What are the 5 best decisions you've made...?

5) Joining the Army after a year at Rice, since I really didn't know what I was doing, yet, but knew I wanted to grow up...and grow up in more diversity. This reminds me of a regret. Leaving the Army to return to Rice rather they taking General Biggs up on his offer to get me into Army Intelligence starting with Fort Ord's Language school. I could be Yao Ming's interpreter right now, *sigh*

4) Treating Rick Bayless as a prophet and believing every word he has ever said or written.

3) Buying a smoker and believing Pole and Behad when they said that Smoke is your enemy.

2) Combining what Rick Bayless, Pole and Behad said with a big secret inspired by philosophies of Joy of Cooking to produce smoked things from the gods.

1) Getting married...and without those last 3 things on the list, who knows if her decision would have been "yes."

 

I make better cheese enchiladas than Rick Bayless.

I'll take him on ANY day of the week.

Granted, each one shortens your life by a few months, but hey......it's the last few months!

 

So get this heyP,

We get a call a couple of weeks ago from an old friend whom we have not seen in about 3 years. She says she wants to come visit. Sure, great, what day is convenient? We all decide Sunday the 20th works for all of us. Then she says "You're gonna cook a brisket, right?" Sure, I say, I'd love to. So plans are made, other guest are invited, and a small party is planned for beer and brisket Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday my sister calls me and says "I have four tickets to the game Sunday if you want them." These are the lawyer's seats, lower prom, beautiful view. Damn. "I have plans, sorry, I can't go," I tell her. She gives them to someone else.

Now Ming is in town, he's gonna be at the game, and I'm just not going to enjoy my food tomorrow night.

So to be on topic, passing up those tickets was NOT a good decision.

 

damn, Behad, that's depressing. I hope it doesn't rain. Also, I didn't realize we have a game tomorrow? Ming's going to play??

Pole,

Just curious, not to say it is the best way to make cheese enchilidas or not, but do you flash fry the tortillas in red paste and oil, first. Or have you ever tried that? It is regarded as the Mexico City Street Vendor method. It's super quick way to make them, and boy is that bad for you.

I have some ancho paste I keep around for the occassion, store in the frig for months and freezer, indefinitely.

 

You mean you didn't check the Rockets forum first?

It would be mean to make Yao play.

 

This is hard. I've had such an easy life that I haven't really had that many tough decisions. Here goes though.

5. Getting on that plane to San Francisco. My junior year, my Dad quit his job in Houston and started his own business in Aptos, California. My mom stayed behind in Katy to sell the house, but I was forced to go with my Dad since my mom and I were at each other's throats constantly. I came back in October for homecoming and refused to go back, I hated it so much. Finally, I relented and went back. I loved it from there on out Unfortunately, my Dad's business didn't work out and I had to move to Chicago with them for the rest of my junior year around Christmas. However, that was the first time I really had anything happen to me that forced me to learn how to deal with "adversity".

4. Not having a cigarette after Katy defeated Westbrook at the Dome in the 1994 playoffs. My best friend at the time did, was seen by one of the coaches at Katy, and was consequently kicked off the team. It was his second strike after we were both busted with alcohol at an earlier football game. As I lobbied on his behalf to our coach, he told me he wanted to kick me off too, but the coach said I wasn't smoking, so he didn't. My friend turned out to be pretty much a loser the rest of the year as I turned my **** around, made good grades, and played a significant role on Katy's first ever District Title.

3. Picking SWT over UT. I've always been good at school, but I never tried either. I could've easily gradutated top 10 in high school, but I never tried. Growing up a huge Baylor fan, my parents didn't want to pay for Baylor if I wasn't going to try, so I had to decide between UT and SWT. I got into both, toured both, and picked SWT because of this program called the Residential College where you attended all the basic classes (history, english, poli sci, etc.) with people in your dorm...or at least had the same professor. We even had some of our profs that lived in the dorms with us. It really helped you get a grip on studying and the college workload.

2. Going to Waco to watch Monday Night Football with my friend Corey. That's where I met RM95's Girl.

1. Quitting my law firm job and working at Swirve with Major. Not only is my job fun-I mean how awesome is it that I get paid to answer e-mails, write movie reviews, and do power rankings for sports?-but I'm working for one of my best and closest friends. No matter how long this lasts, it's easily been my best decision.

 

I can't really think of 5, but I can think of 3...

3. Leaving Tennessee Tech after my first semester and transferring to Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). I only went to Tech after high school because I thought I wanted to major in engineering; however, I hated it and hated Tech. Once I transferred to MTSU, things went so much better. I was around some of my closest friends, was closer to home, and had better professors in my classes. My only regret was that I wasn't more active in things like going to parties, talking to girls in classes that I had, etc.

