Happy Birthday
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Let me tell you a little story about the time when Kendal and I thought that it was our good friend Jackie's birthday.
It all started with Arlene, my girlfriend (depending on how things turn out with her other boyfriends), inviting us to a "birthday" party for Jackie. We were pretty excited about this and started brainstorming how we could make this birthday of hers extra special. Kendal, naturally, thought it would be a great idea if he baked her a cake. He was pretty excited about finally getting his traveling cake pan back from Camile just a day earlier and was hoping for the opportunity to use it again. As you can see, things were falling into place nicely. The only exception being that I didn’t have a role in the project. Kendal understood my hesitation though, and suggested that I draw up a little rendering of Jax on the cake with some icing. This was a good idea, so I accepted the responsibility and we began to work. Him baking, and me looking for pictures of Jax on the internet.
Here was the result...(the cake is on the right)
Then the unthinkable happened while trying to sneak the cake into Ozona’s. I was focused on maintaining a low profile and I forgot about how delicate freshly baked cakes are. While carrying the traveling cake pan vertically like a briefcase this happened…
Labels: ben
posted by benbox @ 4:44 PM,
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The Day the Vulture Died
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
This one time, I went bird hunting with this guy, and he was a little blood-thirsty/trigger happy. We were hunting for dove, which look like this:
But this guy either didn't seem to care what we were hunting for -or- can't see real well because he shot one of these:
As you probably guessed, this guy was and is the Box.
My favorite part of this was that he was sitting in a lawn chair in the front yard drinking a cold one, when he blasted the innocent victim from the sky without getting up, let out a nice chuckle, and didn't even bother to get up from his chair to skope out the carcass that landed 40 ft in front of him.
A Vulture!? Is that even legal, you ask? No, no it is not.
Labels: kendal
posted by Kendal @ 11:38 AM,
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iPhone
Monday, September 17, 2007
I had it less than a week...
At least I didn't lose it...right?
Labels: ben
posted by benbox @ 10:17 AM,
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Melee at All Saints
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
(We have had many crazy things happen out here including fights and people getting kicked off the job weekly for one reason or another, but this is different because Herman is involved.)
Remember the blog about my co-workers when I said that Herman (the head superintendent) was surprisingly bad at dealing with people? Well, this morning he gave me another example of how absurd he is.
We have been having a lot of problems with our steel out on the job. Our sub is American Steel and they do all of the shop drawings, engineering, and purchasing of the steel. They sub out the labor to Azteca though, and Azteca are the iron workers who are actually on our job. This is how it usually works from what I understand, but it is a terrible way to get things done efficiently. Anyway, our biggest problem throughout this job has been with American Steel because they are awful at what they do. They never draw anything correctly, they never have our steel out here on time, and half the time they send us the wrong stuff. Even though Azteca doesn’t work directly for us, they are our erectors and most of our anger comes out on them even though it isn't their fault... and this is not good. These guys are not people that you want to mess with because they are all union guys, and they are all crazy. So, the back story is that these guys are nuts, they do a pretty good job with their given situation, and Herman treats them like dirt.
This morning, after a long meeting where nothing got accomplished except some good name calling (I'm not joking about that either, these men actually talk trash and call each other names during meetings...wtf?) the iron workers go outside and break a couple safety rules. This is not that unusual, but Herman hears Jerry call them out on the radio and he decides he needs to go talk to them himself. I like to eavesdrop on the radio as well, and when I see Herman storm by my office I can't help but follow him to the elevator.
When we get out there Herman immediately starts yelling for Leo, his field assistant, to find out where these "punks" are. I can't give you a line by line on what went down, but Herman made it known he wasn't happy with them and they let Herman know they were in a Union and could do what they wanted. Herman got in their face and yelled at them, and they yelled back at Herman. Herman was cussing and put his finger in this one guy's face, and they were cussing and starting to kind of surround him. Then the unthinkable happened...Herman went on the attack. He did one of those push punches to one guy's face and got a decent shove on another before several people jumped in to break it up (Herman is about 400 pounds and I was impressed with his agility). My instincts were to actually take a couple steps back as this unfolded instead of trying to break it up, and I am happy with that decision. It all happened pretty quick, but it was very intense. There are about 300 laborers on our job site right now, and it seemed like everyone was watching this go down.
