Ive been procrastinating about doing this for at least 2 months but I finally did it. I put my car on EBAY! FEEL FREE TO CHECK IT OUT!!!

It’s a 2007 GMC DENALI. i think its listed as “big al’s 2007 GMC denali”

 

And whoever buys it, I’ll even throw in a t-shirt… what a deal. The deal is, we are lucky enough to get beautiful cars to drive from SAM PACK FORD, as a part of the endorsement deal. So, that left me with a year old car that I don’t really need. Its really nice and I think im selling it a little below retail just to get rid of it. So help a brotha out and buy my car!

 

Friday, went to 5 different clubs with redneck steve, pretty much struck out with every chick we saw! Young ones old ones, it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t like we were trying to hook up. But we make conversation with people. That’s just what we do! So when we try to “get our friendly on” and its not reciprocated, it’s a little disheartening. But really, why go out to public places if you’re not going to talk to the public? If you want to be all rude and stuck up and keep to yourself, STAY HOME! Could it be that the females in question just didn’t want to talk to US? NAAAAA!!!! That’s not possible! J

 

Saturday went to a birthday party with the intention of just staying for an hour or so and ended up in the limo and driving another 30 minutes away going to the most hick, country bar ever! I think the group wanted to just show me this place and how the other half live. I was ready to go but the group wasn’t and we were so far out, steve didn’t want the limo to take off so I just started asking random people for a ride. Finally, the “other black guy” in the country bar came out and he and his girlfriend agreed to take me the 25 minutes back to my car. They were so nice. But his car was freezing. But I was the guy begging for a ride so I couldn’t say anything. He wouldn’t let me give him any money. Wow, truly nice people! There are some left!!!

 

Did get to interview Alicia keys on Sunday afternoon. What a beautiful and nice lady. And as bad as I wanted to hit on her and flirt, I didn’t. yup, I choked. But I did invite her to mexico but she politely declined.

 

If im a little off today, its not my fault. Well, Im a little off everyday but that’s beside the point. Everyday, I stop at 7-11 and get a 16 ounce coffee on my way to work and today, the 7-11 guy didn’t have the coffee ready. And he didn’t really look like making it was on his agenda. Dude, every day I stop there. Its my regular routine. Over 10 years, ive stopped to get coffee and today, just like that, the streak is over.

Then again, if that’s my biggest problem, I guess things aren’t that bad!

mexico in 53 days!!!!

psycho…but not shanon!

Wow, talk about psycho??? So, shanon texts me last night and says shes going out and I joined her. While we’re standing at the bar talking, a girl walks up that I know. I introduce her to shanon and we all chat for a bit. The girl even bought shanon and I a shot. That was nice, huh? So we all talk a while longer and we had a beer and everything was going great. Then, other people walked up to the bar. Sure they did, it’s a bar! Thats what people do…a group of 4 girls walk up and start a conversation. I introduce myself and shanon and even the girl that bought us shots. One of the girls that was in the group of 4 grabbed my hand and put it on her head and she said do you like that. At first I didn’t know what she was talking about but  quickly felt her hair and it was obvious that she had a weave. She had grabbed my had and wanted to show me that she had extensions. I thought that was really cool. Not necessarily that she had a weave. No biggie either way… it was just the fact that she wanted to show off her weave. Most girls go out of their way to hide the fact that they’ve had weave but I thought it was REFRESHINGLY COOL that she wanted to just show it off and she was proud.

 

Meanwhile, the chick that had bought shanon and I the shot leaned over to me and said, “don’t you think that’s a little bit disrespectful?” I did the classic guy thing…”WHAT?”

But I honestly didn’t know… apparently, since I had been talking to her and shanon prior to the other girls walking up, added to the fact that she bought us shots, she felt like I was dissing her. Then she said, I don’t have time for this… and she walked away.

 

Did I miss something? Did I hook up with this girl in between the shot and the beer and I forgot? Thanks for the shot babe! You’re waay too hot for me anyway! I’m looking for an UGLY woman!

