Boston: Been there, done that

We survived our trip to Boston. Actually, we did more than survive. We loved it! Great weather, tons of stuff to see, a great walking town. It was super fantastic. More detailed updates on Amar's blog: Here and here.

I've uploaded some pictures in two batches. One batch, the unedited one, is every picture I took during our trip. They have not been touched up, cropped, or anything special. A few of my favorites are below. I like to call this the "Rama" series:

First we have SleepaRama:



And then we have TanoRama:


The other batch is a subset of the aforementioned batch, but I've done a little work in Picasa (!). I get a bit carried away with Picasa at times, but I generally enjoy the results. Hope you like 'em as well. Here's a few:

A view from Christopher Columbus park to the water:


A street shot at night in Little Italy:



Links:
All Boston pictures: here
Edited Boston pictures: here

I think I'll go to Boston

Well, in lieu of taking a big summer vacation, we've opted to delay our official "vacation" until later this year. But November is too long to wait for a break, so we're taking a mini-break this weekend.

I've been there before, way back in high school, and I remember loving it. And since Amar's been there all week in training, he hasn't had much time to see the city. So it should be a fun, long weekend.

Gratuitous Boston Links:

• General Boston info
• We're staying near Boston Common
• We'll be navigating Boston's public transportation system

Wish us luck!

Green thumb?

This daisy is the pride and joy of my porch. Never in my life have I kept a plant alive for more than a week (that guy's going on a week now). And most certainly I've never taken care of a plant and had it produce a flower!

Ha!

And what's just as fun? I'm growing some basil in the pot right next to it...wish me luck!

Where am I and who are you people?!

Seriously, this must be some freakish hick phenomenon.

Local news shows continue to highlight the fact that the water is laden with bacteria. So I'll be they catch something all right. But that something might be more along the lines of ecoli.

Picture courtesy of Austinist.com

Moive review: Once

To celebrate our nation's independence yesterday, I, along with millions of other Americans, went to the movies. A group of us saw Once and we loved it.

I'd heard a bit about it a few weeks back, and was even listening to a radio show when the star called in to discuss the film. All that I'd heard was that it was sort of a musical, which I now kind of disagree with. While the music does play a huge role in the film, this isn't the song-and-dance type of movie that you'd see Baz Luhrmann produce. (Nothing against Baz, this just isn't at all like his work...)

All in all, it was a great show. I was a huge fan of most of the music, and it just felt so real. The actors were actually the ones that sang and wrote most of the songs, and that was just amazing.

Not to give anything away, but I was glad that this movie didn't end the way I kind of wanted it to. See it, and you'll understand what I mean. Looking forward to downloading the soundtrack...

Stereotypes

What? US? A bunch of what you say?




Oh yeah, hillbillies.




This picture, courtesy of CNN, was taken near Valley Mills, Texas.

Saturday night live!!

That's what my co-workers in Brazil when we work an all-nighter over the weekend....which is what we're doing this weekend.

So I'm going to be working from about 5PM tonight until we get done, which should be hopefully around 1AM on Sunday....

Wish me luck!

Song for the gas man

To the tune of B-I-N-G-O

There was a girl who had no gas
And Kim-bo was her name-o
K-I-M-B-O
K-I-M-B-O
K-I-M-B-O
And Kim-bo was her name-o

Gas man said he'd come by to-day
But he has not come by yet
Please come by to-day
Please come by to-day
Please come by to-day
Sang Kim-bo to the gas man

Gas man, gas man where have you gone
I need to take a show-er
Nice hot show-er
Nice hot show-er
Nice hot show-er
Sang Kim-bo to the gas man

Please come to-day if you so dare
I'd like to wash my red hair
Need to wash my hair
Need to wash my hair
Need to wash my hair
Sang Kim-bo to the gas man

I need to run an errand now,
I'm sure you'll come when I'm gone
Must wait here for you
Must wait here for you
Must wait here for you
Sang Kim-bo to the gas man....

Open letter to the city

You know, my dear city, this has just been a long series of days....I was looking forward to today, because I thought that you were going to send out an inspector to my house, check for any leaks in the gas line, give me a clean bill of health, and be on your merry way...all WITHOUT me having to be there.

Never did you call to schedule an appointment.

Never did you even hint about when you'd find the time to swing by.

You simply told me that you were too busy on Friday and might get to me on Monday.

Well, when I got home today, I saw that you'd left me a note. I was hoping that it said, "You're good to go! You're totally awesome! You're ACES!"

But no.

Apparently "Jim" told me, in all caps by the way, that "INSPECTOR NEEDS TO HAVE SOMEONE ACCOMPANY HIM FOR INSPECTION INSIDE THE HOME - RESCHEDULE."

Ok. Just a few things I'd like to point out:

1) I was told specifically by several plumbing entities that I need NOT be at the house when INSPECTOR came by.
2) There's a freaking GIANT gauge on the EXTERNAL gas line that clearly shows that it's holding 15 pounds of pressure, which I happen to understand is the correct reading of said gauge. This proves that there are no leaks in my house. Why would you need to come in? Why?!?!?
3) In order for me to REschedule, I would have first needed to SCHEDULE!!! Which, by the way, I tried to do countless times, failing at every single attempt. Scheduling was not this issue here, city. You and I both know that.

So "Jim" left his number. I called promptly after I got home from work...at which I worked NORMAL hours (i.e. 8-5)...which had me reading your note at 5:40PM today. Apparently, and I hope you know this, dear city, apparently Jim's normal working hours are 7AM to 3PM, and according to his voicemail, he's available to see customers Monday through Friday from 7-8AM.

Ah, lucky me.

LUCKY FREAKING ME!

