The Worst Childhood Punishment

Hey there. We love the Kevin & Bean show on the "World Famous KROQ" radio station. We listen to it every morning on our way to work. For those of you that are not familiar with it, it's a talk radio show filled with silly discussions, lots of comedy, some idiotic antics thrown in for flavor, with some pretty bad ass music sprinkled in from time to time. One of today's topics of discussion was childhood punishments. They read an Email from a fan stating how her mother used to lick her face or armpit to keep her in check. Face or armpit... I don't think I have ever heard of a parent licking their kid to keep 'em in check. I do see how it could work, though. You embarrass the hell out of them and see if they'll do it again knowing that you're on the prowl ready to lick them. lol Some of the others that were mentioned as punishments included hot wax, soap in the mouth, and belt snapping. There was also the more traditional go to bed without dinner (which my mother in law finds extremely cruel), grounding, and timeouts. I didn't get a chance to hear the whole discussion but I was tempted to call in with some of the punishments that were handed down to me as a child.

Let me be frank. I was horrible. Jumping off of roofs, jumping off balconies, smashing windows, throwing "dirt" rocks at cars, which sometimes were not dirt... Young Metallman was a real pain in the ass. I remember being punished constantly. I remember running away from my aunt cause she was ready to whip me for being bad. I'm pretty sure she ended up getting me, since we lived in the same place. lol She'd whip us with an extension cord. That's right, regular old belt had no effect on us. lol I also used to be locked in the bathroom as punishment. I remember someone putting in one of those bar sliding locks on the out side of the door to keep someone from coming out of the bathroom. lol I guess those were my "time outs" since the bathroom is one boring ass place to just be in. Especially when you don't have to use it. And they were lengthy stays, too. Up to an hour, if I remember correctly. Then there was the "hand to the flame" thing. Whenever I got caught stealing or touching/breaking something that I shouldn't have been messing around with, I'd get the, "Te voy a quemar las manos!!!" (I'm going to burn your hands!) My grandma was usually the one that would carry this one out. She'd turn on one of the burners on the stove and grabbed my hand and slowly inched towards the flame. She never really burned my hand, but always got it close enough where you definitely felt the heat.

I deserved those punishments. You have to pay the price if you plan on doing the crime. Where they effective? I don't know. lol I'm not stealing, breaking windows, or being bad now, so I guess they worked. But then again, it could just be that I grew out of it.

I'm sure that many of us parents have our own methods, traditional or unorthodox, of punishing our kids. Of the above methods, I've really only used the bathroom punishment, but I did not go as far as installing a lock on the outside. If the kids really wanted, they could probably just walk out when they pleased. We usually do this to our little one, who sometimes just refuses to listen or clean up. After several warnings, we tell her that she's going to get timeout. She spends no more than a minute in there but I'm sure for a child that age, it must be hell.

Thinking back, I'm wondering if the methods used on me were considered "normal". A comment made on the Kevin & Bean show sparked that debate, since the child who got licked thought it was normal until a friend of hers told her otherwise. What kind of methods do you use to keep in line? What kind were used on you as kid? Think back, friends. lol We all had a little bad side to us, even if most of us don't want to admit it. Later!

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

Hey there. The weekend has come and gone... and it always feels like it's never enough to just sit back, relax, and recover from the work week. Especially when you got things you need to do at home. Woke up this Saturday pretty early to get some car work done. Those 3,000 miles have come and gone and the car needed the oil change. While under the hood, I decided to check in on the transmission. Everything looked good, but while at Autozone, I decided to buy this tranny additive that supposedly quiets down the idling. That's always been an issue with the car. It a little on the rough side while idle. Once that was done, we kinda just hung out at home. My wife and I ended up watching the film, The Tooth Fairy, on Netflix. What a funny film. lol


It's supposed to be a scary movie. I'm into those and I usually make my wife sit with me while watching them. While we stumble upon some great ones, Shutter and Amityville, to name a few, we also stumble across some bombs, Gothika and Slither... Well, I know for sure that The Tooth Fairy is not a great one, but I'm a little hesitant to place it on the bad list. The movie has it's moments that made us laugh and a movie that makes us smile and laugh can't be all that bad. Some of the highlights in the film, that we've been saying all weekend, include the "the tooth fairy" asking for a tooth by holding out her hand saying, "tooooooooooth" in a low grunty voice and the lead character saying, "Hey you b*tch" when he douses the tooth fairy in gasoline. lol Not too mention the bad slow motion scenes that were so placed in inappropriate times. We also laughed at the characters' thought process. Such as, "Oh crap, my girl just got murdered! Let me have sex with this other girl right now!" LMAO Oh man, what an experience. If you're looking for a good laugh, check this movie out.

I also managed to handle a few achievements in Rock Band. I got through Expert mode on guitar, which felt pretty damn good. And I also got though Hard mode on drums. That felt even better. I'm not a drummer, I'm a guitar guy so to be able to get through that was pretty bad ass. I'm going to attempt to get through it on Expert but I struggled to get through it on Hard so I'm not so sure if I'll be able to do it. It's great exercise and it's helping my eye-hand coordination. I enjoy doing it since it's challenging. Moving your hands and feet while keeping time is pretty difficult and a new experience for me so I'm glad that I'm expanding my musical horizons through a game.

