Vacation Update

So, I got back from vacation on the 19th and have been going non-stop since then. I had every intention of updating my blog while I was gone....but, amazingly, other than using my computer to help with the crossword puzzle every night, I didn't get on-line much at all.

The time was mainly spent at my parents house....doing nothing. Mom, Joey and I ran around a few days and had lunch out several times but mainly we just hung out together at home. No theatre movies, no card playing, no bingo.....just visiting and relaxing. We did watch a couple of DVDs while I was there; The DiVinci Code which mom and dad had not seen yet and Firehouse Dog which was cute.

Also, we did take a trip over to Disney World for 3 days to camp. I always enjoy going out in the trailer for a camping trip and Disney is certainly a fun place to do that. It was VERY HOT and humid and I am not in good shape for all day walking but it was great exercise and I loved every minute of it. As long as I stayed hydrated, I was fine. The trailer was very cool in the evenings and I slept good. Joey and Dina came along on the trip as well and it was fun having time to spend with them. Next time I will go in cooler weather and I'll work in being in better shape for walking.

I did take a few pictures at Disney :

[Dad, me, Joey and Mom]

[the above two pictures are the Jack Sparrow
additions to The Pirates of the Caribbean ride.]

[The hula girls on It's A Small World....
these were my Granddaddy's favorite.]

[Living with the land at Epcot - I love it.]

So, that's it for the vacation update. More later this week about school, etc.

Ciao.

Why ?

Why do people clap at the end of a movie ? Who are you clapping for ? The only people that can hear you are the people in the theatre that are trying to have a conversation with their friends about the movie but can't hear anything over your clapping. Stop clapping.

Sisters Weekend

So, my sister needed a vacation from her vacation....she came over last Thursday night and we had a sisters only weekend...no kids or anything. We met at one of her favorite places, Mama's Pizza for dinner Thursday night when she got here. It was yummy and we chatted about what to do the next two days.

Friday, we got up and went to Frisco, Texas where we shopped at Sam Moon and IKEA - it was a lot of fun and nice to get out and really do some walking - I was hot, tired and my back was a little achy but I sooo needed it so it was nice. We came back to Arlington in the afternoon and shopped a little more, even without the kids, we found ourselves at Toy R Us at one point. A quick stop at the scrapbooking store to sign up for the midnight crop Saturday night and then off the to the No Frills Grill for the usual Friday night hang out......I ended up winning the big trivia game that night but only because JoLynn's box FADED on the last question and she couldn't answer.

Saturday started out perfect....we were going to meet Charles for breakfast and I managed to leave my cell phone at home. The place we were going was a little more off the beaten path that we expected and while JoLynn and I made it there - Charles never did and I had no way to call him with no cell phone and I didn't have his cell number memorized - I do now. We headed back home disappointed an hour later. We went home and sorted family pictures for our big scrappbooking night.....it was ALL JOEY !! Germantown, Tennessee, 1979-1983...ugh !! Lot's off good bribery pics though.....let's just say....spiderman underoos and a corncob pipe and leave it at that. We ate a nice lunch at Pappadeaux's and then came home to finish the pictures. We shopped a little more and then went to the crop - it was very productive as usual - I think JoLynn said we got 28 pages done.....the two ladies sitting across from us got 4 pages done each .... in SIX hours ... pathetic.

Anyway, JoLynn wore me out and spoiled me all weekend and she got her vacation from vacation so it was all good. I am leaving for vacation tomorrow and I will try to post one more time tomorrow before then. Until then....ciao !

P.S. This time tomorrow, I will be on a plane.

My brother - the M & M

Nothing going on......

.....sorry, no blog this week so far. There really hasn't been anything going on. I've worked every day since Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were SUPER busy at work - I think I took close to 60 calls both days which is a lot. Today I work during the day and then my sister is driving in tonight, by herself, I think she needs a vacation from her vacation.

We don't really have any plans while she is here other than maybe going thru some family pictures and of course the usual Friday trip to the No Frills Grill. I will probably start packing for my vacation on Sunday which will really make it feel real. I can't wait.

Until later....

Movie Review : No Reservations...and more

Since the last blog, worked a couple of days and was off a day. Thursday I worked my new 8a - 5p schedule which was nice. I met Charles to see Harry Potter, he had not seen it yet and I wanted to see it again. After the movie we went to some place called Flip's Grill in Grapevine for a lite dinner. Sadly, I saw two waiters from the No Frills Grill there and they looked at me like I was some kind of traitor eating somewhere else.

I was off on Friday and didn't do anything at all. I stayed around the apartment most of the day. Of course, we went to No Frills Grill that night but other than that nothing. Some times it is nice to just stay home especially when it is very hot out.

I worked Saturday so that I could be off today to go pick up my sister and her family from the airport. So when I got off work last night, I headed to the mall to buy my Disney Hopper pass for my trip that is coming up in a couple of weeks. It was a lot of money but it was worth it and I had worked 25 hours of overtime to pay for it so it was all good. I also managed to get the elusive Haagen Daz gift card while I was there.

After shopping, I met my friend Courtney at Mercado Juarez for dinner and then we headed for the chick flick, No Reservations with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Here is a recap :

No Reservations [4 out of 5 stars]

Brief Synopsis : A top notch female chef's life is turned upside-down when she must care of her niece after her sister is killed. She now has to adapt to a different lifestyle and uses food as a means to express her roller-coaster life.

My Review : I thought it was very cute. It was your typical romantic comedy with all the typical elements. If you saw the movie Raising Helen with Kate Hudson - this was VERY similar with just the chef twist. All of the actors were good and the storyline was good. Basically, it is no Oscar winner but to be honest I had been missing the romantic comedy movie lately and this one fit the bill.

