Livin' Large in Hurst

Saturday night, and the wife and I are both nose-first in the laptops. We're livin' large, eh?

***

It's been a good weekend. Work yesterday was hard, in case you couldn't guess from my babbling post near quittin' time.

After that we went out for Tex Mex, as usual. The kids were good. Once they were in bed I wrote a short paper for school and did some reading. I got my second wind courtesy of more iced coffee from Starbucks.

***

After years of going to Starbucks, I think I finally got a promotion yesterday.

That is, I've often seen other guys in there who get called by their first names. Cute baristas ask them about their hobbies, what's going on for the weekend. Me, I spend about $800 a month in there and still I get asked how to spell "BB" when I place my order. Ugh.

But there's one especially nice gal who works there, and last week, when she thought I ordered a caramel drink of some sort, she gave me a quizzical look and said, "You usually get a drip."

Ah... step one: Remember my drink.

And yesterday the same gal greeted me with a warm smile and said, "Hey... YOU!"

Step two: Demonstrate that you recognize me, even with some tiny gesture.

Now I just need for them to associate my name with my face.

***

Incidentally, I go with BB instead of Brian while there because:

(A) When I've used Brian, they often think it's Ryan. Then they actually call for Ryan when my drink is ready, and I look around for this Ryan schmo to show up for his drink. When he doesn't, I steal it. Turns out he's got great taste in drinks.

(B) When they DO hear that it's Brian, inevitably there actually IS another Brian in there.

***

A lot of my peers at Tx Wesleyan have fallen into calling me BB, and that's cool with me. Brian, BB... whatever works. Not sure why they did, but you know, that's the beauty of a built-in nickname: You can't force it. If you could, I'd be "Knuckles" or something.

Okay, just joking.

But the successful nickname will manifest itself spontaneously.

And that concludes my thesis on nicknames.

***

Speaking of school... hoo boy, how long ago was it that I was all goo-goo eyed over Dr. Crook's wonderful professorly goodness? Today's class, which he insists on calling "stats on Saturday," was a beating. I still enjoy his antics, his examples, and his talent for pulling the students into a lecture and getting good participation out of them.

But really, I can't claim to ever enjoy a stats lecture. I guess Dr. C just keeps it from being the sort of experience that makes me want to claw my eyes out.

***

I got invited to Hooters last night. A client was having some sort of wing ding at the one in Grapevine and invited me to come along. I think I told her I had to wash my hair or something.

***

Had a fine lunch at some barbecue joint today, then hit the movie theater with the kids to see Curious George. Well, THEY saw it at least. I paid my $6 and promptly slept through most of the movie. I'm told the kids enjoyed it.

***

After that the girls napped while I surfed and THEBOY watched some TV. We taped an episode of Power Rangers, and that's got him all excited. You know, it's cheeseball and all, but it reminds me of Ultraman, which Whit and I loved so much as kids.

I must admit that in my five-odd (VERY odd--badoom!) years as a parent, no kids' TV show has genuinely gotten on my nerves. Not Barney, Elmo, Veggie Tales, Wiggles, Power Rangers. Nothing. I don't know what to make of that, really.

I do find it odd that THEBOY seems determined to sit through even the commercials on shows we've taped. Dude... they're advertising metal detectors and Franklin Mint commemorative Ben Franklin coins. Let's fast-forward.

***

The evening's been pretty uneventful. I did make a couple stabs at getting a babysitter so we could have a Valentine's date, but had no luck.

***

I'm pretty much ready to resume working out. I haven't done a thing since the race because I've been sick, and that's been frustrating. That was in mid-January. But my cough is just about gone, finally. Gotta start training for the Big D in April.

***

Tomorrow we'll head to Corsicana to get our taxes done. Keeping our fingers crossed for a nice return, lemme tell ya.

Have a good one.