2. Quitting my job at the local credit union after 2 years. At first, this was a disaster because the job I took after quitting the credit union was one in which I fell flat on my face. How bad was it?? Try after one week, I already turned in my resignation. Unfortunately, it was around November 1999 when I started looking for a job & there was nothing around the small town I live in at that time of year. I really got depressed and prayed as hard as I ever had to God to get me through this time. Finally, in mid January of 2000 I got a call from a guy who was working for my present company. It took a month to get hired there, but I have been there now for over 2 and a half years. Sure there is lots of down time and sometimes I feel guilty for getting paid to do nothing but when a job comes up that makes it all the more rewarding. It doesn't hurt that I work with really good people, the company is very well thought of, and my salary went from below $20k as a loan officer at the local credit union (I have a college degree and almost a master's when I quit there) to making almost $37k a year. Yea, it is nothing like some people might be making but it is a very good salary for me, so I am not complaining. They'll have to drag me away from that place, as I am not going anywhere.

1. Ending a relationship with this one woman. The last serious relationship I was in was with this woman who was like 25 but divorced with 2 kids, ages 7 and 3. We had gotten to know each other through work and were already good friends before going out. Now granted I don't get out much, but dayum did she move fast! I established a number of firsts with her (first woman that I spent the night with among other things) but we were able to control ourselves somewhat in not going all the way although it was getting harder and harder. The funny thing is that I thought I would never be attracted to her because she was significantly overweight; however, the first time she touched me, my body didn't turn her down. Well, there were all kinds of problems with this relationship. Her parents never liked me (they were friendly to me but they wished she would go out with someone else) because I wasn't Nazarene and didn't have experience in helping to raise kids. My parents didn't like her because of the kids. Her ex-husband was causing trouble with her youngest, her son, and tried to get him to turn on her and me. But the biggest reason for me wanting out of that relationship was her 3 year old son. This kid was the kid from Hell. She absolutely had no control over him...he did whatever the hell he wanted & it drove me f*cking crazy. The funny thing is that I became close with her daughter, but I just couldn't handle that little boy. There is no question that she would have married me if I had asked her to, but thank God, I realized all those other problems. So, I ended it. She was of course heartbroken (who wouldn't be? ), but lol, a month later she started dating this older guy (he was like in his 40s and had been married twice - he was also the guy that her parents wanted her to date). It pissed me off when I found out that they were getting married like 3 months later! However, she got what she wanted - someone to help her raise her kids. I am just thankful that I am not her husband. We have remained friends, but obviously, we are not as close as we were, even before we started dating.

 

BK,

Didn't you find God a few months back? I was expecting that to be on your list for sure.


As for me, I have way too many regrets, and can only think of two major decisions:

2. Not taking up smoking. I have never smoked and have no plans to ever start.

1. Deciding to join the Armed Forces. I have an application in process, and won't hear anything back until when the selection board meets after Christmas. At least now my life has some direction, though.

 

5. Accepting alternative methods.

This would encompass things like becoming a vegetarian and trying alternative healthcare. When I was in my early 20's, I had a back injury that was so bad, every doctor I saw said I either needed surgery or should just buy a wheelchair because I was destined to need one. I was barely able to walk for almost a year. Even though I was TOTALLY skeptical, I went to a very unique massage therapist at the suggestion of my mother. Within 8 months, I defied all the doctors and was feeling well again. Since then, I have been to the doctor, but I've been to alternative practitioners more and even earned my licence in massage therapy. Being a vegetarian caused me to lose weight and feel MUCH better. Just choosing those things made a significant difference.

4. Buying my house.

Sounds like just something people do but it really did alter my perception of the world. It was the first real HOME I've had since I was a kid and the first place I could truly call home and feel comfortable. That is really important to me.

3. Working for myself.

I realized quite a while back that I'm not good working for bosses. Working WITH people, I'm good. Working FOR them, not so good. It hasn't even mattered what I've done even though web development is my favorite so far. What has been most important is the combination of freedom AND responisibility it has given me. It's a good combination.

2. Becoming a musician.

Without a doubt, becoming a musician is the choice that had the single most influence on my personality and the way I express myself. From playing professionally to just sitting and practicing for hours and hours at a time, there has been nothing in my life that has required the same level of dedication for the same length of time. It also opened me up to all new cultures, ideas and people without my even realizing it. It helped me to learn open mindedness because the gigs weren't always great and neither were the other musicians. Above all, it taught me creativity and self expression in a way that I hadn't really known before that.

