Family Reunion is Finished

Whew. I pulled it off.
Once I accepted this assignment to plan our family reunion 2 years ago was not sure I could pull it off. It came through with no problems, everyone had a blast. Everyone tells me it'll be a tough thing to out do in 2008 when the next reunion happens.
There were 75 people that came from all over the US to Houston, California, Miami, Panama City, Maryland, Virginia, and Detriot. The activities were held at the Greenspoint Marriot and they did a wonderful job providing the reservation room as well as the banquet room. The itenerary was a meet and greet Friday night, bus tour of Houston with a stop at the Buffalo Solddier museum and Drexler's BBQ for lunch. I actually saw attractions in Houston I'd run by hashing, but didn't know what they were (Project Row Houses, the Water Wall, and several homes in River Oaks).
Saturday night was the banquet/dance. Every year we honor one family member. This year is was my grandmother, Marie Jackson (she had no idea it was coming). All of her children / grandchildren presented her with roses. As well as a plaque from the reunion committee. The party lasted until 2am Saturday, I even taught my cousin how to work my DJ equipment. She's a natural.
If you haven't been to a family reunion or hosted a big event like this I highly encourage it. If I can plan a multi-day event for 75 of my family members who would not hesitate to tell me if I screwed something up, anyone can do it. The secret is to get other people who have expertise to do most of the work for you. The people at the Marriot were wonderful and certainly know how to put on an event, the banquet facilities were wonderful, the dinner was excellent. The tour company I used, Cosmo Cool Concepts, took care of everything on the tour for Saturday. All I did was make sure people got up in time for the tour. Delegate and leave the hard work to the professionals, that's what they get paid for. All I had to do was manage and coordinate.
You never know who you're gonna meet. At the last reunion I meet a cousin that lived a few miles from me in Houston. She is pretty cool, I can think of at least one hasher who was hitting on her. Some of you met her at my new years eve party two years ago. She wants to start training to do the half marathon next year as well as get out and meet more people, so I think she's going to start to hash on Sunday and come to happy hour.
All in all a fun time. Everyone is still talking about how much fun they had.

family reunion

family reunion this weekend
most everyone in my family is coming to houston, so i'm gonna be pretty busy.
but i've got the day off monday to relax and enjoy one day of rest.

Dear Rubbin' - the Astros suck...

Dear Rubbin?

Q. why are over half the National League Teams below .500? and why did the astros drops 2-3 to the Cubs?

A. Sweet a sports question. Actually that's two separate issues.
First the hometown Astros...
In the big scheme of things it's fine that the Astros dropped a few games to the Chicago Cubs. The Astros will get hot (hopefully) at the end of the season and rally to get a wild card spot. But once again the Astros went 0-8 with runners in scoring position. That is our achilles heel - not being able to hit and bring runners in to score. Almost like my sex life - I get to the ballpark, hit a couple singles, an occasional double, but can't bring it home.

A2. Teams over .500 in the AL = 9 Total Teams = 14
Teams over .500 in the NL = 6 Total Teams = 16
So yes - this year the American League teams are kicking ass over the National League. Got no answers other than I could say that the AL teams have more money to spend (ie Boston, New York, Detroit). I'll see if I do a budgetary analysis comparing payroll versus win record.

Single woman alone at bar

kinda sums up a lot

Dear Rubbin' - I hate my job.

Q. I hate my job what should I do.

A. Look for another job... seriously look into the reason why you're not satisfied with your current job. It may be time for a career change to a different industry, a different department in the same company, or a jump into being an entreprenuer. Another option is to talk to your boss and see if there is anything he can do to help - generally most employers don't want unhappy employees and would rather help you to enjoy your job so you can be more productive.
Another good resource is to tell all your friends that you're looking for a job and give them a copy of your resume.

Beer Exec - DUI

If it can happen to Pete Coors it can happen to all of us. Be careful out there after happy hour and the on-on-ons.

DENVER – Beer company executive, chief commercial pitcher and former Senate candidate Pete Coors confirmed Thursday he was cited in May for driving under the influence of alcohol after leaving a friend's wedding celebration.

"I made a mistake," Coors said in a prepared statement. "I should have planned ahead for a ride. For years, I've advocated the responsible use of our company's products. That's still my message, and our company's message, and it's the right message.

"I am sorry that I didn't follow it myself."

The citation, first reported by The Denver Post, happened in Golden, the longtime hometown of the Adolph Coors Co. just west of Denver. The company has since become the Molson Coors Brewing Co. after a 2005 merger.

