! The Cliffs Of Insanity!” early in the film.

But as I stumble annoyed through the debauchery of trichophilaic sex and alcoholic beverages dyed green today, there’s also the documentaries of Ireland.

It was from that documentary that I found those cliffs.

So where is it? Where are they located?

The Cliffs Of Insanity are actually The Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher are located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland.

They rise 390 feet above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag’s Head, and reach their maximum height of 702 feet just north of O’Brien’s Tower, a few miles away. The cliffs receive almost one million visitors a year.

They also have been used in the film, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.

The Cliffs of Moher have been opened up to the public as a tourist spot. Ireland charges about six Euros. Those sixteen years of age and under are free.  

The rocks however are still washing away from the ocean’s waves and periodically the cliffs break away and crash into the water below.

Yes, there has been reports of people falling to their deaths.

Its not generally suggested that visitors lean over the edge or dangle their property over the edge as there is no way to retrieve items if they are accidentally dropped.

Being that the drop is several hundreds of feet to the rocky and wavy ocean below it stands to reason that those who have fallen have died. Whether by suicide or accidental.

So there you have it. The answer to the question of just where in the world are The Cliffs Of Insanity. And fans of the film The Princess Bride actually have a place to visit.

 

From Flying High To Sci-Fi

So I knew that when I got home, I had to write this down. You know, for prosperity. And the future generations of children to come.

On a last minute decision, I returned to SXSW and good ole Sixth Street to watch Beautiful Disturbance play again. Yeah I know that a few of you are tired of reading about it. But I say BUCK UP!!

This time it was at The Touché Bar.

Had some close encounters with both Auggie Del Ray and Brenda Flores as they were right in my face with high octane. And I STILL didn’t know what to do about it!! I even admitted to them out on the sidewalk that when Auggie is that close to me… I have no clue what to do.

Nonetheless I had a great time and they will be performing the next two nights. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend those nights.

I was feeling more comfortable about the bus route and whatever, I knew better of where and when I had to go in order to catch the bus home.

Unfortunately, I missed the very bus that I was needing to get home. There wasn’t another one coming. I had to get on another bus and hope to make a connection to some other buses that I knew more about.

Never in a million years would I say this, but when I got on that other bus, I had a seat buddy. A companion.

I sat next to Boba Fett. 

That’s right. I sat right next to some guy dressed as the bounty hunter from the Star Wars saga. And he had a full on conversation with me. The only thing that he said out of character was “Is this the bus stop?” and those who could hear his voice from underneath the helmet just started cracking up.

But he sat on the bus with me and stayed in character. Asking my opinion about Ewoks and Wookies. He asked me if I too was a bounty hunter and if I had any good catches recently.

Then throughout the 30 minutes that I sat next to him, he kept saying that Jabba was going to kill him for being late. And that Lord Vader may use The Force to choke the life out of him for not calling ahead of time to tell them that he would be late.

I asked if by “Jabba” did he mean his wife and he should his head no. I asked by “Lord Vader” did he mean his wife and he hung his head low and then nodded yes. Then he took his gun and mimicked shooting himself in the head, signifying that he’s going to be dead when he arrives late.

It was the funniest thing that I had ever witnessed or experienced.