A Rant...

I was walking Moses last night before heading to bed when a homeless man approached me and asked for change. I told him no and that I did not have any spare change-which was the truth. He asked again and I gave him a firm NO. Then he said that I took better care of my dog than I do of human beings. I responded that he was not my responsibility and walked away. In a way he is right. We do take better care of our animals than we do of humanity. But his homelessness is not my problem. It is not my fault that he is on the streets. I have no idea how this man got to where he is now and in a way I don’t care. He makes this my problem when he asks for money. I have lived downtown for a long time and have gotten pretty good at determining the true homeless/sick. He may have looked the part but he certainly had not missed a meal. This man is living on the streets and has the audacity to judge me? I don’t think so. He even said that God would judge me in the end. I am not really worried about my judgment day. I never feel bad when I refuse to shell out; that is what my tax dollars are for. I would rather buy the guy a hamburger than give out cash. But they never want food just money. He just pissed me off and the fact that it did piss me off just pissed me off even more.

Motel Hell and a Great Steak...

This past Thursday I traveled to Wichita Falls, Tx for yet another funeral. All the reputable hotels in WF were booked. So finally we found the Econo Lodge. The Econo Lodge makes the Motel 6 look like the Ritz Carlton. We were tired and just decided to settle. After all it was just one night. We had a box of wine (I know that is soooo wrong but I din’t bring it and it travels easy) so we didn’t care at this point. I knew this was going to be bad when the key cards they gave us were actually coupons for Pizza Hut. We drove over to the room to find it was on a corner-that is always a plus. We use our Pizza Hut keys and walked in. The room was about the same temperature inside as it was outside-34 degrees with a wind chill of 14. I immediately turn on the heater. The room itself was like any standard hotel room. Table and two chairs, two full sized beds, a dresser, TV, small fridge, and bathroom. The color scheme was blue and burgundy. The patterned wallpaper resembled that of an old western whore house. The bed pillows were as flat as a pancake. I knew I would not be sleeping on 350 count Egyptian Cotton sheets so I sucked it up. The bed spread was also a blue and burgundy with a paisley swirl. I was secretly hoping that the bed would vibrate but no suck luck. So we settled in and decided to head out for dinner at McBride’s Land and Cattle-an institution of Wichita Falls. The restaurant was so warm, fireplace roaring. We were seated by a lovely buxom youngin hostess. We both ordered the petite sirloin medium rare. I had a Caesar. OMG is was the best Caesar ever. Then the steak came. Perfect choice of meat wrapped in bacon, a baked potato cooked to perfection. After asking for extra butter for my potato I loaded it full of cheese, bacon bits, and chives. I also ordered the house red which was sooo good and smooth and served at the correct temperature. The steak was so tender. I ate every bite and cleaned my plate. The bill was a pleasant surprise. A meal like this in Dallas would have been at least $50-75. Not in Wichita Falls. The meal was $14 each. The wine was 3.95 and we had 3 glasses between us. Total bill: $40. Can’t beat that! Then we braved the cold and went back to that motel. We had more wine and chatted. I was surprised to find that there was free wi-fi. Then off to bed. Around 3:30am we woke up to the yelling of a woman next door. She was saying “I am NOT YOU FUCKING WHORE.” She repeated this several times and then continued to laugh until about 4:15am. It didn’t matter. I did not get any sleep anyway with the thought of bed bugs and the lack of neck support due to a flat pillow. That morning we decided to head over and partake in the free breakfast. We dressed for a funeral mind you. We walk in and everyone turns around. We grab a donut and a diet coke, turned in our Pizza Hut keys and left immediately. For 45 dollars, the Econo Lodge is exactly what you would expect for that price. I am just glad to be back in my own bed.

Web Site...

I have changed the web address of this blog to: www.IBelieveInNinjas.com.

You can still access this by the original address but please bookmark the new address for your records.

Pickles...

WTF? Ugh!!! Subway was catered in for our lunch today and everything was smothered in pickles. I HATE pickles with a passion. So I went to Subway and got a pickleless sandwich. The admin saw me with my Subway bag and asked why I went to Subway after she had already ordered it. I firmly informed her that there were pickles all over everything and that the sandwiches, in my opinion, were officially tainted and walked away.

Geography…

When I first started this Ninja blogger I did so to entertain myself and my friends. Well, I decided to keep track of the hits I have been getting. I am not tracking people just how many hits per day and from where. I have readers in Alaska, Indonesia, Australia, the UK, France, Brazil, and other places that really surprised me. I have also gotten a few emails about how much these strangers enjoy my blogs. It is kinda cool that my random musings are being read globally. Spread the word that Ninjas rule!! I need to add a few pictures and such. If there is anything else ya’ll would like to see then please let me know and I will see what I can do to increase your Ninja experience.

Serenity…

A few months ago I came across this website called www.iSerenity.com. It is has sounds of ambient noise to sooth and relax. You can select airplane, summer evening, city sounds, fan, thunderstorm, ect. It is very nice tool to relax and/or tune out your coworkers and office noise. I love this site and highly recommend it.

Library Thrills...