Until next time.....ciao.

It's obvious, I need a vacation.....

.....because lately everything is getting on my last nerve.

• I went to Haagen Daz at the mall this weekend to get a giftcard for a friend's birthday. Of course, there is one person working who is barely 16 and doesn't speak English very well and they have no idea what I am talking about even though they had at least 10 signs advertising gift cards.
  


• I went to Steve and Barry's to buy a pair of tennis shoes, the only one in my size is the display shoe, I ask the sales person where the pair is and she says their display shoes are all singles.
  


• Monday I am working and at about 9:00a maintenance in pounding on my door wanting me to move my car because they are paving the parking lot. A note on my door the day before would have been nice.
  


• Today I came into work and all of our systems are up and down, I just wanted to toss my hands in the air and go back to bed.

14 more days.

Lindsay Lohan, just say NO !

So, my weekend was fairly uneventful - after my 12 days of working in a row, I was very glad to have two days off. I went to lunch Friday with my friend Chrissy and then got a haircut that afternoon. Of course I went to the No Frills Grill on Friday night. It was fun as usual.

Saturday morning I got up and headed to WalMart to pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows....I ran a few more errands in the morning and then made it back home around 1:30p that afternoon. I sat down at 2:00p to read. After a couple of stretch breaks, I finished the book around 9:00p that night. I thought it was VERY good. She was able to wrap it all up, explain some things, etc. I'm not going to post any spoilers here but if you want to talk to me about it - please email me.

Sunday, I was back to work. JoLynn and family came in around 11:00a for me to run them to the airport for their vacation to Florida and I did laundry and cleaned my apartment all day. After 12 days of being at home, it was a mess.

Nothing else much going on - there is nothing decent on TV these days other than The Closer and Psych so I am wearing out my Season 1 CRIMINAL MINDS DVDs every night. I love that show.

Oh, and as far as the title for the blog.....I hope she gets some help.

P.S. Dad - I can't specifically change the color of the words in my countdown clock. I'll try some other colors for the overall clock later today to see if that helps. Sorry.

Chatting with Joey......

Joey says:
I was dieing laughing because I ordered something from newegg.com and I tried to use their online chat to ask a question about the order and the chat finally answered and said:
Joey says:
Thanks for contacting newegg.com. This is Jesus, How can I help you?
Tracy says:
lol
Tracy says:
you MUST blog that
Joey says:
I thought WOW talk about getting serious help.
Tracy says:
right
Tracy says:
way to go right to the top
Joey says:
lol
Joey says:
exactly, how did they get Him to and nobody else did
Tracy says:
lol

Yikes.......

I wasn't going to blog today but I just went out on the patio to refill all of my critter food and saw this across the parking lot.


So, I called down to the apartment office and they said, yes they knew about it and were the ones that actually put cones around it. They haven't talked to the resident yet to know if the tires were stolen, taken off on purpose or if it was a repo.

Yikes.

I am approaching zombie state.....

.....after 10 days straight of working. As I mentioned I picked up two overtime shifts last Friday and Saturday so I am non-stop working. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like to work, but I must admit, I have had a enough. I'm tired and I am burned out.

I've been wanting to go by and take pictures of the new Dallas Cowboy Football Stadium to put in my blog but I haven't made it over there yet. Hopefully, Friday when I am finally off again.

I have the movie RV in my DVD player but haven't watched it yet to give a review. I really have just been working, relaxing and trying to stay cool. Not very exciting.

Later.

Playing movie catch up

OK - so I have been trying to play movie catch-up. I don't subscribe to HBO, Showtime or any of those cable channels because to be quite honest I think it is a waste of my money. They end up playing the same old thing over and over again and then never when I want to watch it. Anyway, I know some people like those channels, so no offense intended, they're just not for me.

So, I belong to BLOCKBUSTER on-line. I have created a queue of movies and I can have 2 out at a time. This way I can catch up on all the stuff I feel like I haven't seen in the last 5 years...ha ha ! I'll start letting you know what I watch.

First, I have a gripe about the queue. I have a movie on my list that shall remain nameless, alright, it is Xanadu [I want my niece to see it], and it is NUMBER ONE on my list. So I returned a movie the other day fully expecting to get my number one movie next. But, no, they sent me my number two movie. Now, what's up with that ?? This is their official response :

BLOCKBUSTER Online® is committed to keeping your rental experience uninterrupted. Because our goal is to ship movies as quickly as possible in order to meet an estimated shipping time of 1-3 business days for delivery, the system reviews all "Available" titles in your Queue and determines which movies are ready for shipment from your nearest distribution center. If the estimated shipping times for your top selection(s) fall outside an acceptable shipping window, they may be skipped over for other DVDs further on your list.

Even though some of your selections may get skipped, continue prioritizing your movies in the order you would like for them to be shipped. We do our best to continuously distribute copies among our distribution centers based on demand.

Now, if I didn't want it next I wouldn't put it next, so I think they need to honor my list especially, since the movie's status was AVAILABLE and everything. I returned another movie yesterday so we will see what happens this time.

Next, a movie review. For those of you that know my daily insanities.....you know I tend to get obsessed, maybe that's too strong a word, how about attached, to certain actors when I see them in a role that I like and then I want to see EVERYTHING they have ever done. My current "attachment" is to Matthew Gray Gubler, currently playing Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds. He played a background character, INTERN #1, in the movie I am reviewing today. He had like two lines and an awful perm, but here's the review.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou [ 3 out of 5 stars ]

Brief Synopsis : Steve Zissou, sea-film amateur a la Jacques Cousteau, has reason to be melancholy: his partner has been eaten, perhaps by a mythic jaguar shark, his wife may be taking up with her ex-husband, a young man appears claiming Steve is his father (Steve hates fathers), his most recent films have tanked, he's having trouble raising money for his venture to revenge his partner, and he's attracted to a pregnant reporter who prefers the pretender. At sea, in pursuit of the shark, will he escape pirates and mutiny, forge the bonds of fatherhood, place his arm around his wife, find the monster of the deep, re-establish box office hegemony, and discover a reason to smile?

