I hate nut grease.

Remember when I said I loved to make my titles something that would make you want to read them…….?? How was this one ?? Ha ha.

So, today is my last day at Encore Payments Systems…..it's a sad and happy day. I am sad to be leaving so many great people that were really there for me when I needed it. But, I am happy about the new job that starts Monday.

Oh yeah….the blog title. I promised to make Curtis some chocolate chip cookies for his last day here at Encore [which is also my last day] and his only request was that I put WALNUTS in the cookies. Now, I am not a fan of nuts in my cookies but I gave in and made them last night. Well, when you add nuts to cookies…..in this case walnuts…..it adds what I call ‘nut grease’ to the batter and that makes the cookies bake flatter….which I hate. As my roommate can tell you, I am VERY particular about how the cookie from the oven LOOKS. It has to be the perfect brown on the outside with a crunch and soft a yummy on the inside and it absolutely CANNOT be flat. So, there you have it….I hate nut grease.

Have a nice day.

I still love ya.....

Well, I had hoped the Dallas Maverick's would come back to their home court and get their act together but I guess it just wasn't meant to be this year. I am still a fan and still proud of them for getting to the finals..........and Dirk, I still love ya ! With all that double-teaming and still 29 points and 15 rebounds last night, I'm still your #1 fan.

Change is good.....

When I started this blog…..my first title was CHANGE IS GOOD … and now that is the title again. Well, change is good and here is another one for me :

Two weeks after I started working for Encore, I was contacted by an industry recruiter about a potential job in the area. Basically, the company he represented was creating what they called ‘a pod’ of home-based employees in the Dallas area. The job would be providing customer service and technical support for credit card terminals and the merchants that use them. My training for the new job, starts Tuesday, June 27th….and will last for 5 days. Then, I am on my own from home. The beauty of the new job is that once my 3-month probation period is up I can get a more flexible schedule which will help me finish my college goals sooner. PLUS, no more commuting, no more toll-tag, no more dress-up clothes, no make-up….etc.

It was a tough decision no matter the benefits…..I am a loyal employee and I am very grateful for the opportunity I had at Encore when my career was on the line. They welcomed me with open arms and I was a nervous wreck the day I gave my notice. But, as expected, Matt was awesome about it and very understanding.

I’m looking forward to the new challenges that lay ahead and I plan to share it all with you here. Please feel free to leave comments or contact me in some other way if you have any questions about the new job. Oh, by the way, it is with a company named Cynergy Data based in Manhattan, NY.

GO MAVS !!!!

Don't even get me started.......

…on the Mavs game last night. Referees determine who wins games, not players, not awesome plays, not even coaches…..referees. And, apparently this season they are all fans of the Miami Heat. I know my Dirk and his team will step it up now that they are back in Dallas so I am not worried….but sheeesh !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIRK !! Today is Dirk's birthday.

This weekend was a busy one…..Friday night was the usual No Frills Grill for food, drink and NTN trivia. Saturday I got up fairly early and Courtney and I went to see The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. It was VERY good…..I don’t want to give anything away on it but I can say it does NOT end like City of Angels….so I hope that helps. In the parking lot as we were going in, we saw this bumper sticker in the window of a car. Any ideas on what this might stand for ??? Anyone, anyone ??

Saturday night, I went to my friend Bev’s wedding. We have been friends for - wow - half my life. And she married an awesome guy, James. If I could have described the perfect guy for her, it would have been this guy. Here are a couple of pictures of her in the bride room before the wedding :

Sunday, I drove to Denton and cruised around looking at apartment options. I am thinking about moving there so I can be close to UNT to work on my school stuff. I was disappointed at how run down most of the town was. I haven’t ruled it out yet, but it does require some additional thought. On the way home I stopped at Wal-Mart for a few items and during a bathroom break [I know - more than you wanted to know] I saw this in one of the bathroom stalls :

When I die, please do not memorialize me in a bathroom stall. Please. And, in case you ever hear in the stall next to you “Say, cheese !” it may just be someone’s camera phone taking a picture of bathroom graffiti. I’m just sayin’

Nbr41sGirl

So, many of you that know me, know that my email address is Nbr8sGirl@...... some have asked what this means and some probably could care less. I have had this email address since Troy Aikmen joined the Dallas Cowboys and the expanded version ‘Number 8s Girl’ reflects my dedication to Troy - Dallas Cowboy’s #8. Well, even though I will not be changing my email address…..going forward, I would like to call myself Nbr41sGirl since my new sporting crush is Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks.