Needless to say, we now have a major problem out here at Baylor All Saints. Not only are we behind schedule big time, but now our iron workers are gone for who knows how long. They left after the combat and only a few came back with some union reps. I am currently taking bets on whether we get picketed by the Iron Workers Union or Herman gets fired, with a side bet of whether any weapons get brought to the job site tomorrow.
Labels: ben
posted by benbox @ 3:33 PM,
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Baring It All...Or At Least Too Much
Friday, August 31, 2007
I don't know if this picture makes it easier or harder to pray for this girl. She wore this recently to court for a custody battle to get her kids.
I'm not sure what's up with the random posting of pics, but I just couldn't not post this.Labels: kendal
posted by Kendal @ 9:56 AM,
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Can I Have Your Digits?
Monday, August 27, 2007
The other day I drove to the bank to make a deposit for work. I went around to the drive through and used the commercial lane, which is right up against the side of the bank building. I gave the teller the checks and deposit slip and waited for the receipt. Not only did I get back my receipt, but I also got a lovely note from Teresa...
Dearest Teresa,How desperate do you think I am!? Even if I was just really shallow, I do not even know what you look like. Is this truly the way the rest of the world operates!?
Sincerely Yours,
Kendal
Labels: kendal
posted by Kendal @ 9:01 AM,
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What Does That Stand For?
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Acronyms are all around us. There are an estimated 3 million commonly accepted acronyms, and there is even an acronym dictionary. Did you know the longest acronym is ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC, a United States Navy term that stands for "Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command." The world's longest initialism (slightly different than an acronym), according to the Guinness Book of World Records is NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMON
KONOTDTEKHSTROMONT. The 56-letter initialism is from the Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology and means "The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR." Awesome!
KONOTDTEKHSTROMONT. The 56-letter initialism is from the Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology and means "The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR." Awesome!
All that to say, last night The Box and I had the privilege of hanging out with some fine ladies, and I do mean fine. I highly encourage you to check out their in-desperate-need-of-a-new-template blog here. Somehow conversation eventually winded around towards the fine products of a certain Yogurt shop (A few of the ladies were somewhat obsessed with the comfort that the milky-smooth goodness of TCBY provided).
"What does that stand for?," someone asked. "The Country's Best Yogurt," Brittain so confidently exclaimed. "Really?," I questioned back. "I thought it stood for This Can't Be Yogurt!" Brittain then proceeded to laugh in my face as she assured me, "I should know, I have been going there every day since the 2nd grade." A quick table-wide debate ensued, during which, everyone seemed to think I was an idiot. LC then chimed in, "I think TCBY was started in Arkansas (where she grew up and her parents still live), let's call and ask my Dad." I thought this sounded like a great idea, so we quickly got him on the line. I made some small talk with Reggie and then got the complete history of the TCBY franchise in under 3 minutes. I take back all the nasty things I have ever said about the people of Arkansas because Reggie is a first-class individual.
Here is what I learned from Reggie, which was later confirmed by Wikipedia: The franchise was originally named This Can't Be Yogurt!, was later sued, and then changed its name to The Country's Best Yogurt. Oh the Glory! It is alright Brittain, I accept your apology. Reggie, you are a gentleman and a scholar.
Labels: kendal
posted by Kendal @ 3:51 PM,
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The Authors
Kendal Haug
Kendal is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin and most recently earned his Masters in Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. He works for Bible.org and likes to think he knows how to play the guitar. His man-crushes include, but are not limited to: Ryan Adams, Donald Miller, Ray LaMontagne, Neil Young, Vince Young, and of course The Box.
Ben Box
Box, is a recent graduate of Texas A&M University and currently works for Medco Construction building hospitals and being important. Ben loves paying lots of money on broken down Jeeps and has a propensity for getting Kendal into trouble.
About This Blog
This is a multi-author blog devoted to the happenings of two bachelors living it up in Big D. We will record the daily nonsense that occurs when 2 life-long friends live together in the same apartment and have no shame, sense of fashion, or chance of meeting a girl in the next 10 years.
A Word on Comments
Ben and Kendal both highly encourage your comments. They look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights. No matter how harsh the criticism or if you just want to give them a good ole pat on the back and say "Way to Go!" or "Ha! That was a funny story!" or "That Ben sure does crack me up." And if you have a request of something you would like to see Ben and Kendal do or write about, let them know.
Disclaimer
Ben and Kendal are in no way responsible for stories that may worry, upset, or lead their parents to altogether disown them.