My Review : Now, before watching this movie, everyone told me it was weird. Basically, that is the word everyone used......weird. I like weird. So, with that in mind, I watched the movie last night. I thought it was.......weird. But, in a good way. I was entertained. I don't really know how to describe it much better than the synopsis above and all I can say is if you enjoy the off the beaten path, take a chance, weird kind of movie, you might like it.

Later.

Eeekk....I don't want to fall behind again

So, here is an update.

I went and saw the Harry Potter movie and thought it was very good. An odd thing happened, as I was watching it, I felt like I had already seen it....kind of a deja vu moment. But, I think it was because I had recently [in the last nine months] re-read the book. So, I guess what that means is that the visuals I got in my head while reading the book were just how they made the movie. Pretty cool. Of course, there are things missing from the movie that were in the book and that is expected but I thought it was really good.

I picked up two overtime shifts this week, today I am working 1oa - 7p and tomorrow I am working from 8a - 5p so that will be nice extra $$ on my check before I go on vacation and I might now be able to get my ticket to Disney. Woo hoo ! But, the downfall is that I am working 12 days in a row.....ugh.

As you can see, I added a VACATION countdown to my blog above. This is my annual trip to Florida to hang out with my parents and brother. I haven't had a vacation since May 2006 so I am really looking forward to it. I will be gone for 11 days. My sister and her family are going before me....and they leave in 9 days and will be there for a week. When they get back it is just 10 days until I go.....so my parents and brother are going to be busy with visitors for almost a month.

No big plans for the next few days except work, but I am going to try and post a picture blog sometime this weekend. Stay tuned.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Eeeee.......I am going to the midnight movie tonight and I am already tired. I have to work at 8a tomorrow morning and will probably get to bed by 3a if I am lucky. I'm going with friends, Courtney, Mandy, Brian and Zachary.....should be a blast. I'll let you know how great it was tomorrow while I am sitting at my desk with my eyelids propped open with toothpicks.

CUJO squirrel

OK - here are some pictures I've taken in the last 6 weeks that might also help catch you up on my life since my blog hiatus. This first one is of my bird feeder. As you can see, I have a tree right outside of my patio and I wanted to hang a bird feeder since I am home all day so I could watch birds.....I know, pathetic.

Now, enter CUJO SQUIRREL :

He looks harmless. But, after only having my bird feeder up for a few days, he tore it to shreds.

Now, I don't think you can really appreciate it unless you see the bird feeder in person, but I am going to post some pics a little further down.

After ripping the feeder to shreds, I decided when you get lemons you make lemonade, so I brought in the bird feeder, bought some squirrel food and started feeding the squirrel as seen in the picture above.

I keep thinking I will get another bird feeder that is squirrel proof, but nothing yet. So, without further anticipation, here is the destroyed bird feeder [please note, I lifted the green lid off and back from the top] :

Enough said.....bastard squirrel.

My DVD Library......

Like a lot of people, when DVDs became the norm, I started buying them. I bought my favorite movies, like The Matrix, Gladiator, The Abyss, Harry Potter, Spiderman, The Shawshank Redemption, National Treasure, Lord of the Rings, etc. but you know, I never watch them. I mean, half of the ones I have in my collection are movies that I can see almost any Saturday on a regular channel. So, I think I am going to get rid of my collection.

I can rent anything I want to see and once you've watched the deleted scenes or the blooper reel or whatever might be on the bonus features of a DVD, you've watched them.

I do think however, that I may start a collection of TV shows. There are some TV shows that I like that aren't shown on TV anymore or are rarely shown. Also, I think I am more likely to re-watch a TV show than a movie most of the time.

So, if anyone is still reading this thing.....do you collect DVDs ?? And, if so, what kind ??

Where oh where has my little blog gone......

So, it's been a little over a year since I started this thing and lately I have not been updating as I was so passionately reminded of by my mother last night. I don't know why. And, the thing is that once you stop for a little bit, the amount of information that you have not been relaying becomes overwhelming.

A BRIEF recap since my last post :

• My mom came for a 16 day visit to Texas where she spent half of her time with my sister's family and half with me. It was really nice having another human around the apartment while I was working and I think she got a lot of reading done. I tried to hook her on UGLY BETTY but not sure it worked.
• I colored my hair. [dark chocolate brown]
• I went and saw my niece in her ballet recital - she was in 3 dances; tap, jazz and ballet and she did a great job and was super cute.
• I registered for FALL classes.
• I passed ONE MILLION Players Plus points on NTN trivia at The No Frills Grill.
• A 'cujo-like' squirrel ripped my bird feeder to shreds.

Other than that, I went to a few movies, read a few books, wrote a little bit and basically just hung out with friends or my laptop.

So, on the calendar for the next few days......tonight, I am going to see the movie TRANSFORMERS with friends and tomorrow I am going to a STAR WARS exhibit with my friend Charles at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

I will try to use these two activities to jump-start my re-entry into blogging. Stay tuned.

I miss cookouts.....

I've been on the phone this week with co-workers and customers and everyone is asking what I did over the Memorial weekend. And, I, of course, worked. People keep telling me they had cookouts or went to friends houses or whatever. I never go to cookouts anymore. I need to get some friends together on the next holiday and have a cookout. I mean, cookouts are fun. You stand around in the backyard and you grill and mosquitos bite you millions of times and everyone just laughs and has a good time.

