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South Austin

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by South Austin

  1. Unfortunately, no. I just never got them out of their urban/suburban Austin setting to go fishing. One of my regrets in life, I guess.
  2. Edit: I will answer your post. At a dinner party and only have time for a pithy gif.
  3. My dad and I had a strained relationship for most of my childhood. I knew he loved me, but he had trouble showing affection, as most men of his generation did, and as a 6’4” Marine, his presence could be intimidating at times. His job was incredibly demanding, so he was gone a lot. He left for work before I got up, usually came home just as we started dinner, and would go to bed by 9pm. He worked a lot of Saturdays. And he was deployed overseas several times. Two tours in Okinawa, one for a year and another for six months, a few months on a ship in the Pacific when my kid brother was born, 4 months cold weather training in Norway, 8 months my junior year in The Persian Gulf War. Every time he came home it almost felt like having to get to know him all over again. And we moved every 2-3 years, which was rough on me as a kid. Still, I loved having a Marine as a dad, and was proud as hell of him. He won the Silver Star in Vietnam, and had several infantry commands over the course of his career: platoon commander, company commander, battalion commander and regimental commander. I loved growing up on Marine Corps bases, surrounded by uniformed Marines, stopping on the road for a tank crossing, and seeing helicopters fly overhead on a regular basis. Dad retired from active duty after 27 years as a full-bird Colonel, and moved us to Texas for his post-Marine career. For whatever reason, as soon as I left for college, our relationship changed, and we became great friends. I enjoyed spending time with him, and for about 25 years, he was my tailgate buddy at Longhorn football games. He retired from his civilian job in 2010 and moved to Georgetown 40 minutes away from me, so he and my mom have been a constant presence in their grandkids’ lives. Since he wasn’t around for most of my childhood, he didn’t teach me all that much. But he taught me two things for which I’m grateful. The first is fishing. His dad taught him how to fish growing up in Oregon, and he taught me at an early age. I learned from him how to cast a net and catch a bunch of minnows, and filet them for bait. When he was deployed, I’d take my gear, bike to the neighborhood pier, and fish by myself for hours, feeling like my dad’s son. Unfortunately I haven’t fished for years, but those are some of the best memories I have as a kid. The second thing he taught me was how to make people laugh on a regular basis. I think his unofficial rule was to make somebody laugh every day, usually at his expense. He has a gift for self-deprecating humor, and it rubbed off on me. Oh, and he was a hell of an athlete. He played offensive tackle, defensive lineman, and punter for a state champion football team, he was a power forward, and he attended Oregon State on a baseball scholarship. Those genes passed me by. He turned 80 last March, and he seems to be fading faster. He has more trouble getting around. Usually I have to help him to and from the car when he comes over for visits. And he regularly tells me the same story about 2-3 times in a single phone call. He’s still very much The Colonel (the name I’ve affectionately called him since adulthood). But I’m afraid my time with him is shorter, and I know that, like Brisket, it’s going to be so fucking hard when he’s gone. I’m thankful for these days I have with him in my life. Semper Fi, Dad.
  4. Goddamn, you fuckers are making me cry.
  5. My dad got to see me in court for the first time in May 2023, for closing argument at the end of a jury trial over a $25 million land purchase and some very complicated land entitlement issues. I gave a pretty bang-up closing, if I can toot my own horn, and after closings were done and the jury retired for deliberations, my dad leans into the in-house counsel of my large national publicly-traded client and says, “I thought he did a great job. I have no idea what he was talking about, but it was great!”
  6. So did he get his client’s speeding ticket overturned, or what?
  7. Has anybody checked the tower logs, for Christ sake?
  8. Nah, he still sucks.
  9. Yuge soaking in Central Austin. We need this.
  10. Fuck yeah, man. It’s never too late. Keep it up! When you got a couple more weeks of the workout routine behind you, why not try cutting out alcohol on the weeknights and save it for the weekend? Or at least maybe take every other day off? I’ve said this before here or on other threads – when you age, sleep quality is so much more important. Better sleep helps with longevity and the mid-life “I feel like a new person” mentality. And alcohol fucks with that. I had become a daily drinker in my 30s and neglected my physical fitness, and as I was approaching 40, I cut back big time and started a fitness routine, and it was like a rebirth.
  11. Probably. But I still wouldn’t ask him, or anyone else on this board, to write one for my mom.
  12. On Monday morning our one-year-old hound/husky Ned was suddenly hobbling, barely able to walk on all fours and in obvious pain in his front right leg. After an x-ray, he was diagnosed with osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), also called flattening of the bone. Anyone have experience with this? It’s basically a flap of cartilage that forms at a joint causing lameness, not uncommon with larger dogs. We’re scheduling him for surgery, which has a 75% success rate, so we’re hopeful he’ll go on to have a healthy and active lifestyle. But it’s a long recovery with at least four weeks of exercise restriction and no playing with other dogs, which sucks for such a high-energy pup. He’s being a pretty good sport so far, but pain meds probably help.
  13. Pinkerton’s in San Antonio beforea deposition. Good but not great. Dude put the sauce on my ribs before I could say no thanks. Surprisingly, the beans were the star of the show.
  14. But they might not blame the AIDS on a bunch of hookers, and your secret is safe with us. So I say go for the 32-inch waist.
  15. If he beats Ohio State in Columbus, he’s sitting the rest of the season and preparing for the draft.
  16. Brisket, your dad and my dad may not have much in common, and our relationships with our respective fathers may be very different. But one of the best things I can also say about my own dad is that he taught me how to fish. And for a father and son with a strained and distant relationship for most of my childhood until I left for college, it was one of the greatest things he’s ever done for me. I think the best way to deal with grief is gratitude. Keep doing that.
  17. Yes, there will be no more movies.
  18. Even the pope.
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