Coors was driving a 2004 Jaguar when he was pulled over by a Colorado State Patrol trooper just before midnight May 29, according to officials in the Jefferson County District Court clerk's office.

He was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence and cited for failing to obey a traffic control device.

Coors rolled through a stop sign a block from his home and was stopped by the officer in his driveway, company spokeswoman Kabira Hatland said. She said his blood-alcohol content following a breath test was 0.088 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Coors is driving with a 60-day provisional license, Hatland said. A hearing before motor vehicles department officials is scheduled for Friday.

Coors, 59, also faces a July 20 arraignment.

Coors took over as president of his family's company in 1987 and in 2000 was named chief executive of the brewer, which has 8,500 employees and rang up $4 billion in sales in 2003.

Coors, a tall, silver-haired figure familiar to many as the face of the Coors television ads, was a political novice in 2004 when he decided to seek the Senate seat being given up by Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. He won the GOP primary but was defeated in the 2004 general election by Democrat Ken Salazar.

Guess the race.

I didn't think this one up - but I could certainly do an entire podcast on this topic. Take a crime in the newspaper - remove the names and try to guess the race of the criminal.

Man drives car into clinic entrance

No injuries have been reported after a man drove his vehicle into Franciscan Skemp Clinic early this morning, barricaded himself of the second-floor of the clinic and threatened to ignite what he said was a beer bottle full of gasoline, authorities said.

(Name), 51, drove his minivan about 30 feet into the entrance of the building at about 6:15 a.m., according to La Crosse police. The man then exited his vehicle and barricaded himself in a second-floor wing of the clinic for about one hour, police said. He told that he had a beer bottle filled with gasoline and threatened to ignite it, according to police.

The man voluntarily surrendered to police without incident about one hour later. Police found no weapons or explosives on the man after arrest.

The clinic was evacuated after the incident, and all appointments before noon were canceled.

Police said the man was a patient and had a history of problems with the clinic.

Police investigator Marion Byerson and bomb-dog Ira searched the scene, which is now secured.

Afraid of Committment??

Q: Dear Rubbin
Why would a guy ask you not to date anyone else while you are seeing them but they don't want to make a committment of us being a girlfriend/boyfriend? Frustrated in Raleigh.

A: Dear Frustrated
Hmmm. You didn't imply that he doesn't want to be seen in public with you (see my blog posting on keeping a down-low relationship). Seems to me he is a control freak. I think he wants to have his cake and eat it too. I would see how he responds if you turn the tables on him - see how he would like it if he was not to date or see anyone else, but not be his girlfriend. It appears that you are a psuedo-couple, I would try to get some clarification to get to the root cause. There's got to be a reason. Maybe he really likes you but is afraid of making a long term committment because of something that happened in his past.

Pineapple is for display only

Do Not Eat the Pineapple

okay - a clarification. a bunch of us are at sherlock's for trivia on wednesday. sherlocks is known for really cheap beer ($1.75 big ass beer) and happy hour munchies (fruit, veggies, chips, nacho cheese, wings and mini egg rolls). On the display table is a pineapple for decoration - so hashers being hashers (more specifically HeadSucker) wanted pineapple. So I grab the pineapple and we start cutting the pineapple on the table - and damn it was tasty. So I'm not sure who grabbed the pineapple this time, but it ends up near me and I start cutting the pineapple to serve. Lo and behold the manager comes up and informs us it's not part of the buffet and it's been sprayed with varnish. And I had just gotten the top cut off. Damn it to hell.

Feel Betrayed

Feeling betrayed by personal ads once again.
Okay went out on a date with a chick I met off a personal ad tonight. We chatted for a bit and I had only seen a picture of her face (clue #1) - kinda cute, but I could tell it was an older picture. Clue #2 was she had stated that she was 'big' - hmmmm. Well so I drive up to Tomball (clue #3) a bit and pick her up and my first inclination when she showed up at my car window was ohh that's her fat friend coming to let me know she'll be out in a minute. Nope. But I had nothing better to do and I needed to eat dinner anyway, I'd never seen the bats before and maybe I'll have a good time.
So we both have an interest in bats, both have bat tatoos, but I think that's where the similarities end. So I took her to Thai Spice, Onion Creek, and to the Waugh bridge to watch the bats swarm from the bridge. I pretty much just listened to her talk the entire night - not that I have much to say, but she just might've been shy or nervous and just needed to talk. But she's got a kid (age 5), 2 ex's, works in a daycare, has neurotic friends, doesn't like Thai food or Vietmanese food, most importantly of all doesn't drink beer. Maybe the fact that her profile read 5'4" with a little extra padding with 42Bs. But at times that could be fun, but I just wasn't physically attracted to her. Could've been the sweat pants and tshirt she wore on the date. But she does like bats, loves hard rock n roll.
I did see Womb Service running down Waugh Avenue as I awaited the bats. And also talked to this other hottie on the bring with her mom and grandma. But the fun started when I got to her place to drop her off. She had given her SUV to her best friend when I picked her up. We get back to her apartment and her truck isn't there - hmmm. Her best friend must be out at a bar. So she spends 30 minutes trying to track her friend down. Finally she gets a hold of her and I drop her off at McDonalds to wait for her friend to come.
So that's my Tuesday night folks - Internet dating with neurotic chicks who are not my body type, nor that I find attractive.