I miss cookouts. Who wants to have one next holiday ??

If the milk's chewy throw out the hamburger.....

...seems like sound advice coming from a former student of the Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts. Last Thursday, my power went out at around 3:30p when it had been raining or was about to rain but wasn't actually raining at the time. It didn't come back on until 1:00a - Grrrrr. I missed taping the Ugly Betty pilot -my current and for the foreseeable future TV obsession. I missed the 1st night of 'So You Think You Can Dance' - the one reality show I watch...and I missed the reappearance of 'Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip' .. needless to say I was quite irritated. Apparently, though, since my milk has not gone chewy - my fridge items are safe.

So, the question, what exactly am I doing when I am not in school and I am not blogging. Well, here is a little about me these days :

1. I am reading the James Patterson Women's Murder Club Books.....I am about halfway thru # 3 I think. They are good. I'm not really a mystery reader but I haven't had anything to read lately and my sister bought me the first one for my birthday so I decided, what the heck. I read #2 while the power was out .... a flashlight and some duck tape were involved.

2. I am writing. Some of you, well, many of you, may not know this is actually a hobby of mine. It started, I don't know, about 3 years ago I guess. There is this, I don't know, pod of people out there that write something called fan fiction. Basically, they take characters from their favorite movies, TV shows, etc. and they write stories for them. For example, a fan fiction for one of the CSI shows might be like an actual episode with a murder and them solving the case, or it might be about the hook up of two characters on the show that aren't hooked up. It might be a cross-over between the CSI show and oh, I don't know....Grey's Anatomy. It's mainly about story because those reading them already know the characters. Anyway, I do that.

3. I'm hanging out with friends. I still go to No Frills Grill pretty much every Friday night with my friend Courtney and whoever else shows up. I also try to see movies and grab a bite to eat with my friend Charles as often as our schedules allow but not nearly enough. I'm always pestering my friend Jeffrey and my cousin Tom to get together but alas, they are a more fruitless endeavor....I'm not sure if it is me or them. Who am I kidding, it's them.

That's a good chunk of my time these days along with work. No classes this summer but I will pick up again in the fall. I'm trying to get to Abilene at least once a month - but right now I think that bunch owes me a visit.

So, my mom is coming on Tuesday and I will transport her halfway to Abilene Wednesday night....for a small ransom. She'll be back with me the following Wednesday for a week. We are all looking forward to her visit.

Until later.....adios.

Holla !

OK - so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me....as of Friday, I am now 40 + 1. No biggie - I still feel 25, well, maybe 28. Anyway - I headed to Abilene Friday morning for the day and met my nephew for lunch after my niece totally forgot I was coming and ate in her classroom. What-Ever-Loser.

We picked the kids up from school and headed off to see Shrek The Third - it was super cute and funny. The kids laughed thru the whole thing. Afterwards, we went to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner which was VERY nice and no one sang to me - YAY !! We went home and played on NATIONAL BINGO NIGHT on TV and then some Shrek Bingo and I actually won a few games.

Saturday we ran errands and then in the afternoon, Mason and JoLynn had to bowl...I went and watched and we ate bowling alley food for lunch, YUMMY, really. I headed home Saturday afternoon. I met my friend Chrissy for dinner Saturday night at the No Frills Grill and we chit chatted and caught up, promising to get together more often going forward. Yay, another human to interact with..... :)

Checked on-line today and got my grades - Statistics/A and Environmental Science/B - perfect.

That's all the news for me.

See what happens.....

....when school is out and my life becomes even more boring. No new blogs.

Well, let's see. This Friday is my birthday. I will be turning 40+1 - that is how I am going to refer to all future birthdays, in relation to 40. So, next year I will be 40+2. I was going to try and plan a birthday dinner out with some of my friends....but people are busy, as you can tell since they never comment on my blog anymore, so I decided to go with Plan B. I am going down to my sister's where I have at least two people that love me to no end and will shower me with hugs, kisses and I love yous for 2 days....who could pass that up. They will take me to see Shrek 3 and it will be a lot of fun.

I am thrilled to report that my mother has quit her job and will also be coming for a visit to Texas on May 29th.....two weeks from today. Everyone is very excited that she finally got away from an extremely unhappy situation and that she is coming to see the people that will shower her with hugs, kisses and I love yous for 14 days.

I do have some blog topics I am working on and I will get those up tomorrow and Thursday so you have something to read while I am out of town. In the meantime, thanks for always being patient with my lack of blogging. I'm always here.

P.S. Congrats Dirk !! NBA MVP 2006-2007

Movie Reviews, school.....

Well, I was one of the many that went to see Spiderman 3 on opening day and I must say I am glad I did. It was well worth the price of admission. I'm not going to spoil it for those of you that have not seen it yet, I will say however, this one is much more about Peter Parker/Spiderman than it is about the villains, in my opinion. The special effects, etc. were great. Definitely a must see.....I will probably see it one more time in the theatre.

I also went and saw Lucky You this weekend with Drew Barrymore and Eric Banan. It was okay. The movie is about poker and the relationship between Eric Banan's character 'Huck' and his father 'LC', played by Robert Duvall. It's not a comedy, it's not a romance. Although there is a romantic relationship with 'Huck' and Barrymore's character 'Billie', that is certainly not what the movie is about. I would say, this one should be a rental

No more school.....woo hoo !! I took my last final yesterday in Statistics, it was a little harder than I expected but I did okay. We just, in my opinion, had a real poor teacher and I felt bad for the people in our class that aren't math inclined. He teaches high-school by day, and he may be great at that....but his nighttime college gig, left much to be desired. Anyway, I'm sure I came out okay, but it was a tough one.