Now, you may be saying that my devotion is misplaced since he shot 2 of 14 in last nights game four against the Miami Heat, but I say…..”pleh”…he’ll be back in full form on Sunday….and I still feel that the Mavs will win the series.

So, until then…….GO MAVS !!!

Signed, Nbr41sGirl ::wink::

Are you in the right place.....

If you want to read about serious topical things that may even spur a conversation or debate, then I would recommend you click on DIGITAL FORTRESS over there to the right. However, if you want to read stories about people burping loudly in the movie theatre or bumper stickers that read ‘Silly boys, trucks are for girls…..” then you are in the right place…..

So, I was at the movies the other day….either The Break Up or The DaVinci Code….and there is this man sitting in the row in front of me with his wife and daughter. We are fairly early so the only thing going on in the theatre is the slide show of repetitive movie trivia and not once but TWICE the man in front of me burps and I mean BURPS….loudly. His wife and daughter don’t even turn to look at him and he acts as if nothing happened which makes me infer that this is normal behavior for him and even in public places. Interesting. I mean, at the very least, I think an acknowledgement with a ‘Excuse me” or something to his companions. Now, even if he has a medical condition of some sort, I still think an acknowledgement is needed in a PUBLIC place. If he’s at home, who cares, they are probably used to it.

Anyway, that’s is my totally non-political blog for the day. Stay tuned for an important blog tomorrow … or maybe later tonight.

Hurricane Alberto

Seriously, I can only handle one Alberto in my life at a time…..and I already have one, thank you. So, for those of you watching this storm today, please keep my parents and brother in your thoughts…..they are on the outskirts of the storm and should be OK but with hurricane season in full force now, they can use the extra positive thinking on any of these occasions.

Final Vacation Recap....kinda long and very late.

Sorry for the delay. Life has been CrAzY to say the least. So, where were we.......ah, yes. Disney World. We decided to just go to downtown Disney and not to an actual park...none of us had $60 bucks to spend to get in and Downtown Disney is just as fun, well almost. ::wink::

So, here are a few pics from the trip.

Of course, there was a lot of emphasis in the Disney Store on 'Pirates of the Caribbean' so here is dad with some of the cast......

And, here are Joey and I trying on a couple of hats [taken with the camera phone] .... mine seemed fairly appropriate.....well, maybe they bother are. ::wink::

And, then my favorite store ... the lego store. These first two pics are of a serpent in the lake. This thing is made entirely of legos - awesome :

And this one - WOW !

And then you go inside, and you get this :

It is a life-size full body lego sculpture, I just took a pic of the head. The store itself is amazing. This next picture is just a huge section of walls with legos in every shape and color.

And then this wall.......can you guess what this is??

Then we went to Coronado Springs Resort for lunch.....yummy as usual. And then for a drive over to The Animal Kingdom Lodge. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of the inside because it was AWESOME....but I did take pictures of the animals that surround the backside of the resort. Imagine having a room facing one of these views :

Then it was time to head back to Punta Gorda.....on Monday, we went down to Casey Key where we had lunch at Pop's. Once when we were there we actually saw a Manatee surface in the waterway but today our only visitor was this bird :

Well, the rest of the week was spent going to the dentist, yes, the dentist. When your mom works for a dentist you get in for FREE stuff whenever you are in town. I lost about a pint of blood [the dental assistant said a gallon] on the first day I was there but the second and last day was much better even though it did involve a scalpel and a dissolvable stitch. OUCH !

Oh, and playing cards, and NTN trivia and going to see Mission Impossible III. You have yummy meals cooked by my mom and Joey. You hang out at 'Pinch-A-Penny' a couple of times when dad and Joey are selling pool/spa stuff and doing water tests. You go wash love-bugs off of everyone's car a few times ... here's a poor picture [phone camera] of the front of Joey's car after it had been attacked by the little bastards :

We did quite a few other things while we hung out just being a family.....the best vacation ever !!

Now, that I have finished the vacation recap....I'll get back to regular blogging this week. Until then.....ciao !

We interrupt this vacation recap with the following announcement.....

Jeff got a job !

That is all.

I’m baaaccckkkkk…..

