ROUGH TIMES IN DALLAS

First thing I gotta say, before leaving to Dallas, here in Oklahoma City the people have been driving like idiots all last week. It was sickening. Every place I went there was somebody driving very stupidly, even on Sunday. People not even slowing down at stop signs, no signal lights, honking horns on the highway for absolutely no reason when there are no other vehicles in front of them, coming home from work one night as some fool driving parallel to me creeps toward the side of my car without using his signal light as if he wants to change lanes and doesn't see me so I honk my horn and then the guy slows down and changes lanes without putting on a signal - the idiot almost hit me, he would've hit me if I hadn't honked my horn. Those are just a few true examples of what happened this week as I was driving to and fro. People have been driving like idiots a little too much this week.

On Saturday I ate some deer chili at a friend's house and watched a little bit of geese/duck hunting and football on the TV.

This weekend I took a trip to Dallas with some friends: An Air Force O-5 and his wife, an Air Force E-4, and a Navy E-3... myself and my wife and daughter. It was fun. First thing, we went to a buffet on Sunday evening. I ate so much sushi, crab legs, it was great. I had about 4-5 ice cream cones. I ate a lot of food. Then we stayed at my wife's friend's aunt's husband's home where we all got to sleep for the night. I took a shower at about 3 a.m. I think I got food poisoned because about 8 a.m. I felt very weak, with a sickening feeling all over my body, a horrible headache, a feeling as if I were almost about to die, I almost passed out with every movement I made, could hardly walk or hold up my head. I managed to make it to the toilet where I let out a bunch of seafood chunks and hacking many times into the bowl. It was a nasty feeling but it felt good to let it all out. I went back to my sleeping place and passed out on the floor and then felt much better when I woke up.

On Monday I didn't feel like eating breakfast when everyone else ate, so I declined and went back to sleep. Woke up and got ready to go to many Vietnamese shops and markets. T'was fun. Great food... and how !!!!!!!

Then we went to a mall where we were only there for barely a minute, my wife runs off to go shop with her friend, and some young female foreigner working from one of those cart/booth kiosks was already attempting to sucker me into buying a horrible product after she saw me walking alone. It was one of those stupid cell phone FM transmitting devices that you put a AAA battery into which supposedly powers it for a month. So what !!! A device clips onto your phone and transmits the sound to your FM radio in your car or at home. That is one of the stupidest devices. Blue tooth is much better. Plus it is better to have blue tooth so you can still have your radio off, you can play CDs in your car and not have to worry about switching back to FM to talk on your phone, the FM reception is actually not very clear, if the power in your car doesn't work then your FM transmitter is useless. What a stupid product. Anyway, the sales lady grabs my hand as if she were my girlfriend and brings me closer to her kiosk as I snatch my hand away from her. She asked me if she could borrow my cell phone. I agreed so I pulled out my phone and she snatched it, showed me how the FM transmitting device worked where it uses station 89.9 to transmit audio over the speakers. I thought it was dumb. After demonstrating the product the female puts my phone behind her on the counter of her cart table, out of my view, and she was in between my phone and me, blocking the way so that I couldn't take my phone back and walk off with my own possession. She explained a few more things about the horrible product and then I asked her how much for the product. $29.99 For that price I could get 3 on amazon.com. I didn't like the price so she grabs some 'phone signal enhancer' to throw in for free. Now this phone enhancer is a scam. All it is... here we go... is a thin metallic strip that is pretty much a sticker with some thin metal circuits on it, and supposedly the metallic strip enhances the cell phone signal from inside buildings, in the car, at home, at school, at work.... from the inside of a whale, you know, stuff like that, as the female was trying to explain. It is a useless piece of trash and a rip off, selling for $19.99, and does NOT make any difference in signal strength; if anything it is just a flair device. Oh, but she was going to throw that in for free. FREE !!!! OOOOOOOOOH !!!!! Something FREE !!! After making me feel like an idiot and wasting my time, taking up my oxygen, I got pissed off. The female kept trying to make excuses and tell me that I needed the product. She would say, "But you need this, you want this." I didn't have to try very hard not to fall for her pathetic sales act. Oh no, like a sob story she kept going on and on about the product and how I needed it, and I just kept being polite. She told me about needing the product to prevent from getting a ticket while talking on the cell phone in the car. I already have bluetooth and speakerphone. I don't need her garbage. All of a sudden my wife pops up and she doesn't seem too happy. It looked as if this female was flirting with me. The female then asks my wife if she has a cell and is trying to convince her that she needs one too. I told the female that I needed to talk to my wife before making any decision and that we need to talk and then we could come back later. I said, "I'd like my phone back please." The female wouldn't quit. She then asks me, "Why can't you think about it now?" Then I lost it, became angry, so my 'be a jerk' mode kicked in finally. I simply said in a calm but pissed off tone, "I'll take my phone back." I stuck out my open hand waiting for the female to put my phone back in the palm of my hand. She finally got the picture and I walked off with my phone.

We passed by a food court and a carousel was there, which Elisa kept looking at and wanted to ride because she was fussing about it. We paid the $1.75 to let her on the ride. She was happy and enjoyed it.

I passed by another cart/booth after passing by the food court where I was confronted with this Israeli guy with nappy braided Rastafarian hair, smelled like cig smoke, had a bull nose ring on his left side nostril, with nose hairs popping out both sides like whiskers. He looked like he didn't shave for a few days and looked as if he just woke up and toked up. He was a light skinned Israeli with reddish brown hair and a few freckles, unlike his other buddies who were dark skinned. Despite looks and smells, he was very polite, respectful, and demonstrated kindly about the manicure kit he was selling. It buffed nails, helped take care of cuticles, all with natural products that kept the nails shiny, smooth, and strong. I talked the price down from $59.99 to $39.99 to $29.99 and then finally to $19.99 after whining about the price and walking away. Pretty slick dealing, I must have some Arabian blood myself. It wasn't easy making a deal with a Jew. He threw in an extra buffing pad and a lovely and wonderful bag (a regular plastic bag that says 'have a nice day' with a smiley face on the outside of it). For some reason this guy kept telling me that he's throw in the lovely bag for free. It was silly but he was professional, funny, polite, and so kind that I almost invited him to the local gay hangout after he declined to purchase some Vaseline products from me. The guy shook my hand many times, even before the many times I walked away. It was interesting talking to this guy. His name is Nahum, from Jerusalem originally. He hoped that we (military) would kill many Iraqis. I almost died laughing.