Not sure what the plans are for the summer yet, I am looking at several things right now. Some changes on degree plans, etc. are probably in the works. Stay turned for more on that as time goes by.

Hurricane Texas-Style

Well, I was out of pocket for most of the afternoon and evening yesterday because we had an horrendous storm here last night....my power was out from 6:00p - midninght. At one point the entrance to my apatment complex was so flooded that to come in, the water was up to some people's car windows. I was on my way home from school when it started and had to pull over into a bank parking lot because of the 70-80 MPH winds and high water.

Like they say, in Texas we never do anything small. Yikes....anyway, of course it is sunny and 75 degrees here now.

Mavericks, Laundry and May....

...and not necessarily in that order. First, I cannot believe it is May already. This is my last week of school with my final final on Saturday the 5th. It looks like I will not be taking any classes this summer. Nothing can fit around my work schedule which is very disappointing. But, I will try to make the most of the summer anyway, maybe I will get a 2nd job.

Well, the Dallas Mavericks pulled off a win last night - the last 40 seconds of the game were quite dramatic. Maybe it took the hometown crowd to get them back in the zone. They still have to win 2 more games to get out of this series alive and their opponents only have to win 1 more....so I am crossing everything and praying for them.

GO MAVS !!

The other night, my brother and I were having one of our many late night phone conversations...and we were both commenting on how we needed to clean our rooms. He started to tell me what his biggest problem is when cleaning his room and I stopped him.....I said I know what you are going to say because it is the same with me...and basically at the same time, we said laundry. Now, please, don't get this mental image in your head about piles of dirty laundry in our rooms. Our problem is CLEAN laundry. Neither one of us likes to fold or hang things up. I pretty much get dressed off of drying racks every day.

About once a week, I have this grand plan to put clothes away. It goes like this, I strip my bed to wash my sheets, etc. Then I take all the clean clothes and put them on my bed. I make a pile for pants that need to hang, shirts that need to hang, t-shirts, PJ's, shorts that need to be folded, towels/washcloths that need to be folded and then one big pile for socks, underwear and bras. Then later that night, I go into my room and start swearing because I realize I have to make my bed before I can go to sleep. So I transfer all piles back to clothes baskets and my rocking chair and then make my bed and go to sleep and the cycle starts all over again.

An update on my plants/seeds tomorrow.

Mavericks Fever

Okay - so I like a lot of sports, baseball, football, hockey, basketball, golf....etc. I know pretty much how all of them are played and while I am not obsessed, when a good game is on, I can get into it and watch. When my home town team is in the playoffs, I definitely get invested.

But, last year, I really got into basketball....specifically, the Dallas Mavericks. They have a good team and they are local....and I wish I could say that was the draw....but alas, it was this picture that drew me in.....

DIRK NOWITZKI - I mean, come on.....7 feet of sizzle.

Anyway......right now they are also in the playoffs, I think they have a good shot at going all the way, and DIRK is on track for NBA MVP this year. Their current series is against the Golden State Warriors and heading into game 3 tomorrow night, they are 1-1.

So, you'll find me at the local sports bar on the nights they play wearing my Mrs. Nowitzki t-shirt......[just kidding I'm not that obsessed].

GO MAVS !!

We interrupt this TV Show review for a moment from our sponsor....

....just an update on life since I have been MIA for a little bit. I'll go back to my TV show favorites after this.

So I worked last Saturday to cover a shift for my friend Curtis. In exchange he worked for me on Monday. So, I was sleeping in - a little bit - on Monday when I hear my cell phone in the other room ringing around 8:30a.....I ignore it, thinking that it is someone in my family trying to get me up. Ten minutes later, it rings again....I moan from bed, but ignore it again. Then 10 minutes later it rings again. This time I get up, wander to the living room looking for my phone and answer it. It is someone from my job wanting to know why I am not logged in. I say, because I am off today. I worked for Curtis Saturday and he is working for me today. They say, oh I am so sorry, I didn't know or remember. I say, no problem. And they apologize again for waking me and tell me to go back to bed. Doubtful. Now I am up and start my day. I listen to the two voice mails left from the first two calls....the first one is from Human Resources wanting to know where I am and the second one is from the phone console coordinator who monitors the phones, etc. I laugh....I mean, the phone console person and the person I actually talked to where copied in on the email that approved the change and why is someone telling Human Resources to call me......sheesh, I am never late, I never call in sick.....surely someone could have figured out what was going on before calling Human Resources. Oh well.....

Next week, is the last week of school for this semester....I have a final on Monday and one on Saturday....and then that's it for the semester. Yay ! That is why I have been absent here - too much stuff to be finalized before it ends. It looks like due to scheduling, I won't be taking any classes this summer....which stinks. I may have to push my graduation date back by a year.....oh well, I keep plugging along. I'll get there.

Anyway - there is an update. I will post more TV stuff in the next couple of days and then more on me later.....including an update on the seeds I planted.

See ya !

I HEART Horatio Caine !

Moving right along, with my favorite cop shows. I think these are sometimes the most enthralling to watch. I have favorite characters and favorite love matches even though that is not really what these shows are about. I know many think these ‘procedural’ shows are not very realistic and probably they aren't but I still love them.

24 / Monday / FOX / 8:00p CST

Seriously, I don’t care how unrealistic you think this show is [Charles] – JACK BAUER is one serious bad ass. If there were someone like him making sure this country was safe, I would go to bed every night under the blanket of protection he was providing. If you have not watched this show, go to Blockbuster now, rent all previous seasons and get caught up.