This means, my best case for the next few days, as I see it, is as follows:
1) Jim checks his voicemail at 7AM tomorrow and he calls me.
2) I'm able to then schedule for Wednesday, if Jim's got a slot open in his busy schedule.
3) Jim comes out Wednesday and says everything is peachy.
4) I call the actual gas company on Wednesday and then ask them to come out to my house to actually turn the gas ON and they just might happen to have an opening on Thursday.
5) The gas company, who refuse to actually give you a window of time during which they will come to your house, calls me 30 minutes before they arrive at my house on Thursday.
6) I'm lucky enough to actually hear and respond to my phone while I'm at my office doing my JOB and the call comes conveniently at a point during my day at which I can sail down the freeway to my house in less than 25 minutes to meet the gas guy.
7) Gas guy waits for me to get there and is able to turn on my service.
8) I have hot water and a functioning stove by close of business Thursday.

But city, I know better. This is week #2 of this soap opera, and frankly, I know "best case" is probably more like "when pigs fly" so to be honest, I'm not going to get my hopes up. Getting my hopes up only means that they will be dashed against sharp, pointy, poison-coated rocks when just one of the above items fails to materialize. Getting my hopes up eventually winds up in a sorrowful, rage-filled phone call to my traveling husband in which I sound more like a sailor than an IT professional.

So no, my hopes will stay firmly on the ground, next to the gas pipe with the freaking GIANT gauge on it. That way, we may finally be able to meet in person.

What's that you say, city? You actually LIKE the look of my hair after I wash it in the sink because I personally refuse to take a cold shower in my own home? Why, thanks. That's kind of you. You probably never want me to have hot water again. Oh, and you're probably laughing your silly little head off about the brand new oven that is sitting in my shiny new kitchen completely USELESS, since it has no gas. You probably really like that, don't you.

Fine.

Be that way.

You showed me, didn't you.

We'll settle this at the gas gauge, city.

We're in!

This past weekend we successfully moved from our apartment to our house. Yay for us! Though it was a bit stressful, it does feel good to be out of the apartment for good. Even though we were able to get rid of several boxes of items (headed to Goodwill as we speak), it's still amazing how much stuff there was to move.

Today, I'm taking the day off work and staying home to meet various folks who are swinging by the house. The locksmith was here earlier, and now the countertop folks are working away in the kitchen. The plumber should be out later this afternoon, and all in all, it seems to be coming together nicely.

As soon as I can find one of the cables for my camera, I'll be posting some pictures. Wish me luck!

The standoff

I'm sitting at the new house.

I'm waiting for the cable guy.

There is a giant red wasp hanging on the ceiling in the kitchen.

I'm only 10 feet away from it and do not wish to anger it.

I am trapped.

I am praying that God would intervene and somehow the wasp would just die, suddenly. Maybe it has heart disease or influenza. Something that could potentially be fatal to a wasp. But I'm praying that it would die. Soon.

Otherwise, I'll have to beg the cable guy to kill it when he gets here. And since he's coming between 8-12 today, it might be a long wait.

From where I'm sitting, I have a perfect view of the thing. It's just hanging there, almost motionless with the exception of the occasional wing flutter (which just about sends me running for the hills).

Tools at hand to kill it or defend myself? A tiny broom that one of the contractors left the other day.

Please pray for my safety if you get this in time...

The sounds of silence

I walked into work today and immediately sensed something strange.

It seemed...quieter.

But people were talking, hands were typing, phones were ringing.

But I could definitely sense that it was quieter.







So I asked around a bit, just to do a sanity check. Turns out that the AC was shut off about 10 minutes before I walked in (although I will say that it was still quite cold!). It's amazing how I had become so used to the white noise. And to be completely honest, my ears started hurting.

They wanted that white noise. They kept trying to listen for it! And it started giving me a headache. After 5 years with the AC noise in the background, it hurt to have it disappear.

Funnier still? Everyone is talking about it. We're just a bunch of lab rats....

In a state of mourning...or about to be

Most of you know that I was born and raised a TV kid, though it does not pride me to say so. In fact, I've been trying to slowly rid myself of the addiction. However, there are a few spots in my TV calendar that will remain occupied until the various shows end. I just can't help it.

On my list for this season:

• Gilmore Girls
• Lost
• House
• The Office

Last week, I was in mourning over the end of a Gilmore era. Yes, tears were shed and I'm not ashamed to admit it ;) Amar was nice enough to buy me Season 1, so that I can hang onto a little Gilmore for a while...

Now it's looking like this week I won't fare any better. It is apparently "widely rumored" that there will be 5 significant deaths on Lost this week. Why do they have to go and do that?

Any predictions, you Lost watchers out there? I can't bear to write mine down...but if Sayid goes, it will be a sad day in our household.

Quick updates

Just a quick note to say that we're still working on the house. Here are some of the latest pictures: theramas.smugmug.com

Also, since we'll soon be moving, posts may be a bit spotty around here...just warning you :)

Distraction

Amar and I are spending the evening at a local coffee shop in Central Austin. I’m trying to read my homework for Bible study, but I continue to be distracted by the people around me, as you may well know, I majored in People Watching in college. So Amar suggested that I blog in real-time about my observations upon people watching. I will record the events, and then record my thoughts of said events in parenthesis. Here goes:

There is a semi-hippy sort of birthday party going on. Can’t figure out who it’s for, but people of all ages are in attendance. They have probably about 10-15 people already, and folks keep showing up. They have a large bundle(?) of balloons which they keep trying to weight down. Hippie man just went to grab a giant rock. (That seems to have worked.) In addition to people showing up continually, food and beverages are also in abundance. They have 2 full pies/cakes, several trays of other bakery goods, a tray of coffee mugs, a tray of cups of ice, and a whole big container of iced tea. (Woah.)

(Too many people on this deck are wearing crocs.)

There is a lady in the parking lot in her car, and she’s talking on one of those Bluetooth earpieces. Though to the casual observer, it looks like she’s in there talking to herself. She’s been in there for 30 minutes. (I am beginning to fear for her oxygen supply.)

Flies! Being attacked by flies!! Must cover my dessert!!!

Why are so many people wearing either crocs or cowboy boots?

