Author Archives: Ben

DPS and the Time it Takes Part 2

We continue or adventure a few months later. It was now January and we decided to take another stab at getting the child their permit so they could begin driving. The first attempt did not go as planned, all we could do was hope that the second attempt was more successful.

We arrived in the morning and again had to sit down and wait for the opportunity to be seen and hopefully permitted. Only one child came with me the second time, the other one wanted to be anywhere but at the DPS office. We had our number and we had noting but time to wait on our hands. I decided it would be a good time to get my phone out and play around on it, my child sat there nervously waiting to take the permit test.

Once again the time it took was around an hour and a half. A few minutes before our number was called, my child looked at the verification of enrollment they had gotten from their school for the first attempt, and noticed it had expired the day before. I told them not to worry about it, we were still going to try and get the permit.

They called our number, and once again they questioned the Texas birth certificate. Once again, we are trying to get a Texas permit with a Texas birth certificate. After some research on the clerk’s part, we decided that it was, if fact, a legitimate birth certificate. One hurdle jumped.

The clerk began going down the list and verifying all of the different things that needed to be verified (which is a lot, by the way) and then paused at, you guessed it, the verification of enrollment.

“Everything is in order and looks good, but this verification of enrollment expired yesterday” they informed me.

“You weren’t open yesterday” I said. “That is not thirty business days?” I asked, panic rising inside me.

“No sir, with it being a new semester in school, they are going to want to see that she is still enrolled in her school and has good grades.”

“School has not started back up again, and you have her report card right there” I said.

“They are going to want one that is from this semester” they told me. “I’m really sorry, but I cannot accept this one.”

The many thoughts that ran through my head were not good. I decided to keep them to myself, since the clerk had been kind and was very apologetic about the expired VOE. I thanked them for their time, and decided that today was not the day to get into a fight at the Texas Department of Public Services.

My child and I left the building, defeated, frustrated and visibility upset. The child decided at that moment that they didn’t want to drive anymore, but I told them to take some time to think on it.

We now had two attempts at getting a permit, and we were shot down both times. I was trying to consider why the State makes it so hard for a teen to get their permit, it’s not like I was asking them to make the child an adult or something. There was one thing that I knew leaving that day, and that was there would be a third trip to the DPS in our near future.

Original Shows and Streaming Services

Image result for jack ryan When I first ordered the streaming service Netflix, I did so because there were certain television shows that I was hoping to see. Shows that were on network or cable television that I wanted to watch on my own schedule. Some of them were on the service, and some of them were not. I enjoyed the service and the reason I got it. I was a satisfied customer.

It seemed that the streaming industry began to produce their own original content. A few shows and movies here and there that were exclusive to the service. Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime all started this. All of a sudden, there were less and less network content and more and more original content. With the way we consume media, it seemed like a good move for the streaming services to offer original content.

Everything they began marketing to me was original and not even remotely related to something I had watched. Example, “Since you watched Burn Notice, we thought you might enjoy Orange is the New Black”. It became less about your watching habits and more about promoting their shows. I was getting frustrated with the whole thing and considered canceling their service.

Something happened that changed my mind. The services got a few right. I started trying some of their original content, and I enjoyed it. The writing and acting on the shows were not bad, the story was intriguing, and the production value was the same as network. They even took shows from traditional media and moved them to the streaming services, giving good shows that didn’t make it longevity.

I was hooked. I now have two of the main streaming services, and I watch almost as much original content as I do network shows. Shows like “The Good Cop” (Netflix) and “Jack Ryan” (Amazon Prime) were very entertaining. After all of my complaining in the beginning of the original content, I was now a consumer of it.

As I ponder why I am now enjoying content that I did not want in the beginning, I found that it goes back to me. I don’t like change or new things. I listen to old music. I watch old movies. I wanted to watch old television shows. I guess it is a flaw of being old and set in my ways. So this is me branching out and enjoying something new. And I actually like it.

