The Jedi Restaurant Review

I thought this would be fun, and would enjoy comments from others, maybe I'll even start some controversy. Today's Review is a Mexican Restaurant called Uncle Julio's.

We had just picked up my parents from the airport and we all were ready to eat, starving in fact. Their plane had been delayed and so had our dinner plans. We thought Mexican food sounded good, mostly because you get to eat right away. Real Mexican places have free chips and salsa ready and available right when you sit down. So when you are so close to death from lack of food it's the perfect thing to eat. I remember seeing the new Uncle Julio's restaurant that was built in the old theater in Grapevine, and suggested we trying something new. We all agreed and began drooling.

We pulled up to the restaurant and noticed it was packed. We are not sure what's happening in the lives of people in Grapevine but I'm pretty sure no one ever eats at home. I saw under the "Julio" sign it said "Fine Mexican food" I'm not sure why some places say that. Is it just a staple for Mexican food? Are they trying to convince me that it's not bad but really good. why not say, "yeah burritos, taco, and fajitas what did you expect?" I'd eat at place like that.

We finally get a table and we are excited to start on the chips. Chips are an important part of the meal and their chips weren't bad. The staff kept us well stocked, which can be a problem for some places. The salsa on the other hand was a little brown. Actually we were wondering if the salsa had gone bad or something. It wasn't real spicy, kind watery, and not chunky. Texas Toad doesn't like chunky salsa but she realizes the important of it to be there for the full flavor, she happily picks around. Bad salsa was a bad omen. I was thinking in my mind we should leave and just get a burger or something. But I didn't want to spoil every one's time. We were miserable enough from having to wait so long to eat. We finish off two bowls of chips and were pleased. We made our orders and it took a bit but they were pretty busy so I can't fault them. There was a machine in the back that was pumping out tortillas. I was excited because on each of the entrees it said "... and warm tortillas" I liked that idea, if you haven't had a fresh tortilla with butter you probably live up north and don't know what good food is anyway :)

Our food arrived and it looked okay. I got a little combo plate. Taco, two cheese enchiladas, and a pork tamale. (yum tamale's) It came with rice and some beans (beans in a bowl on the side). I was ready to eat. We blessed the food and dove in face first. (okay maybe it was just me). The tamale wasn't good at all . Actually it was the worst tamale I had ever eaten. I used to grab tamales when I was reading meters from some of the nastiest places and still had never had a bad tamale. I have had some tamales I couldn't finish because it was too hot but never because it was bad. This tamale had too much wrapping and barely any pork, what pork was there I couldn't taste because the whole thing was dry. Ugh I wasn't happy. Rice was okay, but I'm pretty sure most rice is all the same, most people don't eat all the rice anyway. The taco was hard and it lacked flavor as well. I was really bummed out now. I ate them both though because I was hungry. I moved to cheese enchilada. It was loaded with onions. I thought back in my head and remember it was a cheese and onion enchilada. That was my fault I should have asked no onions. Shelly had gotten chicken enchilada's with cream sauce (her favorite) and it had onions in it and on it.

I ate one of them but it still wasn't that great, I moved to the beans, which my dad liked. They tasted like they were fresh from a can of Ranch Style Beans you get at the store. Bummer. We just kinda sat there ready for our check, and then it hit us. We didn't get any of those yummy tortillas. I'm sure we could have asked for them, but they were supposed to come with our meal. We were ready to leave anyway. Whoever built the place thought it would be a good idea to make all the walls flat and concrete. It was so loud in there. We all had to yell to converse. Overall this place wasn't good. I thought about the sign and decided they were trying to convince because word of mouth isn't too good for them. I noticed all the people sitting around they were really enjoying themselves. Which was weird cause they were eating all the same things we were. Then I saw it. Margaritas! When ever I ask people at work about a new Mexican food place, they always say food is good but the margaritas are even better. I don't judge a Mexican food place by their margaritas. My wife and I do not drink so it's kind of lost on us. We are there for the food. So I'm thinking that ol' Uncle Julio makes some good drinks, which people were enjoying. I came up with this solution in my head for why so many people were there.

They got Mexican food and margaritas. The margaritas came before their food and it impaired their judgement on the food. When they leave they remember how good the margaritas were but can't remember the food. SO they give it an A+ and bring their friends. Hence the full parking lot. It's not a fool proof solution, but it made me feel better until I got home.

I had never gone to a Mexican place and left still hungry. I stopped at sonic and we got some ice cream to enjoy because we didn't want our night to be ruined.