Lady is still in her car…(I should check on her periodically to make sure she doesn’t lose consciousness. )

Party update: Whoops – there goes the tray of cups of ice! Splash! One of the kids just ran around yelling “Yum yum, cake cake!!”

A car alarm goes off in the parking lot… (but it must have been a really sketchy alarm because it made that beeping sound that trucks make when they backup. Sketch-y.)

Lady is now getting out of her car. Oh! She’s going to the party! Oh…she’s going to a different party. Never mind. I was fooled by the present in her hand.

Party update: More party attendees are arriving! So far the grownups outweigh the kids by about 10:1. Still can’t figure out who the party is for…Apparently the folks who have just arrived are the guests of honor. Much exclamation has broken out on the deck. Yippee! She’s here! (Whoever “she” is…) The kids have now been handed really large glasses of milk. (The perfect complement to the massive amounts of cake they are about to consume.)

Party update: Woah – major party faux pas. Someone just called someone else “the oldest.” Yikes. Not a good ice-breaker.

And the armed forces have arrived. (Whew – just when this party was getting out of control. Two fine members of our National Guard have now secured the deck.)

ALERT – CUTE BABY ON THE DECK!! I REPEAT: CUTE BABY ON THE DECK!

A woman just showed up with two friends, explaining Austin in the following way: “…Now, Austin has these things called ‘lakes’…” at which point I totally lost interest in what she was saying because 1) she wouldn’t be at this particular establishment if it weren’t for our “lakes” so THERE and 2) I didn’t find her shoes to be aesthetically pleasing.

Party update: Parenting advice was just given out to a young boy: “No matter what happens to your brother, your sister cannot be left alone.” (Way to go chivalry?)

Party update: Craig! Get the matches! The matches, man, the MATCHES!

Austin itself has struck back! The lady who made the "lake" comment just dropped her purse, spilling it's contents all over the place. Go Austin!

Ok - I really must be getting back to my reading...

Interesting observation of the day: food

I just realized that almost all the food I've eaten today has been orange:

• Pumkin muffin
• Quesadillas (cheese was orange)
• Orange

The only exception to this would be the coffee that accompanied the pumpkin muffin.

Odd.

I guess I'm just thankful that the food color inspiration of the day wasn't blue.

My calendar today

< whining >



This is my calendar for today.

Each little blurb is a separate meeting: orange, light orange, yellow, green...makes no difference. It's all craziness.

< / whining >

Thanks for listening!

Yeah, there's a snake trying to break in

On our way out of the apartment today, Amar noticed that we were apparently under attack:



Yeah, pretty gross. Our closet is basically on the other side of that corner where the snake decided to work his way under the siding.

So we told the office about it and they were going to call pest control.

We headed out for breakfast and then returned to the apartment about 2 hours later. And of course, he was still there. Still showing off his flashy tail. Still in the same position. We then determined that he must be dead, since he hadn't moved in hours. So I went in for a closeup:



Can anyone tell what kind of snake that is? Conveniently, the pill bug is in the picture for scale. I'd say there's about 6 inches of the snake sticking out...

My kingdom for a spoon!

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of breakfast food. At any given point on any given day, I could typically go for your standard "Economical": 2 eggs (scrambled hard, in my case), bacon/sausage, a fruit selection of some kind, and a bread selection of some kind.

Lately, upon breakfast food outings, I've been subbing out my typical fruit item (strawberries, pineapple, maybe even the occasional cantaloupe) for grapefruit. It is remarkably refreshing. And when I eat them, I'm reminded of my grandparents, who typically ate them for breakfast for as long as I have memories of them eating breakfast.

But back to the point.

I recently procured my own grapefruit from the grocery store this week. But upon arriving home and unpacking my goods, it occurred to me that I didn't have a grapefruit spoon. What's a girl to do?

Shop, of course.

So yesterday I went to Target in search of such a soon. No luck. And then something else occurred to me: never in my life have I seen a grapefruit spoon for sale in any store whatsoever.

And now I solicit you, dear readers, for ideas. Where can I get a grapefruit spoon?

If walls could talk

They'd say, "Hey Kim and Amar, thanks for putting me together so quickly!!"



Seriously though, we now have what look to be real, actual walls in the kitchen and we couldn't be happier. We're hoping to order the rest of the kitchen components soon, so we'll keep you updated...

For more pictures, check out our SmugMug site.

Thanks for asking

Yes, I have had some work done.

On my teeth.

Yes, again.

I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess. After my first trip to the dentist it was determined that I needed to give their office some more money and some more face time. That will eventually result in 3 additional trips, the first of which was today.

We decided to tackle the right side today. The left will come next week.

It's been quite a long time since I've had any portion of my face numbed, but boy have I apparently been missing out. And drinking a fruit smoothie afterwards? Too much fun.

Hope the next trip is just as successful.

Slow posts as of late

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. It's not that nothing is happening. There is a lot going on, actually. It's just that 1) I'm too tired/lazy/unmotivated to actually write about it or 2) it's just not blog-worthy.

Whatever the case, I'm sure things will pick up around here soon.

Stay tuned...

Et tu, Brute?

Now, when I was at school you couldn't necessarily say that we were any good at basketball. Not in the least. The most packed you would have ever seen Reed Arena was to watch Texas Tech coach Bob Knight come and throw a fit.

But over the last year or so, we've been on an upswing. Heck, on brackets all across the country, folks had us penciled in way past the first round of the NCAA tournament. And we were elated. We were thankful. We were due?

So we inked an agreement to make our coach, our winning, beloved coach, the highest paid in the Big 12. And Aggies everywhere slept soundly knowing that we had a chance.

Until now.

Way to go, Kentucky. Thanks for nothin'.

You gotta see this

If you're not a big TV watcher, you may want to change your mind on Sunday nights. The Discovery channel just launched a new miniseries called Planet Earth. It is incredible.

Basically, for the past 5 years, film crews have been all over the world filming the most amazing high definition video of rarely seen animals, habitats, migrations, etc.