So, I’m back. And, here I am at work….yuk ! I had a great time visiting with Mom, Dad and Joey for 10 WHOLE DAYS. I plan to do a recap of the trip over the next few days including some pictures.

As mentioned over a week ago, I arrived safe and sound on Thursday, May 25th around 10:00p. Mom, Dad and Joey were there to greet me of course. Mom was off work for the next four days and Dad was off work for three of the next four days so we were able to go out and about for the long weekend. You may notice me mention MEALS a lot in my recap posts which is due to the fact that I had made numerous requests of my mom and brother on what homemade meals I wanted to eat while I was there. They are both great cooks and know my favorites.

As mentioned previously, on Friday [the 26th] we went to see OVER THE HEDGE which was great. We were going to go down to Casey Key that day but it was rainy and muggy so we decided on an afternoon movie instead. After the movie we went to the store to pick up dinner fixins and then home for dinner and a little NTN Trivia.

Saturday [the 27th], dad had to work so basically Mom and I ran errands. We met Joey for lunch at TGI Friday’s and then headed home to get dinner ready. This was our first night playing cards…..we play this awesome game called SHANGHAI which is kind of a progressive-rummy type game. I, in some kind of wrinkle in the space-time continuum, won the game.

Sunday [the 28th] was Disney Day…..updates and pictures on that tomorrow.

I'm alive.....

.....just a quick update. I am still in Florida......flying home tomorrow [Sunday]....and I will resume posting then. It's just too hard to post while I am here because we have been busy, etc. I think I will do a vacation review all week this week so you know what I did while I was gone.....like you care.....plus, I have some pictures I want to post too.

More soon.......

Safe and sound....

Well, I made it to Florida, safe and sound. We got to the house around 11:30p on Thursday night and pretty much went to bed. Then yesterday we got up and had yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we went to the mall and the afternoon movie to see 'Over the Hedge' ... it was really cute.

We came home and relaxed for the afternoon and then Dina came over for dinner. For dinner, Joey grilled pork chops and made a tomato salad, mom baked some potatoes, regular and sweet, and we had some sun-dried tomato bread with dipping oils. Overall, super good. Everyone was stuffed. We played a little NTN trivia on the TV before bed and then we all gave in from the exhaustion of the late night we had the day before and hit the sheets.

Today, dad is working and mom, Joey and I will just be running around all day with little errands, etc. Tomorrow we are going to DISNEY WORLD just for the day and not to a park just Downtown Disney, etc. I can't wait. More updates later. Everyone enjoy the long weekend.

Soul Patrol ! Soul Patrol !

I am thrilled that Taylor Hicks won American Idol last night. I had wanted Chris Daughtry to win and trust me, he was robbed. But, when it came down to Katherine and Taylor, there was no question.

Taylor Hicks all the way !

And, KMAN …. Please, explain to me what happened on your favorite show last night. Yes, I do watch it every week so I am totally up to date but if last night was supposed to “resolve” issues and “answer” questions…..I missed it. I have more questions now than I have had all season. Help me. [but, I loved it…..]

And lastly……I’m leavin’ on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again……Well, actually, I’ll be back again on June 4th. I will be blogging while I am gone so stay tuned.

Why blog .....??

Lately it seems, my friends and family have been waxing philosophical in their blogs which brings us back to the age old question “Why do you blog ?” I’ve decided I blog for several reasons :

• I want to keep those that are not near me up to date on my life
• I want to encourage others to blog
• I want to rant, vent, philosophize, amuse, announce and basically just talk

So, why do you blog or if you don’t blog, what do you like about the fact that others do blog ??

Comment away.

And, guess what ? I leave for Florida TOMORROW !!! Yipeee !!!

iPod update and 24

352 songs in the iPod now.....and growing. I'm trying to get 500 in there before I leave for Florida but it is slow as I pick and choose things from each CD I am importing rather than loading the entire CD every time.

Let me just say, as I have said so many times before......24 is the best show on TV. Sure, there are unrealistic elements but it is by far the most compelling, thought provoking, enthralling show I have ever watched and the suspense that the Season Finale brought last night in the last 2 minutes, makes the wait for January 2007 almost unbearable. If you have never seen this show, I encourage you to rent the DVDs of previous seasons for your summer viewing pleasure.

Have a great Tuesday !

Birthday Updates and weekend happenings.....