Ok, im back on the work out kick. And im gonna keep it going this time. (famous last words, huh?) now, its very important to not overdo it as you restart your work out routine. I DIDN’T! trust me on that!!! I did about 30 minutes of light weight training and then 45 min of walking at 4.4mph. ok, im not ready for a triathlon just yet but it’s a start. Then of course, its hot tub and steam room time! I love my new gym.

 

Today, its jogging 4 miles with queso, my 1 year old lab, mutt mix. The thing about jogging is that there are so many directions that you can go. Its kind of like life. There are so many options. Go straight, turn right, or turn left. Where will each lead? Ok, that’s kind of deep for 6am… better get some coffee.

 

Im really excited that the other show members are excited about going to playa del Carmen in may. I have traveled to mexico with shanon, and another time with jc, but never with kellie and for sure, we’ve never all gone at one time.

 

This should be off the chain! Did I mention we’re all staying in one condo together???

Even “uncle daddy!”

 

SLOOOOOOOOWWWW!

Ever have one of those boring laid back days that didn’t have a whole lot going on? That was my day yesterday. I have to say im sorry to my mom. I was supposed to mow my moms yard yesterday and I completely forgot! MOM, I’ll be there today. I promise! Man, I don’t think there is anything I hate more than disappointing my mother or telling her I’ll do something and then not doing it.

But thanks to the neighborhood thieves, I’ll have to buy a new leaf blower an a new weed eater. Man, if this is the highlight of my day, I really need to check myself. Its just that after a week of being in mexico and doing tequila shots and drinking beer everyday and every night on the beach, when you get back home, you don’t want to do ANYTHING!

So that’s what ive been doing the last couple days.

I’ll get out tonite… Tuesdays is half price margaritas at primos!

SWEET!

 

Have a great day!

 

Big al

 

5 feet from disaster!

life is so precious and things in your life can change so freakin fast. less than 10 minutes ago, i was on my way home from the radio station sitting at a traffic light that had just turned green. these are two majors streets im talking about, both streets were 3 lanes in both directions. the intersection despite it being EASTER SUNDAY was packed and each lane going my direction was at least 4 to 5 cars deep. directly in front of me was an older model ford mustang. i later found out, it was occupied by a mom and here two kids, apprx 10 and 6. as they entered the intersection an older model surburban came flying from the right going at least 40 mph. clearly running the light! as this dude came through the intersection,  he took of the bumper of the car in front of me, knocking the mustang, the mom with her kids into another car. the guy that ran the light i think hit one or two more cars and then he flipped his vehicle onto its roof and back on its side. it is no exaggeration when i say if the moms car in front of me had been 5 feet father in the intersection, they would have been T-boned by this guy and suffered a direct hit. i pulled over, as alot of others did but it seemed like it took everyone that saw the accident, like 5 seconds to comprehend what had happened right in front of us. then it was like someone yelled go, and everyone raced over… it seemed like everyone went to the surburban and for some reason, i guess because it was in the worst shape. i went to the car in front of me. thats when i saw the 6 year old girl quietly crying and her brother, the 10 year old boy next to her, just almost in shock…holding a birthday cake. 5 feet from disaster. the mom said they were all ok just shaken up. the guy that ran the light crawled out the back seat of his surburban and i dont think ive ever wanted to hit anybody that bad in my life. what the hell was he doing? i know accidents happen all the time but this seemed to just hit me for some reason. i went back to the moms car to check on them again and she was talking to her husband and seemed to be shaken but ok. wow, 5 feet from disaster! 

boy, oh boy, boy boy!