1. Getting married to Mrs JB.

This is easily the most important and best decision I ever made. Not only has she taught me more than any single person ever has just through her presence and the way she is, but it has taught me the importance of not caring about the opinions of society at large. Valuing who we are as humans is something that I learned just from being in the relationship with her and valuing life in general is maybe the greatest single thing I've learned from anyone and it came from her. Just making the decision to get married in the first place was huge because of the implication of growing up. It hasn't always been easy but it has always been worth it.

 

I've only made one real good decision and that was giving up soft drinks for water. I feel like I made a real good decision. But other than that, I haven't had to make any real decisions. I mean, I strive for good grades and I don't do drugs, but in my situation I've never had to make a decision for choosing those, like with someone asking me to do drugs. I will say I had a pretty good life

Oh yeah, I'm happy I chose a PS2 instead of an XBOX. XBOX's are cool and all, but I got lucky because all my favorites are on PS2. But that doesn't really count.

However, I hope to make many GOOD decisions later in my life, or perhaps find out something I'm doing now will pay off for something. But until then...nothing.

Woof.

 

I've made a ton of bad decisions..only a few good ones.

1) Getting married. For years I would up and run if a girl even said the "M" word around me.. but when the question came up this time..I felt somewhat less inclined to run. It has been great to finally settle down and not spend nites apon nites running from one relationship to another and from one party to te next..I guess I was lookin for something that I wasnt aware of and looking in all the wrong places..

2) Switch careers..I got a degree as a auto tech straight outta HS, and didnt realize for a few years how much I hated working on other ppl's cars and working for other ppl..They were making well over half of my flat rate, while I was the one that got the irritation and cuts and scrapes and burns.. I decided back in 95 that computers looked like fun, and got someone to show me the basics..Now I am 3 classes away from my degree as an network admin and lookin forward to getting out in the field next year and making some *real* money..so I can afford season tickets!

3) Having a child.. She can be a real hassle sometimes, but none of it matters when your kid gives you the big hugs and kisses and tells you they love you. There really is no better feeling...If you have kids, you understand what Im tryin to say..if you dont..you wont.

Those are the only good decisions I have made...lets not discuss the bad ones..I would be embarassed at all the stupid **** I have done..

 

5. Going to Texas A&M instead of a smaller school on a soccer scholarship.

I could have gone somehwere to play soccer, but it would have more than likely taken me to a much smaller school that probably wouldn't have offered as wide array of classes as A&M; plus, it would have required me to devote a large amount of my time to athletics at the expense of my education. I was brought up an Aggie, so it's not surprising that A&M was the only school that I applied.


4. Making the decision to stay away from alcohol.

I've struggled with this decision for a long time, and in the end, there's no denying it has had a negative effect on my social life. However, had I begun drinking in high school and throughout college I know I would have never met my goals of graduating college in four years and doing it with honors. It's ridiculous how big of an effect something as stupid as drinking can have on a person's life. The amount of time that people spend obsessing over alcohol - talking about it, thinking about it, getting drunk off of it - has only increased my distaste for the whole thing.


3. Deciding to major in Computer Science.

Choosing a major is obviously something that had a huge effect on my future. I could've taken an easier road and gotten in a degree in a different area, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much, nor would I have the same amount of opportunities I had open to me coming out of college. Getting my degree is definitely the achievement I'm most proud of.


2. Taking a job in the DC area, rather than staying in Texas after college.

By far the biggest decision I've made! After living a pretty sheltered life for the first 21 or so years, I thought it was something that I needed to do. It's allowed me to grow and experience "real life" without relying on my parents for everything. And there are times I miss my family so badly it hurts, but then I think of some of my friends who are still in limbo after graduating from college...living with their parents and working arbitrary jobs that have nothing to do with their major. To me that's just wasting time, and just like the cliche says, life is too short! Lastly, I just like living here more than I would living in Houston or Dallas. That may change eventually, but for now I'm happy where I am.


1. Still haven't gotten to this decision yet, so for now I'll just offer my <i>fantasy decision</i> that has yet to be made............. should I ask Katie Holmes to marry me, or just ask her to move in? Hmmmmm.....now that's a tough one.

nice thread, BTW. sorry if I rambled.

 

5. When I decided to live a healthier lifestyle. It caused me to give up cigarettes, stay away from alcohol (my wife and I split a beer every once in a long while. Funny how half a beer every few months can make you kind of drunk). It's a good decision to never drive after drinking alcohol, certainly. It's a better decision to just not drink much of it altogether. Those are all good decisions I've made. Deciding to live a healthier lifestyle also caused me to eat a good diet for me. first I cut out soft drinks and artificial stuff and stuck with water and watered down fruit juices. I decided to not eat fast food anymore and put healthy foods into my body. I decided to exercise and be in good physical condition. Those were all good decisions for me.