If you do watch it, check out this website : http://www.bauercount.com/

CSI : Miami / Monday / CBS / 9:00p CST

Well, here you go….my favorite redhead. Horatio Caine, expertly played by media bad boy, David Caruso. Most people either love this show or hate based solely on their feelings about how Mr. Caruso plays this character. He never gets hurt, has cheesy one-liners in every episode and suffers from an unhealthy obsession with his sunglasses. But, he is one smooth operator who has endless sympathy and support for the victim. I’ve always had a soft-spot for redheads and this one is at the top of my list these days.

I mean seriously, how could he not be :


Law & Order : SVU / Tuesday / NBC / 9:00p CST

For me this is the best of the Law and Order franchise, I think the cases are hardcore and the actors that have consistently been on this show from the beginning make it that much more addicting. I must say, I have a soft spot for Detective Elliot Stabler.

CSI / Thursday / CBS / 8:00p CST

Some say the original is still the best. I think CSI : Miami edges out the top spot for me but there is nothing wrong with the original. You can’t go wrong with a show based in Vegas as far as I am concerned and this years ongoing story with the miniature killer has keep my interest peaked.

What are your favorite cop shows ??

Joe Kuban : If you want to look like shit when you are 40, go to a tanning salon....

...in fact, he says, if you REALLY want to look like shit when you are 40, then SMOKE and go to a tanning salon."

Sounds like sound advice to me.

Nerd Love

Well, once again, I am a little lax in getting my blog updated. I think I am going to add another aspect of me to the blog and see if that helps me post more often. I don’t really like to be thought of as a person that watches a lot of TV. I do have favorite shows I watch and if I am not around, I usually record them to watch later. So, now I am going to invite you into my world of TV watching. If you watch the shows I mention, please feel free to chime in. I will probably start giving a TV show recap each week now that I am bringing this into my blog.

Today, we are going to start with my Nerd Love shows. These are shows I watch that have a particularly lovable nerd on them.

Ugly Betty / Thursday / ABC / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : HENRY – Accountant at MODE magazine and unrequited love of title character, Betty Suarez. I love them, and if you haven’t watched this show, I recommend catching up during the summer and getting on the bandwagon before fall.

Heroes / Monday / NBC / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : Take your pick, pretty much all the good characters on this show are nerds. This is another one that if you haven’t watched, you must catch up on over the summer. If you are gun-shy because you think it is another LOST with no resolutions in each episode, you are wrong, every one is action packed with answers.

Criminal Minds / Wednesday / CBS / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : REID – He graduated from high school at age 12 and has 3 PhDs. He often serves as the team's statistics expert, he has an uncanny ability for spotting complex patterns. He does not believe that genius can be measured but admits that he has an eidetic memory, an I.Q. of 187 and can read 20,000 words per minute. He also serves as the teams handwriting analyst. WOW ! How much nerdier can you get….love him and love this show.

Crossing Jordan / Wednesday / NBC / 8:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : WOODY – You might think a cop would not be a nerd but this one is. However, as nerdy and awkward as he is, he is one bad-ass cop too. He and the title character have an ongoing unrequited love that makes this show “chick” worthy and the rest of the show makes it an overall must watch for me every week.

Numb3rs / Friday / CBS / 9:00p CST

Lovable Nerd : CHARLIE – This one is about a genius mathematician [be still my heart] that helps his brother, an FBI agent, with complex crimes by using statistics and highly complex mathematical equations. This show is lost on Friday nights because everyone is out and about. But, given the chance, you would love this one too.

Okay, that’s it for nerd love shows….next TV blog will cover my favorite cop shows and my favorite red-head….

What are your nerd love shows ??

Bowling, pizza and snow

Well, as odd as it may seem.....it does sometimes snow in Texas in April. Since my last blog, I had a nice 3 day weekend which I spent in Abilene with my sister and family. On Thursday, I, of course, had lunch with my niece and nephew at school when I arrived then ran around with my sister getting ready for my nephew's 10th birthday party.

On Friday, we got up and did a quick WalMart run for the cake before heading to the bowling alley for the party. And here is my gripe about that.....my nephew invited 23 kids to his party and 1 of them RSVP'd....only 3 showed up to the party. Now, of course, having it on Good Friday, a long weekend, was a risk since people probably had out of town plans or family coming in town, but at least RSVP !!

My nephew could care less, if it had been only family and him, he would have been happy, but please people, just RSVP. Anyway, the party was fun and the kids had fun bowling. Here are some pics :

[Mason and Trek watching Morgan bowl]

[Caine bowling - he was the champ !]

[Trek bowling]

[Morgan getting her 6 lb. ball up in her arms]

[Morgan - bowling]

[Blowing out the candles]

Then that night we played some Shrek Bingo on DVD which was fun and colored Easter eggs. Of course, we had to overrule my sister and leave 3 eggs in the colored water overnight in the fridge, something I don't think I was ever allowed to do when I was a kid.....here is a pic of how those turned out the next morning - really dark - and probably inedible - but super cool :

Saturday we just hung out and were lazy - Mason requested homemade 'super-mushroom' pizza for his birthday lunch since I was leaving after that so we made pizza and just relaxed....after all, it was freezing outside.....yep, a mini-winter storm hit Abilene, Texas in April. I left around 1:30p that afternoon when Mason and JoLynn were off to bowl in a Shrek Bowling league.....I stopped for gas on the way out and took this picture of my snow-covered car :

And something else you don't see to often, snow covered bluebonnets....

Well, you know what they say about Texas weather, if you don't like it, wait a minute, which I guess is true since it is supposed to be 80 here tomorrow.

Ciao.

Joe Kuban : Go home, grab a cerveza and find your ecological footprint

So, last night in Environment Science we really hit on the topic that Dr. Kuban is most passionate about - this planet and basically in his words - our "rape" of it. His voice rose on more than one occasion as he tried to instill in us that while our parents had screwed up the planet, there was still a chance we could make a change.