Sunday was to be our "lazy" day. We were just going to lounge around and do nothing. Well, it started out that way. We got up at around 8 ish and we lounged around in bed until about 10:30. We couldn't sleep much since our little one has these sandals that squeak as you walk in them. Since she was running around in them, our nap was quickly killed by the loud, constant squeaks. Thanks grandma. lol We ended up giving the house a good scrub down. half way through the afternoon, we finally sat down to catch some I Love Lucy and do some online shopping for some maternity clothes. My wife, not really wanting to buy new clothes that she will only wear for a short period of time, went on Ebay and scored a lot of 16 items for about $35. All practically new clothes. Good stuff. We also received a text from my brother in law, that morning, saying that he was a hospital. Turns out that he hit his head on some exercise equipment and had a gash on the side of his head. After spending the whole day at the hospital, he ended up getting a few staples to close the gap. He showed us the staples this morning. Ugly stuff, that is.

Well, that sums up our weekend. How was yours? Later!

There's a Bun in the Oven!

Hey there. It's official! There's a bun in the oven. We're going to have an addition to our family! We had taken "the test" a few weeks back but cause those things are never 100% accurate, we made our appointment to check it out. This week, my wife had her check up and they've confirmed the good news. Now, don't think my wife didn't go to a doc, we went to one about 2 weeks ago or so. But the place where were went seemed to half ass everything that we didn't feel very confident with the results. My wife then, made her appointment with her real doctor, which coincidentally is one of the doctors that star in the Discovery Health show, Deliver Me . Dr. Bohn was the one that cared for her during our last pregnancy but because she recently had a child, Dr. Hill tended to my wife. When my wife went to visit Dr. Hill this week, my wife told me that the camera crew was hanging around the clinic. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up on TV. lol

So the official counter is at 9 weeks. Which means that we have approx. 31 weeks to go before the next little one is here. Our family, and most friends know (now), so I decided to let my readers know as well. Its still to early to know if we're having a little "Metallboy" or "Metallgirl", but I'll keep you guys posted the moment we find out. I have an ultrasound picture that my wife refuses to let me use, only because you really can't make out the baby. It's more like a little bean swimming in a sea of black. As soon as I get a more detailed pic, it's so going up. Later on!


UPDATE: 3.13.09

My wife just read this post and is embarrassed as hell that I posted that pic. lol

The Dragon's Knight

Hey there. I have a dragon statuette that I obtained a while back. It's sitting there on my desk, protecting my desk from any evil doers that wish to do harm. I love me some dragons. I think they're bad ass. I have one tattooed on my arm. A great symbol for strength, power, protectiveness, and best of all, fearsome. It's basically my guardian, in ink form. So here's a little something for you, my dragon king.

 

Metallica: James Hetfield Hospitalized

Hey there. Metallica front man, James Hetfield, was hospitalized in Sweden this Sunday. Turns out that their show in Stockholm, Sweden had to be canceled minutes before the band was to perform. James had some kinda stomach flu/virus that keep him out of commission. Even metal gods are vulnerable to the almighty "flu bug". There are also reports that he was dehydrated, which pretty much means he was blowing chunks back stage. Good news is that he's already in the States or on his way back, feeling better. The Stockholm show will be rescheduled, so our Swedish friends will get a chance to see them if they didn't catch them already. Feel better James. On top of your tour, you got your Metallica game to promote!!! Later!

Hell With Pascual & Associates Tax Service

Hey there. Last night, we went off to do our taxes. We've been loyal customers to Pascual & Associates Tax Services. Well, last night was the last straw. Many years ago, on our very first appointment, we were well taken care of and had excellent service. As the years went on, service greatly diminished, prices went up, and the wait time has gone to HELL. EVEN IF YOU HAVE AN APPOINTMENT!!! That is what peeves us the most. We're understanding people. We know sh*t happens so we usually say expect to be called 15 to 30 mins after an appointment. But last night, the wait time was an unprecedented 90 mins. 90 MINS!!!! Even though you had an appointment, you had to wait 90 mins to get called in. That is ridiculous. Every single time that we've had our taxes done, we spend no more than 30 mins in the chair. You pass over your forms, they get entered, you answer some questions, and before you know it, you're done and on your way home... Happy. I was NOT happy last night. After sitting there for an hour, I got up to ask the receptionist how much longer, she calmly looked back and said and least 30 more mins. Hell with that. I grabbed my wife and we went home. Mouthing off in the car and extremely frustrated. We both agreed that they have just lost clients for life.

We want to say that our main gripe with them is that they cannot manage their time correctly. Considering that 30 to 45 mins is needed to prepare taxes, why in the hell would you schedule appointments every 15 mins??? That's just ridiculous and stupid time management. If you know that you can't get it done in 15 mins, then why would they make their customers wait? They have about 8 tax preparers, all handling their business at the same time. During the time that we sat there waiting, we only saw one couple leave. ONE COUPLE! Are these people preparing taxes or are they socializing?!?! Don't they know that people HATE waiting. It was extremely frustrating. Ugh...

I checked out Turbo Tax this morning and was able to get em done in no more than 30 mins. Quick, fast service. Turbo Tax is the best damn thing the government has come up with since, well... tax refunds. If you can plug in letters and numbers, than I would suggest going with Turbo Tax. Quick, easy, and convenient. AND NO WAITING!!! Just how I like it. Later.