If you like that kind of thing, then you'll really enjoy this show. It's an 11 part series which airs every Sunday night. Seriously. We love it. You should check it out.

That's the end of my promo :) Enjoy!

D-day

Well, today was demolition day for our kitchen. For those of you keeping up with our home progress, we're happy to report that we now have a toilet in our bathtub.

Anyhow, if you're interested in seeing some pictures, you can checkout our Smugmug album here.

Enjoy!!

P.S. "Before" pictures can be seen here.

I need a bib

I was eating lunch at my desk today, listening intently to a conference call while munching on a chocolate chip cookie. Sounds innocent enough, right?

Well, contrary to the popular belief that only 2 year olds smear their food on themselves, I managed to wind up partially covered in chocolate for the better part of the conference call and not even know it.

I happened to look down at my white shirt, only to see a HUGE smear of chocolate across my stomach. I stood up, checked the rest of my shirt, and bam! More chocolate! My cube neighbor joked that I had it all over my face, which, luckily for me, wasn't quite true. However, I then noticed that I did indeed have it smeared on my left forearm.

So I discretely made my way down to the bathroom and began dousing myself with water, trying to get as much chocolate off of my white shirt as possible. All the while, since they just installed automatic paper towel dispensers right next to the sink, paper towels kept coming out at me everytime I moved.

Was this the bathroom's feebile attempt to help a woman in distress?

Maybe.

So once my shirt was as clean (and now wet) as possible, I tried to nonchalantly walk back to my desk, hoping that no one would notice the wet, brown spots on the front of my shirt.

After reaching my cube, I realized that I was saved! I had a black sweater in the back of a drawer! Wrikled as it was, it covered up the offending spots. And so what if I'm wearing brown shoes and a brown belt? Right?

We're homeowners!

Yes, it's true. Friday we closed on our first house! I've purposefully not been posting about it because I didn't want to publicize all of the house happenings until it was legally ours. But now, we're in the clear. All of the paperwork went through without a hitch and we are officially homeowners.

In retrospect, the process was a LOT easier than I was expecting. I'm normally an optimist, but for some reason, during this entire process, I kept expecting it to fall through, or take a wrong turn, or have the house collapse upon itself.

I also read a lot of personal finance blogs and watch my fair share of home shows (house flips, home makeovers, This Old House....etc.), so I guess I've seen how things can go wrong. But we had a great realtor, a great lender, and a very easy going seller. So add all that up and voila, we get a house.

Here's the front of the house.

Which would make this the back of the house.

You can check out more pictures at our SmugMug page.

Up next: home improvement projects. Wish us luck!

I survived

I had a dentist appointment yesterday.

I don't like going to the dentist.

Not one bit.

I so dislike going that it has literally been years since I've darkened the door of any dentistry practice.

My dental philosophy: brush twice a day. Only see a professional if there is pain that is so bad you can't sleep at night.

So after a weekend of chewing only on the left side of my mouth to avoid the pain on the right side of my mouth, I turned myself in.

Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I was having nightmares of the doctor freely throwing around phrases like "root canal" and "total mouth overhaul" but nothing of the sort. Sure, there was a series of mega x-rays, and yes, there was some poking and prodding around the gums with a sharp metal object.

But all in all, I survived.

Immediately after leaving his office, I made stop at the grocery store nearby where I virtually cleaned out their dental aisle. The checkout lady must have thought I was a sicko with all of the dental paraphernalia I bought, but at least I felt like I was accomplishing something.

I do have to go back 2-3 times over the next few weeks to patch a few thing here and there, and get a cleaning (which I'm dreading more than the cavity filling). Seriously, why does that scraper instrument have to sound (and feel?) like fingernails on a chalkboard? It's hideous!

Mixing it up

Most mornings, upon arriving at the office, I head to the cafeteria to grab some coffee. There are a few options, including hot Starbucks, iced Starbucks, frozen Starbucks, shaken Starbucks and stirred Starbucks. However, in the effort to go easy on the bank account, I normally head to the "super mc. cheapy" coffee dispenser. I get my ~12 oz. of steaming, diluted "coffee" and I'm set.

For the past 4 1/2 years, it's been the same cheap brand. The same diluted coffee. The same semi-coffee taste.

Until today.

They switched it up on me when I wasn't looking!

Now there's not only a new brand, but a new machine and a new taste entirely!

How dare they?! I spend years building up a tolerance to the other stuff. Years, I tell ya! I knew just how much room to leave in the cup so that I could douse it with the proper amount of half-and-half. I knew exactly how much sugar to put in to make it taste more like candy and less like bad coffee.

Now? Now all of my proportions are off. Way off. And that's not really how I like to wake up...you know, conducting my own personal chemistry experiments with coffee in the cafeteria. Now I have to endure 4 more years of adapting to the taste. Yippee!

The great outdoors

This weekend the weather here was just tremendous. So tremendous, in fact, that a group of girls from church went on a hike. A 7.5 mile hike. Yeah, it was pretty nifty. You should come next time!

The hike started off innocently enough. That is, until we stumbled upon what looked to be a national crisis. As we approached the trail head, we noticed that there were two firetrucks and an ambulance stationed at the top of the hill. In the three minutes that it took for us to load up our gear and walk to the trail head, two more firetrucks and a hazmat team arrived. Woah nellie, you might say. And you'd be right.

We inquired with the firefighters whether or not we should start our hike. They all seemed pretty laid back and pretty much said that we could do whatever we wanted. Here's a picture of us entering the trail, while the fine folks of Ladder 17 look on:


After a few minutes of hiking, we saw the rest of the emergency crew coming up the hill, with the apparent victim. Apparently a biker had taken a rough tumble and injured his hand. It wasn't pretty, I can tell you that. But I'm not sure that it warranted a HAZMAT crew. Seriously!



After that minor drama, we hiked down a few miles to a nice river/lake/smallish body of water with pretty waterfalls. We decided to splash around for a bit, and let the dogs swim their hearts out. We continued our hike through the beautiful greenbelt, stopped for lunch, and then continued on.