Girly Dreams / Friends with Benefits

Rubbin: What are "sweet girly dreams"?
Sweet girly dreams are unrealistic expectations, i.e.
a) I promise I'll pull out.
b) I won't cum in your mouth.
c) Of course I don't need a condom I've got a vasectomy.
d) Of course I'll respect you if you give me a hummer during rush hour traffic.
e) There is a happy ending - unless we're discussing massages.

What of the friends with benefits phenomenon?
The urban dictionary defines friends with benefits as:
"Two friends who have a sexual realtionship without being emotionally involved. Typically two good friends who have casual sex without a monogomous relationship or any kind of commitment."

or

"Two friends, a man & a woman, with a casual dating relationship; the benefits can be long,deep,flirting conversations, or jack and jill sessions, or mutual masterbation, or make-out sessions which can include just an exchange of oral sex or penetration sex without commitment."

So this clearly involves a purely sexual relationship - kinda like the jack / jill sessions, but that's another blog posting. I would tend to think this has been going on since the first caveman saw the other hottie cavewoman in the next cave over and didn't want to ruin a good thing he had in the first cave. I think this harkens to being carefree without any attachment - emotional or otherwise. Two people who know exactly what they want, pure raw sex. I think back in college we called it hooking up or just casual dating. I think in order for this to work - the boundaries need to be defined clearly. It doesn't work when either party gets too attached - then a cum to Jesus meeting needs to be had. With the advent of the internet and several adult personal websites (adultfriendfinder, match.com, lavalife) this can be done easier today. Not sure if you can have friends with benefits cam buddies, but I'm sure someone has defined that.

Why are guys so cold / down low?

Q?
Why are guys so cold at times?
A! Guys tend to appear cold, but it's merely how we have been taught to show our feelings. From a young age fresh in the womb, we're taught that guys should never cry, be a man or suck it up when we get hurt. So it's not our fault.

Q. And what exactly does it mean when a guy would like to keep your relationship on the down low?
A. The urban dictionary definition: "
To keep quite on something. To not tell people about something. To not divulge information to people that should not know about something. Keeping certain information limited to a certain group or between two people."
So for whatever reason the guy doesn't want other people to know about your relationship. He may feel embarressed, reserve, secretive, or may think it will ruin his chances with other females.

Clueless Guys

Rubbin~
Question: Why are men so "clueless" sometimes?

Answer: Men seem clueless at times because we are. Most of the time when you ask what we're thinking and we answer nothing, generally it's true. Most of the time we're really not thinking about anything. Most guys like directness - if you're feeling mad, upset, don't like a movie, concert just tell us. Better to do that than send signals that guys don't pick up on anyway.
I'm sure you've been at a bar or party and there is a guy you like. Instead of flirting across the room simply go up to him and strike up a conversation. Most guys would welcome that. That's happened to a friend of mine while playing volleyball - she liked this one guy or at least thought he was hot without his shirt on. So me being the helpful guy trying to get my female friends laid told her to simply go up to him and strike up a conversation. On a side note - beach volleyball is the place for single people (guys and gals). The women are in bikinis and the guys play shirtless. But she never did go up to him, I just couldn't understand it. Not sure what my point is, but I hope I answered your question.

Ask Rubbin'

Okay instead of Dear Abbey - let's do Dear Rubbin'.
Ask me any question and I'll answer from my point of view or what I think you should do. The questions can be of an anonymous nature if you'd like. It'll be just like Dr. Phil except I'm not making nearly that much money doing it. If there's enough interest I'll start a separate blog or website.

What Women Really Mean By...

(1) She says: "I don't want to ruin our friendship."
What she means: I am not attracted to you, or I don't feel enough chemistry to date you -- but I do like you as friend. I want to torture you and tell you about all the guys I'm fucking.

Why she does this: She probably does want to remain friends, but doesn't want to hurt your feelings by admitting that she doesn't feel the same attraction for you.