So what are some of your favorite Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu shows? Asking for a friend. Let me know in the comment section down below, or on Facebook or Twitter.

DPS and The Time it Takes Part One

The following story may or may not be based on a real life event that happened to me.

Image result for people waiting at the dps

Thanksgiving break had come, and it was a week to celebrate and enjoy some time with family. My kids and I had a week away from school and a few things to do during that week. One of those things was to get a drivers permit for my 15 year old.

I must admit, I was not looking forward to introducing my child to a government agency that works, well, the way a government agency works. I was aware that it was going to be a long day when we finally decided to go and get the drivers permit. That day came on that Tuesday. We were doing the parent taught drivers education, and the child had already finished the written part of the curriculum. All we had to do was bring several pieces of paperwork and the child had to take a test.

I remember pulling up, both children in tow. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe this wouldn’t take as long as I remembered. I was wrong. I knew I would be wrong, but a man can hope.

The three of us went inside and looked around at the fifty or so people sitting in the waiting area, hoping that their number would be called soon. We walked over to a kiosk and my child got a number. Then we picked up the appropriate form to fill out while we waited.

There was no way that the three of us would be able to sit together, so the two kids sat together and I sat next to these two gentlemen who were very obviously not from around these parts. They also appeared to enjoy the type of activities that would leave you skinny and missing a few teeth.

The gentleman to my right informed me they had been waiting for a little over an hour, and hoped he would be called up soon. His friend grunted a second to that statement. I looked around the room and saw little to no hope on anyone’s faces. This did not bode well.

Numbers were called and the herd started to thin, but of course more people came in to replace the ones that either got what they came for or were turned away. The man next to me was looking at his phone. He didn’t appear to be very tech savvy, as he was having trouble getting to “the part that did texts”, as he called it. His friend informed him that he was going to go outside, he had to call someone. They were going to be late for an appointment. I didn’t ask.

After another three to five minutes (time slows down while you are in the DPS office, I assure you), the second man, leaving all of his personal information sitting on his chair, joined his friend outside. Apparently it takes two to make the phone call. Either that or they needed a smoke break.

“Now serving A-345, A-345 at window 9” the automated voice on the television screen said. I looked over at the mans folder, and on top of it sat ticked A-345. I considered going outside to try and alert him, but in very unusual fashion, a worker who came out and called for them one last time dismissed the number rather quickly. They had lost their chance.

Three to five minutes later (again, can’t be accurate about time in there), Both men came back in. I told them that they number had been called while they were outside. They both ran up to the window, only to be informed that they would have to get another ticket and wait their turn. Most likely it would be another hour and a half before they were seen again.

Finally, there was room for me and my two children to sit together, so they moved over by me. “This is fun” I stated. My children did not seem amused. We waited, then we waited, then we waited some more. Minutes turned into hours, hours into days, days into weeks (I may be adding some flourish for storytelling purposes). Finally, we got within two of our number. I could feel the excitement building. We had almost made it. I believe the gentleman next to me was asleep.

I checked and double checked my child’s form, making sure it was all filled out. It was. The decision to check it again was purely made out of boredom, not necessity. After what felt like another few hours, her number was called. It was finally time.

We walked up to the window where an angry looking woman in her mid to late fifties asked me what I wanted. I informed her that my child needed to get their permit. She asked to see the child’s social security card and birth certificate.

I gave her both documents. She looked at them, studying the birth certificate. “This is not a valid birth certificate” she informed me. I wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was a Texas birth certificate. I was a special one called a Heirloom certificate, but it was in fact valid. I informed the woman that it was valid when we got the child’s social security card and to enter into a public learning institution. She answered “I have worked here a long time and I have never seen one like this, so I know it is not valid.”

Frustration mounting, I smiled, hoping she would change her mind. She asked me for the proof of drivers educstion. I realized that I had forgotten to print that out and bring it. I had also forgotten a form from her school. This was not going to end well.

The grumpy woman gave me a brochure on everything I needed to bring next time I attempted to obtain a permit for my child again. She them dismissed us to be on our way.