what have we got ourselves into? im not real sure but it sure is interesting!first of all, this trip to mexico was filled with stuff to do almost every day! from our monday “first meeting” with the 51% selling partner, to the trip to the cpa’s house…that was a thrill within it self. to the road trip to the lawyer (or notary’s) office in the 1991 buick wagon, (to sign our corporation papers), to out that night to a cool party at la runita, to meeting the 49% partner of the bar we are trying to buy, (he doesnt like us!) to the roadtrip to the jungle, swimming in the cenotes, the trip to xpu-ha to hang at the beach and meeting boston tony, (the guy that lives on a bus), dinner at gringo daves, out that night and meeting a real pirate, aargh, doing a little bar hopping, meeting and seeing tons of regulars as well as locals here like deb, mike, jez, tim, queen b, captain dave, ed, skinny, meredith, the hot girl on the old bike that used to play tonya on “the L word”, melissa, inge, victor, manuel, jessie, robert, shawn, jen, video/photog mike, lilia the real estate lady, JJ, kim, shane, valeria, theo from amsterdamn, his dad, awww man, ive forgotten so many names its not even funny! im sorry to those i didnt mention. you were all cool to meet and hang with. especially yesterday at the party in playacar. great job on the bbq skinny! yup, we went to a bbq at an amazing, cool house yesterday in playacar. one day we’re in a jungle with no sign of a house (or civilized life forms) anywhere. the next day we’re having dinner at this house, (that could easily rent for $2000 per WEEK)  right on the golf course with an amazing group of people that seem to really know how to enjoy life. the trip part is, i wouldnt have changed a thing. it was an experience. steve and i are asking advice of pretty much any and every one close by. we’re going to make mistakes along the way. we know this. but one thing that we have in common is that we know how to dream! and thats what this whole thing is about. chasing a dream. this bar we are trying to buy is small and dirty and i actually heard one female come out of the bathroom and tell her group she had to go to another bar to use their banos because the one there was in such bad shape.we get that. but the one thing that we heard over and over was that there is a need for this place to be re-energized. people have gone to this small dive for years. it has history and character. we dont want to change that part at all. hey, they even revamped the ALAMO!so assuming we go through all of the proper steps, deal with somewhat honest people, and are given somewhat accurate information, we should be able to make this thing a success. we are getting ready to give it a good power wash, a few gallons of paint, and ladies, we will upgrade the bathrooms!on our way home in a bit but check back here shortly for pics and even a little video footage. it may also end up at www.bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.com  (we will soon ad helpful stuff there like our top places to hang, cool stuff to do, etc.) wish us luck and hopefully, we’ll see you memorial day right here in beautiful playa del carmen.its back to work for now. hope you’ll be listening. big al 