All in all, an afternoon well spent! A few more pictures to share:

Weekend recap...and a new addiction

This weekend was actually pretty refreshing. It seems that things have been a bit crazy lately, but more on that later.

Saturday
Got up, grabbed some books and headed to Starbucks. Though the place was literally crawling with people, I found a nice table next to a sunny window. I sat there for almost 2 hours just reading. It was great!

That night we headed out to an event for Austin Life Care out at the TDS Wildlife Ranch. Here's the deal. It's this vast expanse of land with safari animals sitting right next to a huge landfill. But you would never know it. No, you're too busy looking around at the zebras, antelope and bison to think of the fact that there are millions of tons of landfill right next to you. All in all, very cool. My good friend Eryn put in a TON of work to make this event happen, and it was for a great cause. Way to go!

Sunday
The last sermon in what has been such a neat series on marriage. I think the church will be burning all of the sermons onto a CD sometime soon, so be on the lookout. Even if you're not married, it's great stuff to hear.

Then, the mini-roadtrip I've been awaiting for quite awhile. A trip to the new IKEA. Oh my holy goodness. That is some store!! I was specifically on the lookout for kitchen cabinets, but I had to hold myself back from buying more. I always thought of IKEA as a store with only ultra modern Swedish stuff...but boy was I wrong. Home decor, linens, furniture of all shapes and sizes. And the warm, welcoming fragrance of cinnamon rolls while you check out. A bit of a sensory overload, but I'll be back for more...

A little gross, if you ask me

I was recently having some issues* with my work-issued cell phone. So much so, that I needed a brand new phone. The old phone was, in my defense, a piece of junk. But, my job at times calls for me to be on the phone when I'm away from my desk, and there's no way I'm using my personal minutes for such instances.

Voila - new phone.

So I went up to the cell phone provider store at one of our offices to pick up my new gear. While waiting in line, I started looking at some of the other phone paraphernalia that they offered.

First of all, I had no idea that cell phone gear had gotten so, well, insane. I could practically buy a trailer hitch for my new phone, if I was so inclined.

I wasn't.

The next thing that caught my eye was an entire wall full of those ear bud thingys. You know, the bluetooth headset guys that, in my personal, humble opinion**, instantly turn the wearer of such a device into a robot.

Anyhow, they had little display models of each kind they were selling. But the kicker? They all said "try me on!" - EWW! Who else has put that in their ear!? Am I the only person that finds this a little disturbing?





*These issues were likely self-inflicted by yours truly, but I plead the fifth.

**Please don't take offense if you have a headset. If you have one, good for you. Just please don't look at me while you're talking on it, lest I think you're actually trying to talk to me and then I look like an idiot for participating in your phone conversation. Oh, and please, PLEASE take them off of your ear when you're not on the phone. Unless you're listening to the radio or something on it...then we're cool.

My world is officially shaken

This.

This is my life blood.

And now, half of it is considered poison.

At first, I didn't think much of it. What's that you say about peanut butter? Oh, never you mind. That stuff is fine. Heck - it's comfort food.

Well, apparently people have had their fair amount of discomfort if you knowatimsayin.

So then I checked our pantry. And then I ran screaming from the house. My stash had been contaminated.

Begrudgingly, I threw it out. All that poor, pitiful, poisoned peanut butter. You had such potential. With the crackers, and the bread, and not to mention the various flavors of chocolate you mingle so well with.

The spinach debacle, I could deal with. But this? It's too much.


Peanut butter, by dear friend, it's like I don't even know who you are anymore.


How do you go from this:



To this:

That's what I get for watching TV

I get a commercial stuck in my head. For days on end. I find my foot tapping for no apparent reason during a meeting. I get distracted on a conference call because I was singing a song inside my head rather than listening to my co-workers.

And still it's there.

A little bit more, a lil' bit more...
A little bit more, a lil' bit more...

Has anyone seen that Target ad? So you know what I'm talking about. The first time I saw it I didn't even know it was for Target. I must have been entranced by the beat, so I missed the "Target.com" text at the start of the ad.

And still...it's in my head.

A little bit more, a lil' bit more...
A little bit more, a lil' bit more...

So Amar and I googled it last night, because we just had to know who sings it. For your information, it's Jamie Lidell, and you can enjoy a sound snippet here.

I'm still alive...

So after 10+ days of not posting, I'm making a comeback.

Long story short, the past 10 days have been a bit crazy. Amar and I have both had the flu, and basically, it kicked us to the curb pretty quickly and didn't even look back. I think we did a pretty good job of not spreading it to anyone else, so that's one good thing that happened :)

Anyhow, life goes on. We saw Amazing Grace the other day and really liked it. You should go see it.

Oh, I also started reading Ragamuffin Gospel the other day. You should check that out, too. Good stuff.

Happy valentine's day

It's no secret that I work in a predominantly male field. My recent observations put the ratio somewhere around 5:1…sometimes even higher. Not only am I outnumbered, but I'm out aged as well. Most of my co-workers have kids my age, possibly even grand kids my age. You get the picture.

On my way to lunch, three of the guys approached me, apparently discussing the topic of they day.

"Kim," one of them started, "today is Valentine's Day."

I braced for 1) potential cheesy joke, 2) potential inappropriate joke, though those are rare with these guys or 3) potential Valentine's related question.

"Let's say you're getting a gift. A big gift."

I nodded, immediately picturing those Lexus ads from Christmas…the cars with the big bows.

"Would you also want a card with the gift?"

I could see where this was going. I paused to consider my answer. In fact, just yesterday remembered that I had been listening to a radio host discuss this exact topic.

"Guys," I began cautiously…"the card is like the icing…"

Before I could finish my sentence, one of them shouted "See!! I told you!!!"




Good luck out there, ladies.

Site updates

I'm experimenting with some site tracking widgets, so if you see a webcounter in the next few days, do not be alarmed. I'm only tracking your social security numbers and your mother's maiden names.