So My review is Skip Uncle Julio's, unless you like Margaritas, and then I'm assuming you won't remember the food anyway.

How many hungry Rancors do I give it?

1/5

Wait... How come this place was recommended to me by a church member?????

An update!!!

Good to see you how have you been?

Here's to catch you up in my absence.

I got word back from Dallas Baptist University on the credits I petitioned. I got 9 credits, 6 lower level credit and 3 upper level credits. The problem is I only needed the upper. So i will have to take 3 classes in the fall and then I can graduate in December. I was disappointed but in my writing I don't think I did as well as I could have.

Our new Dog Keira is house broken and is extremely hyper. She is a very sweet dog, she loves hugs.

MOVIES!!! I have see quite a few movies in past few months. Here's a Quite Jedi Movie review (may contain spoilers but by now you should know this stuff)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-

Hey Indiana, X-files called they want their plot line back. I mean come on aliens... ( oh excuse me interdimesional beings) Could we expect anything less from Spielberg, he has a thing for aliens. Oh and George Lucas please stop revamping your icons. we didn't like the new Star Wars movies and we don't like the new/ geriatric Indiana. This just made me want to watch all the old Jones movies. The CG was horrible. It made it look like a cartoon. The stunts were just outrageous and beyond belief and not in a good way. Shia was okay in the movie but swinging with the monkeys ugh I wanted to throw popcorn at the screen. okay I'm done on this one. If you want to see it great enjoy, but be prepared to be disappointed. I give it a 2/5 ( 1 is the lowest)

The Happening
Well I like M. Night's movies so this review will be a little biased. If you didn't like Lady in the Water you probably won't like this. For some people I have talked to they feel like it's a tree hugger movie (there's a pun if you have seen it.) Yeah it did have a "if we don't stop polluting we are going to kill ourselves" to it but I enjoyed it. The characters were weird and unconnected, the couple didn't even seem like a couple. I think this is one of Night's worst in the area of character development. But over all it's a little violent. But the violent seems to be in the right place. I bet with a few cuts he could have gotten a PG-13 I give it a 4/5.

Okay last one but this is a good one.

Iron Man

AWESOME!!!!

that's pretty much my review. I'm not a Iron Man fan, I have read the comic and wasn't interested in his character all that much. I like X-men and Batman more than anything. Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect cast for him and CG blended very well the everything. I only wish they would have done such a good job with my X-men as they did with Iron man. It reminded me of Spider-man on how well they tried to stay true to the comic. So I won't say too much other than you need to see this movie. 5/5

I'll try to do more detailed movie reviews from now on. I'll try to be a little better at it, Hope you enjoyed the Jedi Movie review. stay tuned.

oh and of course here's a few pics for the day...

I think this happens all over the country..

Yeah you are awesome!!!!

Who knew alligators were so agile?

If you haven't been rick rolled and you have never played an old dungeon crawler game then you probably won't get this...

I've been this depressed, he needs lobster!!!

An interesting conundrum....

If there is anything I can do for you just let me know

This statement is something that my wife and I have heard a lot of. I know I myself have said it to other people with honorable intentions. But do we really mean it?

I had a conversation with a teacher of mine who we had a great time of fellowship. I was still grieving over our miscarriage and his wife had a very sudden accident, she had slipped and hit her head, She was pretty banged up and many times he thought he could loose her. Head injuries are very serious. Thankfully, last I have heard she is doing well and recovering, her vision came back and she is more concerned about her hair for a Wedding that is coming up.

Anyway, we were talking about how we had both heard this statement about people saying "hey, if there's anything I can do for you just let me know". His thoughts on this idea was how empty it was. It reminded me of how people say "hey I'm praying for you" Do you actually pray for them? or do you just say that cause it's what you say in situations. I am guilty of this at times, and I now I am very cautious with it when I say it now. It's something we as Christians shouldn't take lightly. okay back on topic,

*Let me point out that I am not talking about anyone in particular and in my situation. This has been brought to my attention and I am guilty of it. So I'm kinda talking to myself. *

okay, So my teacher isn't the kind of guy who is just going to start ordering people around; do this for me and do that. He did have a girl, who was a friend of his daughter do something. One morning he had to take his wife in for another surgery which started at the crack of dawn. Well this girl decided that if their family is going to be up early, I need to do something for them. She went out and bought all sorts of pastries, donuts and big urn/type thing full of freshly made coffee, with an assortments of creams and sugar and brought it to their house before they would leave. My teacher was touched. It turned out he didn't need all of that and the girl said take it to the hospital I'm sure there are others there who could use a snack or the coffee. My teacher did end up needing the coffee though.