different??? naaaa! just mexico… day 4

one of my goals when i come to mexico each time is to do at least one thing that i havent done before. buying a bar falls into that category but im not talking about that right now. yesterday, we went apartment hunting for a brief hour. the real estate lady came and picked us up in her soft top volvo and off steve and i went.  when she asked me if i wanted to go “look at” a couple of places, apparently, thats what she meant. meaning we drove, looked at “from the outside” and went to the next one. she says she just wanted to see if we liked them and THEN, she would make appointments to see them. ok, thats different!anyway, after that was done, it was off to the jungle! literally. my friend that is selling the bar is doing that so he can spend time on his real estate venture. acres and acres, oops… they are called hectors here. hectors and hectors of undeveloped land. so we hopped into his 1991 buick, lovingly called the beastmaster, as opposed to being called the roadmaster, and off we went. of course he brought his assistants with him. 1 american girl that has just lived here a year or so and another girl from bolivia. the first stop was the gas station. its been a while since i saw a full service gas station. but this one was. in fact, at one point there were 3 mexican guys with their heads under the hood. one adding oil, maybe the other two were doing a shot of tequila. im not sure. but hey, im all about checking out under the hood of the 91 buick wagon with the crack in the windshield before we venture out on a 25 mile mexican jungle tour! take as long as you want!we left the gas station and stopped to get beer. 8 six packs, 2 bags of chips, and 3 bags of ice later, we were rolling. destination? who knows? after a 20 minute ride in the beastmaster on the main road, we cut off onto a white, rocky road that was maybe 10 feet wide. didnt matter though because the beastmaster’s right rearview mirror was already broken…each road seemed to be a little more challenging than the one before. but if i ever need to dump a body in mexico, i know where to come. finally we made it. we were so far into the jungle, a monkey actually stopped us for directions. we saw the bulldozer, we saw the “new road” they just put in. as opposed to the older roads that looked like they had just been put in as well. but it was interesting to see. i will post pics monday. after we smoked a cigar, we headed to the next stop. the cenote. (see-note-a) its underground caves with rivers within them. the water in the cenote is so freakin pristine, you dont dare pee in it! REALLY! we all took a brief swim and then it was off to the beach. another short ride down the road. i think this one was called “xpu-ha” i could be wrong. really really, pretty. alot of locals go to this beach. its not packed with nucklehead tourist like me! 20 pesos per person to get in. after a brief swim, we had our meeting with jez. jez is the guy that will “consult” us as to how to maintain our bar. after this meeting, in which we drew pics in the sand and discussed minor changes we hope to make, we headed out. this is where we met tony! tony is from boston but live here in playa….IN A BUS!yep! he lives in an old (30 years old at least), schol bus. its parked in the parking lot of this beach area just as a motor home would be. he’s got a fan, (and small amounts of electricity), curtains on the windows, carpeting, a hot plate, a table, a bed all the way in the back, a sofa on the side, clothes storage, ice chest,  pretty much all you need. there is a small building 50 feet away that has public restrooms. its not like this dude is poor. he (apparently) has a nice condo in boston as well as a house in new orleans! and  bus in playa. grand total for this beach front property….$100 per month! wow! running water is so over rated!we left the beach bus house and had a quick meal at “gringo daves” and headed back to our hotel. then it was down to “bad boys beach bar” my friend JJ has a great band that plays there on thursday nights and we got there just in time to catch his last song. sorry we missed you JJ. next time! but we did get a chance to talk to the owner, captain dave.  he also is from the states. about 60 years old or so from memphis. his bar is awesome. right on the beach. in fact, if you come down here anytime soon, hopefully you will visit “tequila barrel”, owned by shane, “bad boys” owned by captain dave, zenzi, (also on the beach, and of course big al and redneck steves beer bucket. speaking of which, yeah, we had to run by there last night as well. they had a decent crowd of about 4 people when we got there. oooohh yeah! party at the bucket! we had a few beers and scoped it out a bit and steve and i noticed that the crowd had grown to maybe 20 people or so since we arrived.  maybe we drew them in or maybe it was people wanting to see if there would be any drama… the other partner was also there and he wasnt too pleased to see steve and i surveying his place. but to be honest, we’ll only be here another couple days so we needed to get a better picture of what it looks like. he hates us so bad but that didnt seem to affect my ability to sleep last night! anyway, he continued again telling us how this deal wasnt going to work. sorry, yelling to us how this deal wasnt going to work. he was quite entertaining. then we all did a shot together. i asked him if he was going to kill us. (id like to know so i could tell my mom.) he didnt find me very funny!several beers and shots later, we thought we would move on!  this is so much fun.  i asked him if he had bought his t-shirt at www.bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.com yet… i even told him he could win a free trip to playa del carmen just by making a purchase there in the on line store. i even told him that there would be yet another way to win a free trip coming up soon because we are giving away 3 trips for two to come to the grand opening may 23rd-26.maybe he’ll come around.  

not alot happened in beer bucket land today. we all went to the beach at 10 this morning and found out that a bottle of stoli voka would cost us 980 pesos. thats about a hundred bucks or a tank of gas in a 26 gallon tank! oh well… 4 hours later, we left KOOL beach and walked south about a mile and ended up at a beach bar called ZENZI. a really cool, new spot. thats where we ran into a cool family. tim, his wife, “queen bee”, and their 2 kids gage and tanner. the coolest kids ever. they invited us up to their eight hundred thousand dollar condo that was simply awesome! a two bedroom two bath penthouse that was so beautiful it was stupid. i mean it was great. multiple tequila shots and beers later, we walked to the bar that we are buying.  there were maybe 8 people in there but they were all having drinks so i guess thats a good thing.  so we had a few drinks there and headed back to the beach. thanks to tim and queen bee for the hospitality. and i want your condo!!!!tomorrow, we are going to the jungle to look at property.  because we just havent spent enough money in mexico!if i can figure out how to send these video blogs to the webmaster, we will post them now. if not, we will post them when i get back. by for now! 