In other news, I'm coming out of an allergy funk. It happens about once a year. You never really, truly value the fact that you can breathe through your nose and swallow without pain until those abilities are suddenly taken from you without warning. But it was nice to work from home for a few days and take it easy. Not that I prefer being sick, but hey, whatever works.

Our pastor is going through some great stuff in church, so if you haven't tuned in yet, you really should listen in on the January and February sermons. Good stuff. The past two Sundays have been about marriage, namely leaving and cleaving as mentioned in Genesis 2. But it's good for everyone, not just married folk.

Check it out here: www.Grace360.org

The cookie

Peanut Butter Patties, you just may very well be the death of me...










But oh my, it would be such a tasty, tasty way to go.

Granola update

So it didn't turn out like I expected it to. It was not clumpy enough, and was a bit on the salty side. I blame the peanuts, personally. But don't we all?

Wish me better luck next time...

I amaze myself sometimes

I cooked.

A meal.

And it wasn't from a box.

Seriously, yes, Amar and I had spiffy pasta and broccoli last night. And in paying me perhaps the best compliment, he said, "This is good. This is 'invite people over' good."

So yes, I'm on a roll. Or at least the beginning of one. I mean I was rolling and cutting basil leaves. Amar was slicing garlic and cubing mozarella. I was dicing tomatoes and sprinkling red pepper flakes. Flavors were flying across the room left and right. The aroma of a nice meal permeated the entire place. Wow.

And it was apparently good enough that we both had leftovers for lunch today. Yee haw! We're in business!

I'm going to attempt two more dishes in the next few days, but as I type this, I'm reminded of some wise words....

"Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 16:18

I'm back!

Well, I'm back in Austin. Finally! I just barely made it out of Texas before the huge ice storm hit, and I wound up missing the entire thing. I've already unpacked and done laundry (a record!) and I'm hoping to stay unpacked for awhile. Wish me luck :)

Amar and I are still recovering from Christmas decor. Yes, the tree is still up, though yesterday we made some progress. He's taken our lights down, and I've packed up all the ornaments. Once we decide to stop lounging around, we'll start dismantling the tree and we'll finally be finished.

Anyone else still have Christmas in their house? Please, help me feel better about myself and admit that you still have decorations up. I know you're out there...

A few Brazil pictures

Out sick

Sorry for the lack of a decent update from the southern hemisphere yesterday. It seems that I was under the weather. Quite under the weather if you don't mind me saying.

But I'm back upwards of 90% today, and all is well. I'm literally counting the hours until I can be back on my home turf. Not that Brazil is bad or anything. Quite the contrary. I just miss my peeps, that's all.

Anyhow, it seems that now Europe is getting the same stuff that Texas got earlier in the week. I have a theory that there are really only a handful of storms circling the globe. Every time they cross the international date line, they change personalities. They do some reorganizing. Sometimes they downsize, choosing to let a few clouds go. Sometimes, if the hydrologic cycle has been good to them, they can spend a few extra on some cumulonimbus clouds here and there...maybe a cirrus or two.

But it's the same bunch every time. Just like corporate America, they have contractors that work for them. For instance, sometimes you just don't have the talent on-hand to generate the lightning that you'd really like to unleash on the Midwest, so you open up a few recs, and off you go.

Ok - enough silliness. Back to work.

P.S. On Wednesday we had both a fire and a massive power outage. Too much fun, my friends. Too much fun!

The update for Tuesday

While Austin has been busy digging itself out of the massive blizzard of '07, we've been enjoying rather nice weather down here this week. Apparently before we arrived, they had experienced daily showers since the beginning of the year. But the sun has joined us this week, and it's been really nice down here.

After a rather uneventful day at the office Tuesday, I returned to my hotel room to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers that had been sent by my dear, sweet husband. What a wonderful suprise!

We went out to a pretty snazzy pizza place last night, and enjoyed a stroll around the neighborhood in the cool weather. But by the time I got back to the hotel around 9 o'clock that night, I was dead tired.

So there you have it, the skinny from Brazil. That's all for now, folks.

A third of the way there...

Well, these first few days of work have been...how should I put it? Oh yeah, long!

We catch the shuttle at 7AM to get here, and we catch the shuttle at 6PM to leave, and an hour's drive on each end of that journey. That makes for a long day. But we're being productive, I guess :) Still wearing hard hats and safety glasses, but this time around we have indoor plumbing. Oh, bless those people who have been working on that!

We also have a cafeteria in the building now. But I'm still relying on my good ol' rice and beans to get me by. I'm not willing to risk the mystery meat yet. Here's an actual conversation I had with a Brazilian friend of mine yesterday during lunch:

Me: What kind of meat would you say this is?
Him: What? What do you mean?
Me: I mean what type of meat is this? From what animal?
Him: Well, I guess it's meat. The normal kind.
Me: Um, yeah. I'm going to pass.

Other than that, nothing too eventful has happened. It's warm here, so it's a bit crazy to imagine Austin as a block of ice right now.

What really happened...

So I'm in line, about to board my jetliner for the 10 hour flight to Sao Paulo. Boy howdy, I've been eagerly awaiting my first class seat. My free first class seat. I hand the lady my boarding pass. The boarding pass which has an obscenely low row number listed on it. She scans it. And then my whole life flashes before my eyes.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Ma'am, you need to see the agent at the ticket counter."

Despair pulses through my viens.

I hand the agent my boarding pass, and with an incredibly cold and heartless tone, she tells me that she has to bump me to coach. Coach! She says that some "missed connections" who "actually paid for first class" deserve the seats more than me.

"But you don't understand," I plead. "The sheer fact that I have first class seats on an international flight has literally carried me through this incredibly long day."

"I know. But I have to take your soul from you now. I can try to get you a good seat in coach, if you'd like."

"Thanks," I reply in a tone I can only describe as deflated and surrendered.

So I spent my 10 hours in the (bumpy) air listening to the people in first class clink their glasses, order wine, cut their steak, and freshen up with their hot towels.