As my teacher and I shared our stories we found that when people have troubles and situations we need to act. I don't doubt that the people who said this to me weren't sincere, I'm sure if i had asked anyone in my church to do anything for me they probably would. I think though it would be easier on the person for us to go to them and find something they need and do it, or give examples of what we can do for them so they don't have to feel like they are taking advantage of you.

I think we also should let people be a blessing to us. We should never hinder some one who feels led by the Lord to provide something for us. Maybe you don't mind mowing your lawn and it helps you to get your mind off of things, but if some one asks I think we should be willing to let them help us.

Anyway I felt like blogging on this topic because it has taught me to look at things differently now. Maybe it has opened up some minds of others, or maybe I have offended everyone who reads my blog??? Guess we will see what is said in the comments, let me know what you think!

The Loss of our Third Child

Some of you may already know that we have lost our third child in a miscarriage. I want to share something with you that helped me deal with our second. I blogged about it before in an old post, if you want to read it. I'm going to paste it below because it says everything already of how I feel. Below is the video that I saw that help me understand what our reaction as Christians should be. The music isn't what I like nor the pictures but I was unable to just get the sermon. John Piper does a small piece on the "health and wealth gospel". He shows us in his sermon how we should react as Christians. When you heard about our news, what was your reaction? Was it, "Oh God NO!! not again!!" or was it "God is Glorious"?


My reaction was in tears and I reminded myself that God is Good.


During this time I am praying for anyone who has no hope or doesn't understand why. God is sovereign in all things. Nothing happens by chance. There are no random encounters in this life everything has a purpose.





"God is enough"

If you haven't read my wife's blog I would suggest reading it here first. If you didn't read then I'll sum it up. I'll do the very short version because it's long and I'm not that great of a writer. We lost our second child. We were pregnant for a very short time and then it was gone. I wish I could say that it was easier this time but it wasn't. It grieves my heart. I have been upset on and off all week. I still get emotional. I'm sure by the time I finish this my eyes will be tearful. I know that there's not much I can do about a miscarriage. There are some medical things that can be done to help hold a pregnancy but the decision is still in God's hands.

Who am I to question the creator in his sovereignty?

"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it,
What are you making?'
or Your work has no handles?" Isaiah 45:9

I have no place to question an Almighty God. I can only examine my life, rid it of sin and continue worshiping a Gracious and Loving God. The one thing I do have control of is my reaction. Do I glorify Him, or curse Him for the sorrow and pain? My only example is Job and this was his reaction when he lost his business and his children.

"And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. " Job 1:21-22

God is good. He has given me so much. He has given me a home, a job, and Godly wife. He has chosen at this time to not bless me with children. I accept that. I can say God is enough, the following is from a sermon from John Piper. I want this to be my prayer and the desire of my heart regardless of what happens in the future.

God is enough.
He is good;
He will take care of us;
He will satisfy us;
He will get us through this.
He is our Treasure;
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And on Earth there is nothing that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail
but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him in the midst of loss,
not prosperity."

So I say to anyone who feels sorry for us, God is enough and we are satisfied in Him.

Fun Star Wars Pictures

Here is a few to keep you laughing. I'm working on another post so this will have hold you for a bit.

It's dangerous to pick up hamsters...

Love this one, evidently this little girl is tattle telling on her parents to the authorities.

I think there is some sort of struggle in the squirrel world we are not aware of. Too bad they didn't get video of this exciting battle. The two on the right are engaging on another while the third on the left is using his force power to push the "evil" squirrel back. Pretty intense.

what comes to your mind when you see this?

I found this comic a few days ago and it has stuck in my mind. If people (meaning evolutionist/atheist) feel this way, why do they care so much that us "weirdos" want to believe in God. Look to them the end result is the same. To the Christian this picture doesn't even come close to representing what we believe.

I went to a Answers in Genesis Conference a few weeks back, and I am glad I did. At first I didn't really care about going, because hey I know God created the world. I don't need them to tell me that. What they showed me is how much science actually reflects that there is a Creator. It was a blessing to me. The biggest impact on me was that these evolutionist aren't being guided to evolution based on facts. They hated/avoided/denied God before they even had "facts". It's a heart problem. They follow evolution to give them an excuse or reason to not follow God and unfortunately they are convincing a ton of people in our country with bad science.

I would encourage anyone to get some more information and talk with their children about this issue. Here are a few websites that might be handy. Answersingenesis.com, answers101.com , str.org, and creationontheweb.com

But really what did you think when you read this comic? does this reflect how you feel?