Whew….Monday, Monday. Sorry for the delay in posting.

I had an AMAZING birthday……first of all, a group of friends and family bought me an iPod Video 30GB….it is really cool. So far, I have loaded over 200 songs into it and some pictures. It has a couple of games on it which are really fun too. Overall, it may be one of the best gifts I have ever received. Thanks to Courtney for coordinating such an awesome gift.

Courtney’s birthday is the day before mine, so we went to eat at ‘Simply Fondue’ for her birthday and ‘On The Border’ for mine….both meals were yummy. Friday, we went to the normal ‘No Frills Grill’ and stayed for the Mavs/Spurs game 6 - which was fun even though the Mavs lost.

The rest of the weekend was spent running errands, packing, laundry, washing the grey right outta my hair, loading the iPod, etc. in preparation for my Florida trip….which, by the way, is in THREE days !!!

Happy Birthday to Me !! [updated 10:56a CST]

So, today is the big day ! The big *4*0* ... who cares.....I feel the same. So far it has been great ! My friend Curtis at work made me an gorgeous purple birthday banner that says 'Happy Birthday Tracy !!' - I love it.

Happy day to everyone !!

10:56a CST UPDATE : I just received awesome flowers from my family - here they are :

Batman, magic potions, a mystery guest and patio furniture....

Happy Birthday, Courtney !

I love making up fun titles for my blog…..it makes you want to read it, doesn’t it ?? By the way, we’re now into the single digits for my vacation countdown…8 days until Florida.

OK, so last night two of my friends, Jeff and Alicia took me out for graduation dinner which because of the delay in coordinating it, turned kind of into graduation/birthday dinner. We had dinner at ‘The Magic Time Machine’ in Dallas which was awesome. In case you aren’t familiar, the waiters dress up as characters and as you might have now guessed, our waiter was Batman. It was fun and he was funny, but the funniest thing was that this guy, the restaurant photographer, comes by our table, presumably to take a picture of us that he hoped we would later purchase and he says “Is it just the four of you tonight ?” We glance around the table to see of there is a mystery guest sitting there that we missed and cautiously reply “Ummm, no only three….” Needless to say, he continued to try and be funny, took our picture, which we did not buy and left. Dinner was yummy, and we each had a drink called “Magic Potion”, not sure what was in it but Alicia got a red one, Jeff got a blue one and I got a green one and when they came they were bubbling and smoking…..eeeeee. Here is a picture of mine, but you can’t really see the bubbles and smoke.

Before dinner, Jeff and Alicia had given me my graduation present back at the apartment. It was new patio furniture for my new apartment I’ll be getting in September. When we got back to their apartment, I made them set it up and get their picture taken. Here is my awesome new patio furniture :

Anyway, it was a great night, and they are great friends. Until next time, ciao !

Change is good....

10 DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE FOR FLORIDA !!! Yipee !!

Whew…..it’s finally over. I am taking a break for the summer because I have to re-think where I am going next. I was planning on going to UTA or maybe UNT but now that I will be moving over here at the end of the summer, I need to re-think. But, change is good. I am still leaning toward UNT but I need to make sure the commute will work from here to there in the evenings. Plus, on my own, I will probably need to get a 2nd job for awhile to make ends meet so I may have to delay the next step of my educational journey to the spring. But, I tend encounter a challenge in everything I attempt so this will be no exception.

Stay tuned.

P.S. My new schedule at work for the summer is 8:00a - 5:00p CST.

Graduation 2006

<-- As we arrived at the Tarrant County Convention Center....Morgan was trying on my mortar hat. After we got there I wished I had decorated the top of mine with jewels, sparkles, etc. There was even a girl there with Christmas garland draped around hers. Oh well, next time.






--> After graduation, a really nice man stopped and asked if he could take our picture and we of course, jumped at the chance.




<--And, here I am after graduation. Talking of course.....probably trying to tell JoLynn how to take the picture or Morgan to stay awayt from the street or something equally nagging.





--> And lastly, here I am with my graduation present from the Hightower's...my very own build-a-bear graduate.





I just want to say thanks to everyone that believed in me and helped me achieve this goal. As exciting and fulfilling as it was for me personally to finally reach an educational milestone, it was made that much sweeter thinking about all of the people that were there with me on each step of the journey. And, guess what ?? I'm not done yet ! Stay tuned.