All in all, we wasted over two hours of our lives not getting the child a permit, and we were all a little grumpy and disappointed. I knew that I had messed up, but at least we knew what we needed for the second go around. We left defeated, but hopeful that we could get it done on the second go around. I think those two guys were still sitting there when we left.

Is it Time for Jason Garrett To Go Away?

“Why would Jason Garrett call that play there? It seems stupid to try and run the ball at the best two defenders on the other team. Why does he keep doing things like that?”

“Why would you go for it there? It doesn’t make any sense at all!”

“What in the world made Garrett decide to run that play two times in a row when it didn’t work the first time?”

“I could coach this team better than this. The play calling is completely ridiculous.”

All of the above statements are things I have heard Cowboys fans say over the last eight plus years of the Jason Garrett ERA of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys were just eliminated from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Rams. Under Jason Garrett, they have now won two playoff games and played in five.

Dallas Cowboys fans everywhere, at least the ones around my age and older, remember the “glory days” when the Boys were winning and winning a whole lot. A team that won three Super Bowls in four years. Also, they have had quite a dry spell going on since then. Garrett is 77-59 as a head coach.

We are always told it all comes back to the head coach, right? There were some really bad play calls in the Divisional Round game against the Los Angeles Rams. Would Jason Garrett or Scott Linehan be to blame? If it always comes back to the head man, then it would be Garrett who deserves the blame.

Finally, I am not sure where I actually stand on this. Jason Garrett seems like a good guy, someone I would like to hang out with. I am looking at this as an outsider, I am not a hardcore Dallas Cowboys fan. Ultimately it is the decision of Jerry and Stephen Jones. Whatever decision they make, some Cowboys fan somewhere will not be happy with the decision.

Blogging and Advertising

There are a million blogs out there about a million different topics. I should know. I personally have three of them. A lot of people, myself included, are interested in trying to make a little money while running and writing content for those blogs. There are many different ways to try and do this. There is Google AdSense. There is Infolinks. There is direct advertising. There is GoFundMe, Pateron and other sites like that where you can ask you readers to help support you.

I have always wondered where the line is. I don’t mind an ad here or there while reading free content, so where should a blogger draw the line. I have worked with companies who have paid me to talk about certain things in one of my blogs. I have had a widget to buy baseball tickets where I got paid when someone used my link to buy said tickets. I currently have a Pateron. Feel free to donate, by the way.

When does it get desperate and annoying? How much is too much. I don’t utilize advertising much because I don’t have a huge readership. I don’t want to drive away the people who do read my blogs. My Texas Rangers blog is a very specilazied blog. This one is brand new and doesn’t have a ton of followers yet. So does it annoying you when you visit a site and there are ads everywhere, or does it not bother you since you know the poor bloke is just trying to make a little money for his work. I’ve been writing for free online for over ten years. Sometimes I wish I could make some money. Other times I write just because I enjoy it. It is hard to draw the line between not enough and too much.

Personally, I am fine with ads on free sites. I don’t mind an author trying to make a little cash off me. I am just curious what you all think. Advertising is all around us all the time. I don’t think most of us are bothered by it. Just a random thought I was curious about. Let me know what you think in the comment section down below or on Facebook or Twitter.

Are Cellphones the Problem with America?

When I was growing up and in school, we didn’t have cell phones, We weren’t waiting for the latest Apple iPhone to come out on the market so we could have it. We weren’t hoping for our parents to get us an unlimited data plan for Christmas. We certainly didn’t snap chat and Instagram everything we did for the world to see. I hear a lot of things people say about what is wrong with America. Some of them may be right, some of them are definitely wrong. The real question is: is there one thing that is leading to the direction our society is headed?

From that last question, you can probably guess that I am going to state that there is more than one thing contributing to the problem. As an educator for a living, I get the privilege of talking to and interacting with the teenage population on a daily basis. And it sometimes surprises me what comes out of their mouths and minds. I have decided that in order to fix this generation, we need to first fix us. WE are one of the main problems in this current generation. I can tell you that I just finished up two weeks off of school where I had time to get a lot of things done I needed to get done. Can you guess how many things I got done? None if them.