But I made it just fine. It's a sunny, summer day here in Brazil, which is more than I can say for the entire state of Texas. Oh, and there was a super pretty sunset last night. I'll upload some pictures later. Peace out.

It's the journey, not the destination

Saturday's trip recap:

I should have known that my fairly decent travel record was going downhill with all that happened during last weekend's trip. However, I am learning the hard way that things don't always go according to plan.

My body of evidence:
1) The flight out of Austin yesterday was delayed because on its way into Austin, the plane was struck by lightning. According to the crew, they needed to patch some holes. Yeah, that's a great start.
2) We wound up leaving Austin 2 hours later than expected, which pretty much ate up our layover time in Dallas.
3) We arrived in Dallas 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave. However, the plane at the gate we were supposed to park at was having mechanical difficulties, so we sat on the runway for a good hour. We watched our other plane take off without us.
4) Our luggage is missing in action, but they've told us that it'll be on the flight with us. Yeah, I buy that.
5) During our time in Dallas, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Again, we're prepared for a South American summer here, not the Texas winter storm of the century. Cold? A little.
6) About 1/2 of the flights out of DFW have been cancelled today. We're hoping ours is among those that isn't cancelled. But we have no idea...our hotel reservations are good until 6PM, but the flight doesn't leave until 7:45. Nice timing, eh?

The bonuses so far:
1) The airline determined that we missed our flight because of "mechanical difficulties" so they put us up in a hotel for the evening.
2) We were rebooked on the flight for Saturday, and the only 2 seats left were in business class. Bummer :)
3) Because we're on business class for an international flight, we were autotmatically granted entry into the Admiral's club. Posh.

So here we wait in Dallas. For ~4 hours so far, and about 3 more to go. We're crossing our fingers that we get to leave tonight. If we don't, then we'll try again tomorrow. But the weather is supposed to get significantly worse tomorrow through Monday. So who knows. I may get a little used to the Admiral's club...

Editor's note: Internet Explorer thinks that I'm writing this in Portuguese, so every word shows up on spell check. Please pardon any errors...I'll see what I can do to get this fixed...

Racking up the miles

Well my friends, this week finds me looking head on into another international trip. Yep, I'm going to Brazil again, and with a whole 2 days notice! Wow! :) Wish me luck.

It has been travel central around our house lately. First to Brazil, then Mexico, then Alabama, and now Brazil again. I have no idea what time zone I'm in, honestly. I really don't prefer to live out of a suitcase, but it'll have to do for a little bit longer.

As for my to-do list, per Kaitlan's request, the participants of the recent 'Bama road trip are to compile a Top 10 list of various happenings. I don't know that they are in any particular order, but here is my list:

1. Taking the bridge to heaven over Prien Lake in Lake Charles, LA. The fog was so thick that day that we didn't know where we'd wind up. Tiffany and Krista describe it better...
2. The 18 mile bridge on which no cop could ever take radar, as confirmed by our pastor. Gotta love the Atchafalaya Basin bridge! All 18.2 miles of it.
3. Taking a nap in Birmingham with Anne's dog Penny. I never had a dog growing up, and I've always wanted one to fall asleep on me. This was a first. Shout out to the basset hounds out there!
4. Watching the car surpass 60,000 miles 2 miles before we got back home on Monday night. Woo hoo!
5. Beautiful Alabama sky at night during the drive from Orange Beach up to Birmingham. Tons of stars to see!
6. Showering myself, my friends and my family with powdered sugar from my beignet while drool was sliding out of my mouth. The picture of glamour? You bet! Action shot below:
7. Getting to spend time seeing the Gulf Coast states with some fabulous friends.
8. Attending my first beach wedding: white sand, pretty sunsets, cool water...very lovely...
9. Talking to Walter at 1-800-Starbuc while we were frantically in search of a Starbucks. He is the man.
10. Getting reprimanded in church in Birmingham by an elderly man that didn't necessarily care for the way that my husband had his arm around me during the service. Oh, and then talking about it after church with the pastor who we had only known for about 30 seconds. Great stuff.

I know, I know!

It's been forever.

Yes, I know. And I'm sorry. I couldn't be more sorry, actually. Or is it sorrier?

Well, whatever. I've been all over the place for the past couple of weeks, thus the noticeable lack of posting. Was there also a corresponding lack of post-worthy happenings? Possibly. But I tend to blame sheer laziness and vacation for the recent void around here.

Ah, sweet vacation. Amar and I didn't have to travel much for the holidays. We slept in. Made our own schedules. Had coffee. Relaxed around the house. Ran errands. Hung out with friends. Hung out with family. Ate lots of yummy food. Decorated. Wrapped gifts. Unwrapped gifts. All that jazz. It was fun!

But now we're both back at work. Not so much fun :( But seriously, I didn't even open my laptop over the holidays and it was great! Now that I'm back in cubicle land, however, and much more on-line than I have been in recent weeks, the posts should be rolling in on a semi-regular basis.

Well, except for this weekend. It's road trip weekend as we head to 'Bama for a wedding. Long drive? Oh, heck yeah. But it will be fun to spend time with friends and visit a few other folks on the way as well. Wish us luck!

Items on last night's menu

We ate at a cute little Italian place last night. Typically, the waiter will bring English menus to those of us that need them. I am fascinated by the translations on these, however, since the Portuguese to English isn't always right on the money.

For example, here are a few of the items featured on last night's English menu. All items appear as they were on the menu:

• Unwaved chicken
• Rotten cheese
• Friend cashew (a cocktail)
• Pizza: ham, eggs, peas, palm tree, olive
• Tenant roast beef
• Packages stuffed with ham
• Turkey chest
• Triturated nuts
• Fresh tomato without skin sauce
• Solid of leaves
• Little buck leg (in pieces)
• Splints of funghi
• Pasta: milk cream, gem, bacon

It was actually one of my favorite restaurants thus far :)

I'll be home for Christmas

Yep, I'm leaving South America tomorrow and will be back in Texas on Friday morning. Overall, Brazil has been fun. Good food, nice people, good weather (aside from the heat!). The parts of the country I've seen so far have been really pretty. Lots of bright green trees and dark red soil.