When the lecture was over he said - "Go home, grab a cerveza and find your ecological footprint." There is a website out there where you can find your ecological footprint, basically it tells you based on your current consumption of resources where you stand.

The website is : http://www.myfootprint.org/ Go check it out and find yours. Here are my results :


Looks like I need to make some changes.

Sample conspiracy......

I belong to a website called http://www.startsampling.com/ - it used to be a cool website with lots of fun samples you could get for free....now it is a sellout with mainly offers for magazine subscriptions, or trial offers that make you order stuff etc. But, occasionally I do go in the there and get a sample of something. Recently I got some haircare samples as seen below :


This is actually a photo of MY samples [used] taken by me.....I couldn't find any stock photos on the internet. So, here is my issue, and hopefully you can get this by looking at the pics or by having a similar experience yourself. These samples come in packets, plasticy, shiny packets....similar to ketchup or mayonnaise packets only bigger.....each with a tiny slit near the top for you to tear the packet open.

Herein lies the problem.....when you use these sample packets, you are in the shower, wet from head to toe....it is virtually impossible to grasp one of these packets and open it. Don't believe me ? Try it. Now the key is to get a packet of something that has the slit on the side of the packet not jagged edges along the top. It is one slippery sucker

Needless to say, now I keep a pair of scissors near the shower....conspiracy I tell ya, conspiracy.

Bloom where you are planted.....

....don't freak, two days in a row. ::wink::

Okay, so now I have a real patio with chairs and a table and still room to walk around. I love to have plants on the patio, but I like to grow them from seeds. I planted some this past weekend and some yesterday. Here are picture of what I have planted. I will give you updates when they sprout and as they grow - how FUN !!

[These are pink Impatients]

[these are come multi-colored flowers - can't remember the name - LOL]

[This is a little herb garden that Joey's
girlfriend, Dina gave me for Christmas]

[this little guy was watching while I planted]

I will probably get a few flowers that are already blooming from the garden center this weekend too so I can enjoy them now. I think "winter", if you can call it that in Texas, is over so it is just sunshine and heat to look forward to for the next 6 months at least.

Happy Spring !!

Happy Birthday, Mom !!

Joe Kuban : We all crap

LOL ! I am laughing just typing that title. It's been awhile since I shared some of Dr. Kuban's wisdom with you guys and last night he was in rare form. In case you forgot, he is my environmental science teacher and he is a riot -telling it like it is. So, not to gross anyone out and if you start to be grossed out, please skip to the next paragraph. Last night we were talking about energy - and he told us the story of how he defecated in the rain forest [on more than one occasion] - after all, he said, "We all crap." Well, yes we do. Anyway, he continued by telling us he then stood there and watched as 14 species of flies and then beetles, and then so on and so on came and made use of his "deposit" - it took 38 minutes for it to be gone. He seemed to be in shock that none of us had ever done anything similar....and even more disappointed that we have never lit a cow-patty on fire on someones front porch. Anyway, he is fun. He told us another story along the same line that I really don't think is tame enough for the blog, so if you talk to me, you can ask me about it.

I just realized that I have never blogged about my laptop. Hmmmm.....yep, I got a laptop. I have been wanting one forever and the fools at DELL actually gave me a line of credit so after much thought, I bought one. It is really nice. I am not using it for work......yet. But, it does give me some much appreciated mobility which I am really enjoying. I have done the "wireless" thing at the No Frills Grill and it has been a nice way to get out of the house and still be connected. I'm hoping to to get it set up for work in the next 30-60 days so I can play with that and then maybe it will give me some options on work location too, maybe longer stays in Florida with work and vacation combined.

So, now I have an iPod and a laptop....all I need is a convertible VW beetle and my life will be complete.

Ciao

Blog slump.....

....OK. My friend Aaron at work just made me realize, I am in a blog slump. He said I am always saying I will write something else soon and then I never do. Apparently, he is right. So, I am going to try and get back on track for the rest of this month and then from that point on. Oooppps.....I guess I just said it again. I guess I need to just do it and quit talking about it.

School is going fine, spring break was last week and it was nice to be off of school for a week. I had a statistics test last night that I think I did OK on and I have an Environmental Science test on Monday. This semester seems to be zipping by. I hope they post the summer schedules soon so I can get signed up and get my August vacation planned for Florida.

So, I am off for two days now, my weekend.

Spell check, please

OK, first of all, I am not a perfect speller. But, guess what, this blogger thing even has a spell check - and I always read through my posts at least once to avoid the misspellings that spell checker does not catch - like when you don't spell the word wrong it's just the wrong word.

Well, for every tech support call I take I have to log it into a note tracking system. We just put things like 'merchant called to get batch totals' or 'merchant called to download terminal', basically short and sweet. Today I was logging a call in when I looked down at the notes history at previous notes. Here is one that was put in by the sales office :

Walkin threw install

Good Lord.

Spell check people, if not with your computer's tools....your brain will do just fine.

Please.

Trip to Abilene

So, last weekend I went on a little trip to Abilene, my friend Curtis, was nice enough to trade shifts with me on Thursday so I went over there Thursday night. Friday morning, I took the kids to school and then came back to the house to make cookies for a meeting my sister was having at the house.

Soon, it was time to head back to school to have lunch with the kids. Of course, I managed to leave home without my check card and only one check. So, when I stopped at WalMart earlier that day to get cookies supplies I was able to write a check for over to get some cash for lunch with the kids.....whew.

Each of them get to bring one friend to the table to have lunch with me. Here are some pics from lunch :

[Morgan]

[Morgan and her friend Trinity]

[Mason]

[Mason and his friend Jesus]

After lunch I went back to the house to rest until it was time to pick up the kids. That night we went to Mr. Gatti's for dinner. Instead of playing arcade games, we came home and played Junior Pictionary. Up until that night, Morgan had not been in a winning team - but we kicked butt and beat JoLynn and Mason. Woo hoo ! Losers.