I spent most of the time feeling like I deserved a break. My dad never took a break. Well, he did, but not like I do. He always had something going on that kept him busy. He would go see a movie or go to a Rangers game with me, but when he got home he would always be working. I am not like that. I guess I am the one to blame on that one. Cell phones are part of the problem, but we are a bigger part. How much time do we spend on our devices? I can tell you that I spend more time on it than I should. Most days I don’t even do anything productive on my phone or tablet. So how am I going to say it is ruining them when it is quite possibly ruining me as well?

While cell phones are a big problem in our society, we are the bigger problem. We need to get back to having dinner together at a dinner table, not around the television. We need to get back to talking about our days instead of talking about everyone else’s day on Facebook. We need to get back to being parents to our kids instead of being their friends. Am I wrong? Am I right? Let me know in the comment section down below or on Facebook or Twitter.

3D Printing on the Moon

As a high school engineering teacher, I have access to a lot of really cool stuff (at least I think it’s cool). One of those things I have access to is a 3D printer. If you don’t know what a 3D printer does, it builds things out of plastic by melting plastic filament and reforming it into whatever design the designer sends it from a computer. It is a pretty cool device and you can make some really impressive stuff with it. But can it be used to print in space?

As a user of a 3D printer and a fan of stories on space, when I saw an article asking that exact question I had to check it out. The argument is that 3D printing can be used to make buildings or spacecraft while actually out in space. The article goes on to say:

through regulation of the temperature of the melted metallic powder during deposition, AM can make the part less likely to crack during use over a long time. Machine learning and artificial intelligence, guided by data from sensors and cameras in large-scale 3D printers, are helping to perfect the process.

They are making all kind of things on earth with 3D printers including entire car frames and parts of buildings. Also according to the article, NASA has used these type of printers for a long time and say that it works well in a zero gravity environment.

I find this an interesting thing to think and talk about. Being a big fan of outer space and shows about outer space, documentaries and fantasy series. I am not sure that 3D printing in space will ever be a thing. I know that I certainly would not want to be the guy to go and set the system up on the moon. What do you guys think? Is it a good thing to try? Will it ever happen? Will we ever build warp drive and explore all of space? Let me know in the comment section down below or on Twitter or Facebook.

Manuscripts and Frustration

I began working on a manuscript in 2013. It is a young adult fantasy novel that I got the idea for a few months before I started the manuscript. I was able to fly through the first ten-thousand words in a day or so, then I was able to go further. Work got in the way, life got in the way, I had back surgery, and I was writing for a site that took a ton of my time. I left he manuscript on the shelf for a year or more.

When I picked it back up, I was pleased with the progress that I made. Life once again got in the way. This cycle continued up until the present. I have not finished the manuscript, but I am up to about fifty-thousand words. As a lot of writers do, I had other stories that I was mulling around in my head, and I started two more manuscripts. One is the story of a sheriff in Nevada, inspired by watching several police shows on television. I wanted to make a different kind of story. The other story is about a high school baseball coach in a made up town in Texas who has to take a defunct team and try to turn them around.

The frustrating part for me is that I barely have time to work on one manuscript, and now I have saddled myself with three different stories. I forgot to mention: two of the stories are going to be series. The fantasy story I have three books planned, more if I improve the story and become a better writer. The Nevada sheriff would an ongoing series that hopefully go on forever. (I know, wishful thinking).

Is this a problem that I alone face? Do you find yourself going back and rewriting parts of your book to try and improve the story? I know I need to finish the manuscripts and let an editor help me with making the book flow better, but when I find inconsistencies I feel the need to fix them right away.