What you should do: Don't take it personally; she just doesn't feel the same chemistry as you do. Take the hint and work on being friends with her, if that's what you want. But remember you'll probably never be more than a friend. This is the basis for the ladder theory which I'll explain in another posting. The synapsis is women put guys in two categories - friends and fuck potentials. And almost never do they go from one category to the other.

(2) She says: "I'm just so busy with work right now."
What she means: I am not interested in fitting you into my schedule.

Why she does this: She wants to let you down easy. Instead of being blunt, she is hoping you'll just get the picture.

What you should do: When a woman likes a man, she will always find time for him -- no matter what her schedule is like. So don't kid yourself into thinking that the situation might change. Instead, move on right away.

She says: "Are you seeing anyone right now?"
What she means: I might like to submit an application for the position of your girlfriend.

Why she does this: She wants to make sure she is not wasting her precious flirting energy on a man who is already spoken for.

What you should do: Answer honestly, and then hit her up for her phone number.

(3) She says: "I feel like our relationship is stuck in a routine right now."
What she means: I want you to be more romantic and spontaneous, and surprise me more. I need you to pay more attention to my needs.

Why she does this: She doesn't want to hurt your feelings and admit that you are, in part, the cause of the rut.

What you should do: You don't need to change your personality entirely, but it wouldn't kill you to surprise her every once in a while. Call her out of the blue and tell her you're taking her for dinner, go on a spontaneous weekend away, or just surprise her with her favorite chocolates.

(4) She says: "I'm just not ready to make a commitment."
What she means: I'm not ready to commit to you, and may never be.

Why she does this: She uses this tactic to soften the blow; nine times out of 10, this means that she doesn't see a future with you... ever.

What you should do: Don't stick around until she's ready to make a commitment. Chances are, when she's finally ready, it won't be with you.

(5) She says: "I think we should stay friends."
What she means: I am trying to cut you out of my life gradually.

Why she does this: She thinks it would be easier to gradually stop seeing you instead of going cold turkey. She may even want to keep you around as a backup.

What you should do: Stay friends if you like. But don't let yourself become the backup guy. If she wants to get back together down the line, ask yourself if she's only doing it because she hasn't found anyone else.

Dear Rubbin' - Part II

Dear Rubbin': I think I really love my ex-girlfriend. Should I get back with her? George

George: Act like you're fine with the decision that you two broke up, and start dating other people and be sure she knows. it. People like to think that someone is desireable, so if you sit on the couch and bitch about the past relationship she'll be sure to find out and think it was a great idea that you broke up. On the other hand if you show up with a hotter chick on your arm at a club, she'll get jealous and want to hook back up with you. Jealously is very powerful aphrodisiac.

Dear Rubbin': I'm having a first date with this chick in a few days. What do I talk about? -Joe

Joe: First date conversation starters. Pretty much anything is fair game except sex, politics, and religion. Save those for the second date. I've discovered that women love to talk about themselves, so ask about her family, brothers and sisters, her favorite movies, does she like to travel, does she like her job. Is she into sports, does she play sports. You'll find that all you have to do is keep her talking, don't stare at her tits for too long at a time, try not to oogle the hot waitress or the hottie blond at the bar giving you the eye, and you'll get a second date. Most women have made up their mind on whether to give you a second date within the first five minutes of the date and have made up their mind on whether to fuck you within the first ten minutes. You're just never sure whether it's going to be on the first date or the tenth date. As one woman has told me - once she's making small talk with you you're 90% there - the other 10% is up to you. Always appear sure of yourself - always have a plan on what you're doing. Never ask what they want to do - just say we're doing this, this, and this.

Damn - I should write a book. Rubbin's guide to dating.

Dear Rubbin'

RUBBIN: How can I tell if a chick's not interested on a date? -Bob

BOB: Sure signs she's not interested:
1. Crossed arms and other negative body language unless she's wearing a bikini inside a restaurant, then she's probably just cold.
2. No eye contact - surefire sign she doesn't like talking to you. She'll look all over the room - at the waiter, at the bartender, at other guys in the restaurant, etc.
3. Making a phone call during the middle of the date.
4. She doesn't offer a handjob in the middle of the restaurant for desert - we know how women love creme filling.
5. She doesn't laugh at your jokes - every guy is funny. Most women will laugh even if it's just to be nice to you.
6. She doesn't like your car. Most women could care less what kind of car you drive, but when she says your car is cheesy - then head for the exit.
7. She doesn't swallow.

TGIF

Ran the ho-chi minh trails last night
yellow to orange back to orange then blue then the full moon
no vietmanese food settle for greek
rain came
go home now