Saturday we got up and headed to the Abilene State park.....where we had a little hike. Here is a picture from the trail.

Then after naming every restaurant in Abilene the kids finally decided on Chili's for lunch. Here is Morgan digging into her favorite thing....back ribs.

It was a fun trip and I headed back home Saturday night. SPRING BREAK this week !! Woo hoo !

Merge

Okay, it's been awhile since I did a blog like this one. Today's blog is about merging onto the highway. In case you were not aware, the responsibility for merging onto the highway lies solely with the merger, not the traffic going 70 miles an hour already on the highway.

Here is an excerpt from Texas Highway Traffic Laws :

"Unless traffic on the freeway is completely stopped, or there is no place for you to go, do not ever stop on a freeway entrance ramp! This is an extremely serious traffic hazard. Drivers behind you are speeding-up to get up to freeway speed and are looking back up the freeway for a gap to merge into. They are not expecting you to stop! If you can't squeeze into traffic by the time you get to the end of the ramp, make sure your left turn signal is on and keep going on the shoulder until you can merge into the traffic stream."

Now, my issue is with the driver's trying to merge on that drive next to me. Either speed up and go in front of me, or slow down and merge in behind me. Don't expect me to do either. Of course, as this other excerpt from the law states, I will move over if I can to the next lane to help you merge in but in some cases I cannot do that. So, the onerous is on you at that point.

"If you're in the right lane of a freeway and see traffic preparing to merge, move over or give them room to merge. Although the law requires traffic entering the freeway to yield, good drivers will make the effort to help-out their fellow drivers."

So, bottom line :

1. It is your job to successfully merge onto the highway, not mine.
2. I will move over if I can, but I am not going to speed up or slow down.
3. Be safe.

That is all.

P.S. Oh yeah, I had received some feedback from some regular readers to change my blog back to BLACK.....so here it is. I am playing with the other colors but for now, purple and green.

Straight As and Es

So I heard through the family grapevine that my niece and nephew came home yesterday with straight As and Es on their report cards. Sounds like D-daddy and Grammy owe some kids some money. I keep trying to get in on that action with my college grades but it isn't working yet. Anyway, congrats to Mason and Morgan !! I am very proud of them.

Speaking of which, since it has been a lifetime since my last post, JoLynn and the kids were here last weekend for something called Destination Imagination. Mason has been in it a couple of years I think and Morgan was in for the 1st time this year. It is kinda hard to explain what it is all about so click on the underlined link above to learn more. Here are some pictures from the event :

[after the long bus ride from Abilene, the team gathers and gets their game faces on]

[the leader of the pack doles out some advice to the team who seems enthralled]

[high finances ensue....hopefully not to bribe the judges]

[the team poses for their press photo]

[last minute strategizing before the competition]

[let the show begin]

[the team performs their skit]

[Morgan's singing debut - composed originally as a Christian rock song by Mason]

[her adoring fans]

[the competition is over - some successful shopping at the DI store
yields some new head gear in this final press photo]

Overall the competition was long and tiring - but the team did great and obviously had a lot of fun in the process.

Another blog update tomorrow......really.

Ugh....

So, I just realized that it has been almost a week since my last blog, what is wrong with me ?? I guess, as predicted, with school etc. my life has started to get a little mundane. Right now, I am sick. I know, I never get sick......but I have a sore throat and some congestion. Of course, much to my mother's dismay, I have not gone to the doctor. I know I should have yesterday while I was off but, I didn't.

Let's see....in school this past week we had a test in Statistics. It was easy. Maybe because I dislike my Stats teacher so much and think he is incapable of teaching, I studied harder, unsure of what the heck he might put on there. But, I was done in like 12 minutes with the whole test....I know I missed one, maybe two that I just didn't know or guessed at, but sitting there any longer wasn't going to help. Dr. Kuban, Environmental Science, gave us Wednesday night off for Valentine's day so it was a nice short evening for a change.

I had DVR issues again this week.....grrrr. I had been recording every episode of Veronica Mars for my sister because she doesn't get it on her cable and I finally figured out how to move it to a VCR tape on Thursday. So, I started doing that. Then Friday, yesterday, when I woke up I went in to kick off another recording and nothing on my DVR would play. I messed with it and called Time-Warner cable but they said there was nothing they could do except trade out the cable box.....grrrrr. So, if anyone can tell me what happended on One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives and Criminal Minds this last week - I would appreciate it.

Well, there is a little bit about my week. I know I say it all the time, but I will try to get more regular with my blogging again.

Have a good weekend.

Back home.....

....well, I got back home around 7:30p on Saturday night.....a little later than I had planned but still earlier enough to settle down for the night. I had a great time, as usual, in Abilene. I had lunch with the kids on Friday and then picked them up at 3:15p from school. I managed to get a little studying in there and also got ready for a little after-school project I had for them. We did our project and then when JoLynn got home, we went to Cracker Barrell for dinner, the kids choice. It was nice, even though neither of them ate very well.

Basically, we had an early night with a little Scooby Doo movie marathon before bedtime. Saturday morning we got up and milled around the house until it was time to leave for Mason's basketball game. It's hard to get pics there but here are a couple :

[during the game - the ref makes a call]

[after the game - snack time and rewards]

He plays for a league called Upward Bound through the church. He got a RED star after the game for BEST DEFENSE. I wanted to get a shot of him blocking his assigned guy during the game but it was hard to get the shot. He did really awesome on defense and also had an NBA-like save on out of bounds line during the game.

Overall, a great weekend....now back to work and school.