Marathon (this is a little over due sorry)

Yay!! I did it I ran the (okay so there was a lot walking toward the end) Marathon.

Here's me before the race with Shelly eating my last minute banana for the race.

Here is all the guys who ran. Keith and his brother ran the Half-Marathon(13.1 miles) Mr. Baker and I ran the Marathon (26.2 miles)

Here's us waiting and still trying to figure out if we are in the right spot.

Shelly hollered at me to turn for a picture right about when the guy said GO!!! this is the result.

So we were off, I felt pretty good. We made a mistake and ran a little too fast early on, but we held out for about six miles. Here Shelly can see me coming.

At the first stop Shelly had some sport jelly beans and Gatorade. It was good. This is right about when we got to her.

From here I didn't see Shelly for another 10 miles, which was a little too long for me to go with out food. I could have easily made it to 16 miles and stopped and been fine but at 16 miles I was out of food and energy, I did get a few bites of a snickers bar along the way. I only grabbed a few pieces because i didn't want to seem like a greedy pig. Mr. Baker was not with me at the time he had to stop for the bathroom and was going to catch up. Once he caught up he told me he grabbed handfuls and had been eating them catching up to me. Guess I should have played the pig...

During this time we were coming up to the course where it would double back and all the really good runners were heading back to the finish line. What I thought was awesome was they all cheered for me as went back. They were heading back in on about mile 20 or so and I was heading in after about 12 miles or so. Running is such a cool sport because everyone cheers for everyone. I was so encouraged by them to keep on because now I felt that if I didn't finish I'd let them all down as well.

Here is us at about mile 16, I was beat very tired and had no energy.


Once I saw Shelly I was much more energized (mostly cause I didn't want her to catch me walking cause I was dying), but more than that because I love seeing her and she was really worried about me. She had my banana and a full throttle ready for me. I slowed a little and kept on going, Mr. Baker on the other hand stopped, gave the report on how we were doing and I think got a peanut butter sandwich??? He caught up with me later. I wasn't going to have a full throttle, I was going to save it for like mile 20 or so, just in case. Boy was I wrong I needed it right then and it hit the spot I was able to keep going another 2 miles or so and then the worse part happened to me.

I pulled a muscle in my calf. We are not real sure what caused it. It could have been not enough stretching at the beginning, lack of water and salt for 6 miles on a day that was warming up, could have been too many hills (I didn't train real hard on hills). It hit me hard, it knotted and wouldn't go away. I was really thankful for Mr. Baker being there. He helped me stretch it out and showed me the proper ways of doing it. I later found out from him that he thought I wouldn't have made it after that. It was my first marathon and training hadn't gone the way I'd have liked it to. And now a leg cramp, I still had about 8 miles or so to go. I was determined to finish and kept going.

I ran into a couple who were trudging along and he gave me some salt pills and a Gatorade, it did help but it was already too late the damage was done. So for the next 8 miles or so I had to stop and stretch it out and knead the muscles loose to continue. It ruined my time, although I was already slipping behind before that happened but now it was really dragging.

Here we see two men running,(mile 22) one who feels great and is jumping around the other looks like they are about to collapse. I had 4.6 miles to go after this. I was also in the need of a bathroom (clean bathroom) Thankfully around the bend the Lord provided. More stretching and I was off.

Here we are at about mile 24. We had a little walking but the past mile and a half I ran without having to stop and stretch, things were looking up, but after about mile 20 you are pretty much running on mind alone. Your body will spend all of it's energy after this point, it becomes a mental battle. You eat and drink not because it does anything for you but because you think it does something for you. I got to see my biggest cheering section at this point. My dad was able to locate me along with the Pallers from our church with everyone else who had already ran. The kids had made signs and I was touched.

Due to some traffic problems Shelly didn't get to get the picture of me running across the finish line. But I did it. I got my medal and a congrats for finishing from some lady who worked there, then it hit me horrible pain was shooting up through my now worn out and severely cramping calf and my legs as well. I tried stretching but it wasn't doing much good. If I hadn't have been so happy finishing I probably would have fallen down crying in pain. Everyone was there at the end. It was a great time.

This is the shirt I got for finishing, it is a really nice running shirt I was surprised at the quality of the material.

After the race I truly learned why Friends Don't Let Friends Run Marathons. Although Keith wants to run one with me now... So I guess we aren't friends?

oh well, I look forward to exercising and burning off more fat in the future. Training and running this marathon has taught me a lot about what the human body can do and endure.

Again let me apologize for not posting sooner.

And thanks to all of those who supported me!!!