A few updates

• My boss gave me the day off, even though I didn't ask for it. A great way to start the holiday weekend, if you ask me.
• I made some kickin garlic & Parmesan mashed potatoes for our dinner group the other night. I love trying new recipes, especially when everyone loves the dish!
• In the last 4 business days, 2 managers in my group resigned. Change, anyone?
• On that note, Monday will mark me getting my 4th manager in 14 months. Given my recent track record, I preliminarily predict that she will resign in 4-6 months. (Kidding...hopefully!)
• I'm working on a book on Blurb as a Christmas gift for a few family members, and I'm really enjoying it. I'll post a link once it's fully baked.
• Medvedev is freaking me out a bit. Stay tuned.
• I'm reading a new book called Epicenter, and really loving it. If you're at all interested in the Middle East, end times, and specifically the future of Israel, you should check it out.

Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving to you all! Enjoy the long weekend!

A river runs through it

Or at least it did last night for a bit.

It seems that our neck of the woods is experiencing a little plumbing trouble. A few weeks back, Amar and I called the City after seeing water gushing up from the pavement around the corner. It was literally coming from a crack in some one's driveway.

A few hours after our call, the City crews showed up and seemed to fix the problem after some minor repairs.

Then a few days later, they were back at that same spot, ripping up the bike lane on that side of the street. It seemed the initial repair was a bit lacking.

Fast-forward to last night. As we walked to the car on our way out to get some food, Amar asked why there was water in the street. Upon further investigation, right around the corner (this time a bit closer to our house) it seemed that water was again gushing up from the ground. We called the City again and reported the issue.

Two hours later, when we returned home, water was still everywhere and there were no repair crews in sight. Amar called the City again, and they said they would have someone out there in "a few hours"...brilliant. This was around 9PM.

At midnight, we were awakened by loud thud, and another one, and another one. This went on, intermittently for about an hour. The repair crew had finally made it out to the newly formed spring.

Then this morning while walking the dogs, I wanted to survey the damage. Surely they had to have done something last night, right? Well, the whole block seemed to have traces of silt and sand that had been washed out of the construction site. And upon arriving at the scene of the crime, we saw where it came from:

A huge hole, about 15 feet long, 4 feet wide and deep enough for one guy to just barely stick his head out above ground. Half the road was closed.


(Not the actual picture of the street, but also not too far of an exaggeration...)

I mean, are we good citizens or what? We're practically on a first name basis with the 3-1-1 operator at this point.

Sometimes I surprise myself

Last night, on the way home, I started thinking about dinner. Now, this is highly unusual for me. I usually don't ever think about dinner, or if I do, it's about 5 minutes after both Amar and I get hungry.

For some reason though, yesterday was different.

I knew that I had some beef stir-fry strips in the freezer. I had bought them quite a while ago, optimistically thinking at the time that it would be fun to try that...

And I also knew that I had frozen broccoli florets as well as some left over rice.

And in a moment of sheer inspiration and sense of impending victory, I decided that I would make beef and broccoli "stir-fry"*.

Adding to the level of complexity for the evening was the following:

• Amar had a meeting to go to at 6PM. I made the decision to cook at 4:45 PM. Past cooking endeavours such as this one had dragged on for an hour or so, thus I knew I had to step it up...
• I had no recipe that I could reference, so I had to find one by digging through a few cookbooks.
• I have never made beef and broccoli, much less anything resembling "stir-fry" before.
• After locating a recipe, I realized that I didn't have any ginger. Gasp!

In the past, this would have paralyzed me. I'm a perfectionist, and I don't like to try things that I know I can't win. The above constraints would have just sent me packing.

But last night was different.

Unencumbered by self-doubt or the fear of failure, I pressed on.

I started cooking additional rice, since I didn't have enough left-over.
I started mixing the stir-fry ingredients for the sauce.
I started chopping vegetables (onions, garlic, etc.).
I started prepping everything else.

And without stressing, without snapping at Amar, without setting anything ablaze, it happened**:




And we both actually liked it.


*Note: we don't necessarily have a wok, so I made due with what we did have: Pots and pans. I know, genius.

**Note: Not an actual picture of our meal, but pretty darn close.

White House hopes...

When I took our dogs out this morning, they seemed a bit distracted. They just couldn't quite concentrate, and it wasn't because of the squirrels.

Nope.

It seems they are quite concerned as to the future of the White House: it's four-legged inhabitants, to be specific.

You see, the White House has been occupied for the past several years by two very distinguished, very proud little Scotties: Barney and Miss Beazley.

And as you might know, the Obamas will bring a new dog into the house after the Scotties move on.

While our girls will be quite sad to see such wonderful dogs move out, they are increasingly hopeful that yet another Scottie will be chosen to roam the Rose Garden. Before I left the house today, they provided me with a list to share, noting the benefits of adding a Scottie to the Obama family:

1. Scotties are quite opinionated and tenacious, thus making them valuable advisers to any policy issue that might arise on the Hill.
2. Scotties will keep the White House free of any potential rodent, specifically squirrels, which can be quite pesky. No worries of any mice on the premises when a Scottie is on the lookout.
3. Scotties will dance on command, and can be very adept at breaking any awkward silences that might occur when greeting foreign dignitaries. If any new Scottie needs training, Bella has offered to train them, as she happens to really love to dance. Her favorite song, of late, is "I like to move it, move it" as well as that Indian song at the beginning of "Inside Man".
4. Scotties can go from a day to evening look in mere minutes, requiring very little grooming.
5. Scotties like rope toys and peanut butter. (I'm not sure how this fits in with the whole "White House" theme, but I think Bella and Zoey just wanted to remind me...)

That was the extent of their list from this morning, but I'm sure it's so short simply because they got distracted and thought that they heard a squirrel.

So Obamas, please take these wise words into account when choosing your new pet.

Barney and Miss Beazley, I think Bella and Zoey speak for all Central Texas Scotties when they say that you will be missed.

Until next time...B & Z

Not to bug you too much, but...

Here's another review of I.O.U.S.A. on another blog I read. Good stuff:

Slide:ology review

Change

More embarassing pictures...

I'm beginning to think that about 80% of the pictures of me on the Internet are pretty embarrassing. Not that I mind....but I just wanted to put a number on it.

Anyhow, just to pile on a bit, here are some pictures of my Small Group Bible Study at a Halloween party last week. We've gotten rave reviews on the costumes, so no pressure, but I think you're going to enjoy them as well.

Now, I who doesn't love a good red? And I must say, that being red had it's perks for the photo shoot. I mean, you can't deny that it's a primary color, and is a critical part of so many other colors and color combos. I don't want to assume anything, but the secondary colors were looking at little envious.... ;)



The crayons, in all their glory.




Arrogant primary colors.




Red and blue make purple!




Orange was a little embarrassed by his parents. I mean, who wouldn't be? His dad was wearing a skirt!




The color wheel - wheeee!!!




I'm red. He's brown. Got a problem with that?




Girl colors - unite!