4. Maybe this fits under #5, also. I decided that I would rather do good than bad. This seems like an easy decision to make, but when you really get right down to it, this affects every decision you make throughout the course of a day, so it gets tough for me at times. It makes me decide to try and control my bad temper. It affects everything in which I do, really. Sometimes I even forget that I've made this decision and realize I'm doing the wrong thing. It can get really dificult as I'm sure you're all aware...well, some.

3. I decided that monetary/material wealth didn't matter to me as much as more spiritual things like family and friends, nature, love, God and the Rockets .

2. Getting married. My parents split up when I was 5 and I always wanted to have a family. My wife is a great mother to my two daughters and I like being a father and husband.

1. Having my two children. My daughters are wonderful and precious. I'm glad we didn't listen to the parent who urged abortion because we "didn't have enough money for a child." I'm glad I made the decision to get a teaching job. It pays the bills and is very rewarding. I'm glad I decided to buy the house I did. It's small, but is surrounded by plants and trees and the kids like it.

 

5. Working for Spring Creek Pools during my summer college years.

I never would have appreciated the value of working hard. And I do mean hard. A skinny white boy digging swimming pools trying not to be outworked by fellow employees was difficult enough as it was.... Doing it with a heat index of 108 degrees in Houston, TX was tough. I learned alot about myself during those years.

4. Deciding to play bass guitar.

I never took a lesson. I never knew where G, D, and C were. All I did was listen to what was being played and went from there. They say that having an ear for music is a gift, and Im damn glad that I have that. Recently I have switched to guitar, but my first love will always be bass.

3. Deciding NOT to transfer from Texas Tech to UT in December of 1996.

I had always wanted to go to UT out of high school, but my grades were never good enough. The advertising and communications department is the best in the state, and I really was ready to get out of Lubbock. I kicked ass and made a 3.6 2 semesters in a row and got accepted to UT 10 days before Spring 1997 semester started. I found a few places to live, signed up for classes, and drove back to Houston. On the way back I got a speeding ticket AND a flat tire. Signs? Possibly. I decided it would not be the best thing, went back to Lubbock, joined a sucessful band with one of my best friends, and had the best 2 1/2 years of my college life.

2. Buying a new car last May.

I had struggled through several lemons. (Ok this was before I knew I was going to be canned). Im gaining some much needed
equity.......

1. Moving to Austin in May of 1999.

I had always wanted to live here, and since I didnt attend UT, I thought this would be a good move. It was a GREAT decision. My best friends live here, I got to meet cool CCN members like RM95, Major, Rockets Pimp, and The Freak. Who could ask for anything more than a laid back, kick ass town for musicians?

 

this just struck me as funny , . . . coming from someone with
the nick RC COLA!

Rocket River

 

sorry HP; I've been "indisposed."

I don't use the paste, but I do flash fry the tortillas. My gravy has quite a bit of ground anchos in it though.


still thinking about those best decisions.

number 1 would have to be marrying my wife

number 2 would have to be giving in to my love of computers and making a life out of it.

number 3 would be stopping all of the partying and graduating from school.

4 and 5.....I'll have to get back with you on that.

 

5) Deciding I wanted a Corvette

And getting one. I love my 1984 Vette. Lots of fun to drive, lots of fun to put money into it (when i get some money ) and lots of fun with the ladies .

4) Deciding to try harder in my senior year on grades.

From my freshman year to my junior year, i really slacked off, not studying, not doing my homework, etc. In grade 12 (last year) i decided i'd try to get an 80% average (compared to my previous years average of 68%)...so i studies more than before, did most of my homework, and got 82% average . Now i'm in a community college deciding what to do...and now i've got the grades to get into University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, or explore other options south of the border.

3) Begging my Dad for seasons tickets when the Grizzlies were here in Vancouver.

This REALLY got me into basketball, before the Grizzlies, i would probably watch 2 season games a year and 5 playoff games...now i watch THEM ALL and follow all the stats and everything. The Grizzlies were alot of fun to watch, sure they sucked, but this was the thing that put me over the edge in my love for basketball.

2) Switching from Skis to a Snowboard

Did this about 2 years ago, i still ski 1 or 2 times a year...but the rest of my time on the mountain (around 25 times a year) was spent snowboardin. I loved skiing and all that stuff...but snowboarding is just simply more fun. More tricks available (though some skiers are crazy with what they do). I love doin rails, huge air grabs, and this year gonna pull of a backflip, 540, and maybe a bit more...we'll see.

1) Being serious about my Relationship with God

This is probably the best decision i've made. Sure i'm not perfect, and i'm fine with that, and so is God (fine with that). But he accepts my problems as they come. I can't explain how much this has helped me. Well, lets just say God saved my life - and that i feel a lot happier when I spend time with him.