I have set a goal for myself to have the fantasy manuscript done in the next month or so, which means a lot of new writing and not going back and editing. Do any of you that write find it hard to finish a project without deadlines? I am going to try and set deadlines for myself and see if I can get it done. I will feel very accomplished if I can finally get a manuscript done. I will update you all if I actually get it done by February. Feel free to leave your thoughts or ideas in the comment section down below and thanks for reading.

Is it Better to be Lucky or Good

There is an old sports adage that says it is better to be lucky than good. Do you believe that this is true? Or is it really a mixture of both? In the 2018 National Football Season, several team used this theory to get where they are now that it is playoff time. The Kansas City Chiefs, though they hoped he would be good, did not know that Patrick Mahomes was going to be a bonafide superstar right out of the gates. They hoped, but they didn’t know. The Los Angeles Rams and their fans did not expect them to be one of the best teams in football, but here they are. It took luck and talent to get them where they are.

The team, in my opinion, that benefited from luck the most in the 2018 football season was the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys started badly, made a trade for Amari Cooper, and then went on a run where they went from laughing stock of the NFL to a playoff team. Did they know that Cooper was going to be the best thing that could happen to a team struggling to find a passing game? They did not, but they hoped that he would at least resurrect a passing game that had died. The first half of the season they were 3-5, and people were calling for the return of Tony Romo and Jason Garrett’s head. They averaged 320 total yards a game, and only 183 passing yards per game. They were also held under 100 yards rushing 4 times in the first eight games.

Fast forward to the second half of the season. The Cowboys picked up Cooper and now had a legitimate threat for the deep ball. The won seven of their last eight games. Their total yards per game in the second half of the season went up to over 370 yards per game, with the passing average now up to 254 yards per game, and they were now rushing for 116 yards per game, and they were held under 100 yards rushing just three times. Quite a difference. Did the talent improve that much in the second half of the season? I believe they were helped by players playing better as well as some serious luck. the Eagles were not the team everyone thought they would be. The Redskins lost their quarterback and were very bad. Their defense (especially Vander Esch) played out of their minds. The Saints game was the one game where talent won the day, but even there they had some luck.

The Cowboys will take all of the luck that was thrown their way in 2018. Their fans and their team hope that luck will continue though the playoffs. They play the Seahawks this coming Saturday, and the Cowboys are 2.5 point favorites as of the day I am writing this. The Cowboys are both good and lucky, but they would not be playing in the playoffs without the luck, and not many people can argue with that.

Agree? Disagree? I would love to hear from you. Is luck or talent more important? Let me know in the comment section down below or leave me a comment on Facebook or twitter. Thanks.

New Year’s Resolutions

Today is December 31st, the last day of 2018. Tomorrow is the day that everyone feels like they get to start new. Resolutions will abound, people will feel like they can conquer anything, and motivations will be high. We feel like we can do anything on January first.

The problem I have always faced comes around January fourth or fifth. As a teacher for a living, I get back into a routine and my resolution gets easier and easier to ignore of blow off. We always make resolution that, for me, is hard to keep. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we think we need to make a big change. We aren’t ever satisfied with a small change.

I have had an issue for most of my adult life with weight, and I have tried time and time again to diet and exercise it away. Some were successful, for a time. Most were not. I always tried to “go big or go home. I needed a lifestyle change, not a diet or new excercise regiment. I broke my back more than five years ago, making excercise difficult for me. Nothing seemed to work.

Around June of this last year, I finally chose to change my lifestyle instead of dieting and excercise. I did a lot of research and chose the KETO lifestyle. I knew for it to work, I had to change the way I thought about eating. With no excercise to speak of, I have lost thirty pounds since August, and kept it off. While this has been good, the better thing is I have finally taken control of my biggest problem, my perception of always starting over with something new and fizzing out.

New year’s resolutions may work for you or someone you know, and I am not saying they are useless or bad. They were a way for me to avoid any actual change. It took me shifting my thinking beyond a resolution or diet, and actually change the way I think about myself and my health. So if you are making a resolution tomorrow, I hope that it is successful and productive for you! I’ll continue what I have been doing and plot on with my journey. Happy New year everyone.