what a trip

so we loaded up the wagon and off we went. me, steve, the managing partner of the bar we are buying, and the cpa… we all loaded up into this 1991 buick roadmaster stationwagon (it was dirty, white with wood paneling and a hickey on the front right fender) the car hadnt been driven in so long, the guy had to rinse off the windshield first! did i mention ir had expired nevada plates? anyway, off we went to the lawyers office. it wasnt a long drive. good thing because the rear passenger side window wouldnt go down and i was getting hot. its like 85 degrees here pretty much every afternoon. honestly, steve and i are constantly looking out into the ocean and asking ourselves, why wouldnt people want to own a bar here??? then we laugh about what we’ve been through thus far.before i go on, i have to say we met “the other partner” last night and he isnt so thrilled about this whole thing. he says no one told him that his bar was being sold. oops! sorry about that dude! i guess his partner failed to mention that to him. like i told him, “i didnt know that you didnt know!!!” can we all say “AWKWARD?”so we went up to him last night and introduced ourselves and he pretty much told us that “this (bleepin) deal wasnt going to happen!” i offered to buy him a shot! he declined…(this is gonna be fun)anyway, back to the stationwagon toad trip…we arrived at the lawyers office which is a small room, located upstairs from a video store. pretty much a desk, a few books, and a lot of files. apparently, computers are very over rated…not a big need for those here… then again, im sure it was in the back somewhere. so, in we  walked  to find “victor.”a middle aged man that looks like he knows what he’s doing. wire framed glasses, shirt tucked in, short. he looked like a lawyer in mexico should look. he even spoke a little bit of english. soon we figured out that this office was also his home. his 11 year old daughter was sleeping in a back room.the cpa went over all of the documents with us. page by page. (i think)…we pretty much had to take her at her word because all 20 pages of our corporate documents are in spanish…EVERYTHING! steve and i just looked at each other from time to time and shrugged our shoulders and smiled!  its almost comical! 30 minutes later, steve and i signed either our papers making us a legal business in mexico, or we just bought 20 goats! we’re not real sure! but we did sign. we went down stairs and in desperate need of beers, we took off. past the laundrymat, past the pharmacia, BAM, beer store..we had to wait for our copies to be made for us at the video store…DUH! we got our beers and our copies and hopped back into the roadmaster. we arrived back at the condo to find Andy here, in the pool with four, 21 year old girls. only in mexico can you sign legal documents, ride in a 20 year old buick wagon with wood paneling, drink a 12 pack of beer and have four, 20 year olds in your pool, all in the same hour! by the way, one of the girls threw up on andy… thats when we knew it was time for them to leave!!! go razorbacks!!! so, whats next? not sure. some dude that we met outside a house yesterday named manuel apparently is our power of attorney. we are not really sure what that means other than the fact that he can probably take all of our money. oops!but the lawyer that ive known for 45 minutes and the cpa that ive known for a day and a half, both say he’s very trustworthy! thats good enough for me!well, its 4 am here. guess i’ll take a nappy nap!now, more than ever, go to www.bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.comi have a feeling we are gonna need as many people to buy a tshirt as possible. they could be historic! :) wish us luck. we are 1 step closer to owning a bar in mexico!!! (or maybe we just bought 20 goats!) big al  

adios!!!

its 3am! so, should a person thats been to mexico a million times still be excited about going to mexico?? damn right!i leave shortly and im excited. really excited. im staying at a different place than normal thats supposed to be really nice and hopefully, we will be 2 or 3 huge steps closer to making my dream a reality. i really wish i could describe all the different emotions that are running thru me right now. wow, there plenty. but the biggest one has got to be excitement! my dream is becoming a reality… im almost scared to even mention it that much for fear that something goes wrong. so i guess i’ll just say adios for now. i’ll be in mexico in 12 hours. the on-line store will be up and running on wednesday for those of you that are making plans to be at the grand opening may 23rd weekend in playa del carmen. (memorial day weekend).buy stuff, and win a free trip!!! how cool is that?www.bigalandredneckstevesbeerbucket.comblog at you tomorrow! al