The internet is relatively inexpensive. Computers are also relatively inexpensive. I completely understand if you simply cannot afford either. You can go to an internet café or even Kinkos to use the internet. The public library is also a nice place to go and it is completely free. Completely free to visit websites that feature porn. While little Johnny is typing up his research paper you can sitdown next to him and surf bigtitties.com. Just because the access is free does not make it right to access pornographic material in a public library. This is the problem that the J. Erik Jonnson Public Library in downtown Dallas is currently having. While little Sally is researching her science project you can sit next to her and watch videos of amateur glory holes on XTube.com or even search for a date on Classylady.com (where you can find my old neighbor Robynn available for a nominal fee). The City of Dallas and its public library system are trying to figure out a solution to this issue. If the library pulls internet access then the State of Texas will pull its funding. If the library installs filters on the machines then the ACLU steps in to say that access to other vital information such as breast cancer, etc might be blocked because of verbiage or whatever. So how does the library police people beating off under the table to peeonme.com? The librarians are a good start. I am sure it is not easy to approach an individual watching porn and ask them to please not do that. This is a free service that my tax dollars are paying for. I am paying for that creepy old man watching One Night in Paris and that really grosses me out. The library might as well stack Hustler in the magazine rack. I realize that most pornography is not illegal. However, I do strongly believe that it has no place in a public library. Then I think to myself that the library is the last place for censorship. We might as well change the name to the J. Erik Jonnson Bath House and Homeless Shelter. Perhaps they should create a separate room, much like the ‘back room’ of the video store, where one can sit and enjoy their favorite porn sites. I think that is a decent compromise. Either way it seems damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

A Valid ID...

Wednesday morning I woke up with a pounding headache and a sprained foot. I have no clue as to why either occurred but it was what it was. Anyway, I decided to call in to the office and have a mental health day. Well, not 30 minutes after I called in I checked my messages. I had missed a phone call earlier. It was Pam, her father had passed away. I was surprised but not shocked as health issues continued to mount on him. I have known him since I was a baby so I had to go to the funeral. So I called the office back and informed them of the situation. I hung up the phone and booked a flight. Then my mother calls that evening and informs me that my cousin Doris passed away. She had been very sick with cancer. So I scrambled to figure out different flight arrangements as I was intent on going to both funerals. To make a long story short…there was not going to be a funeral. There was going to be a viewing on Friday evening and then a gravesite memorial Saturday in Meadow, TX—an hour north of Lubbock. I thought to myself—sheesh, lots of flying involved. But the weather in that area was very bad. Most of Texas was freezing cold. My mother decided that she would, regrettably, not go to west Texas. I feel really bad about it but decided that I would not travel as well. Doris didn’t want a funeral and people boo-hooing over her. My mom and I will make a trip there once it warms up and we can spend more time there with our family.

So, I booked my flight and packed and was in somewhat of a rush to get things done. I always travel using my passport-even domestically so there are no questions asked-usually. I simply forgot my passport. When I got to the airport I handed over my driver’s license to the TSA guy and he asked if I had my renewal. OOPS! My license had expired last month on my birthday. Completely forgot. I told them that I did not have the renewal. He wrote all over my ticket—SSSS in bold and underline and circles. Well, I am not sure what SSSS stands for but I am almost sure that is one level below a cavity search. Security pulled me aside and went through all my bags and even bomb-tested my shoes. On my return it was the same procedure—SSSS all over the ticket. I wised up this time and decided to check my bag to speed up the process. I had some time to kill so I thought that after a week of death I needed a beer. They asked for my ID and said NO! Since it was expired---no beer. Bastards. So I just had a diet coke and chilled out. I did all of this on a sprained foot. My flights were also at the very last gate on the furthest wing of the airports. I hobbled my way everywhere. Oh well, I am home now.

The Established Bachelor No More...

Well Hell has officially frozen over. For those of you who know me well you know that I like living alone. I like having my privacy and my own space. It is time to grow up. Ron and I have decided that it would be a good idea to move in together. After almost a year of dating I felt it was the next logical step. In the past I would have been incredibly reluctant but not now and not with Ron. It just seems right. His lease is up at the end of March. We have placed a hold on a much larger loft in my building with a March 1st move in. That gives him a month to move his stuff in. I am not nervous really. That night after we decided to do this I could not sleep but now I am just fine and excited. After all this time of waiting and dating and all that crap, I finally found the right person. I know that living together will be challenging and hopefully we will not kill each otherJ This is why we got a loft with a separate bedroom! We are going to repaint the apartment since the building did a shitty job of repainting it. We have about 6 huge windows and 2 sets of French doors that open up to a Juliet balcony in the bedroom. We also have a 180 degree view since the apartment is located on a corner end of the building. The only problem is the closet, or really the lack thereof. We will have to get a closet system from Ikea. I am also gonna have to replace Ron’s plastic hangers with wooden hangers so that there is good closet karma all around! We are going to turn the cubby hole they call a cloest into a pantry/linen closet which will be perfect!!!! Overall we are excited and ready to move.

Oh Hell No...

There was an article in today’s DMN and The New York Times that really pissed me off. Basically a pug dug under the fence and escaped in Dallas. The owners searched and searched with no luck. Then on Wednesday an anonymous letter arrived that stated that the dog was found and given to her daughter as a Christmas present. Enclosed was a $20 bill. WTF!? I would be hunting this woman down with blood-thristy vengeance.

Read the article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/010408dnmetstolendog.28a28e1.html

Be sure to read the woman’s letter to the dog owners as well.

This isn’t a childhood game of finders-keepers. Ugh. This will garner a ton of press and someone will come foreword about this. I feel confident that Scooter will be returned.