This trip has also given me the opportunity to meet a few more of my co-workers that until now, have been a continent away. Though I will say this, I don't think I could travel full time for work. Some folks travel every week, flying out on Monday and back on Friday. That is not my kind of gig, but the occasional trip now and then is ok for brief amounts of time :)

Anyhow, it's a little strange seeing Christmas trees everywhere, Santas on every window sill, and garland on all the doors down here. Since it's in the high 80s, it is just hard for my mind to comprehend that it really is Christmas. I had no idea that the holiday was so widely celebrated in South America. Yeah, I'm a pretty insulated American :)

Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of my trip when I'm back in the states. Connectivity is patchy down here, so I think that's why my previous attempts failed. I know, I know. You're all dying to see what Brazil is like. But patience, people, patience...

See you soon! Feliz Natal!

Oi!

Yep, I'm still down in Brazil. Sorry I've been remiss in posting as of late. Our days are pretty long, and honestly, I've been too tired by the time I get back to the hotel to do much more than lay back, watch Harry Potter and do some Su Doku.

This is indeed the life.

We got Sunday off from work, which was nice. Some of us headed a few blocks down from the hotel to a local park for a bit. There are a ton of local merchants and craftsmen that come to the park, setup a tent and sell their goods. Most of us are looking for good Christmas gifts, but honestly, a lot of this stuff you could find in the US. I have, however, found a few things that I'm bringing back with me.

As we trekked back to the hotel, we started to realize why this part of Brazil enjoys a siesta during the afternoon. It was crazy hot. I was literally a puddle in front of the hotel by the time we made it back. We rested for the afternoon and then a few of us went out to one of the local malls that night. It was super crowded, but we had a good time.

Today, we're back "in the office" if you can call it that. Only 4 more days until I get to come home. Yippee!

Feliz Natal!

(I really hope I spelled that right!)

Brazil, the first few days

Brazil is good so far, I guess. Aside from the 10 hour works days, I don't have too many complaints :)

Seriously, though, it's been ok so far if I don't count being away from friends and family. The food has been great so far - lots of tasty beef and strong coffee served in tiny cups. I'm here for about another week, and I'm really hoping that the building will have indoor plumbing by then!

Due to the somewhat shady nature of the areas we're in while we're here, we have a security team that stays with us as we go about town. They are supremely cool. And I can tell you this, you haven't been shopping at a mall until you've been shopping at the biggest mall in Latin America with security guards tailing you. It was super fun! I'm going to try to get some pictures with them, and will post those when I do.

In the mean time, hopefully these will tide you over...enjoy! One is a picture of the mall we went to, one is a picture of the construction site, and one is a picture from the plane. You guess which is which :)

Out of the office

Hey folks,
Sorry I've been a little incommunicado lately. I have been in the air heading down to Brazil. I got in on Tuesday at noon, and we're 4 hours ahead of CST. So, it's all glamorous and all, working down here, wearing hard hats, steel-toed sneakers, and safety glasses.

Overall, I'll primarily be working a lot. Not a whole bunch of excess time to spend being an obnoxious tourist. Wish me luck! I'll try to pull together a better post later, complete with pictures and everything...

Here's a link to where I am: Campinas, Brazil

The first step

Admitting you have a problem.

1) I have a problem. I'm an email addict.

That's what I learned at a training class this week for work. Sure, it was voluntary. But I think that it should be mandatory the way email zips around this place. Basically, I was in a class that was supposed to help you become more organized and use Microsoft Outlook more efficiently.

And boy were my socks knocked off.

I realized, during the class, that for some sick, twisted reason, I was taking pride in the amount of email that I had managed to fit in my inbox. Why was I happy to have more than 2,000 emails? It made me feel important, I guess.

But you know what feels better? Having 0. Yep, not one thing.

Sure, I'm not 100% organized. I probably never will be. But I know that I'm on my way to becoming less of an email packrat, and that can only be good.

Yay!

More Mexico pics

Here are some links to more Mexico pictures. The other folks on the team did a much better job of capturing the trip on film than I did. Yay team!

This first picture gives a good feel of the overall area we were in. Dirt roads and all that jazz.



This second picture is Amar and little boy walking up the road towards one of the houses under construction. I'm guessing that this kid just got out of school, but I'm not sure.

Picture links:
The Austin's pictures
The Mayen's pictures
The Hochstratter's pictures

Oh, Mexico

For our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, Amar and I decided to head down to Reynosa, Mexico on a mission trip with our church. We left on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. The SUV was loaded to the brim with supplies, friends, and snacks, and we descended into Austin pre-Thanksgiving traffic. Fun. It really wasn't that bad, and we made it through town and down to the border fairly quickly.

We stayed at an orphanage in Reynosa, and let me just tell you, it was posh. It was nicer than some hotels I've stayed at before. Plus, there was home cooking for breakfast and dinner each day. Yeah, it was pretty sweet.

Thursday recap:
Thursday we set out to the colonia to do some canvassing. Basically, the colonia is a settlement of creatively constructed structures perched near the border crossing bridge on a strip of land between an irrigation canal and sewage canal. Families settle there for weeks or months, sometimes years, somehow surviving is a seemingly unsurvivable manner. There is little food, poor shelter, and tons and tons of dust and gravel. We spent our first day there meeting as many people as possible, talking with them and telling them about the various activities we were going to do over the next few days.

Friday recap:
The guys set out that day to start building the first of 2 houses planned for the trip. They got the foundation setup, the floor done, the walls put up and the windows installed. The rest of us ladies set up for the kids activities and women's ministry for the day. Needless to say, things with the kids didn't quite go as expected, but the team flexed and made it work somehow.


Saturday recap:
Saturday was much the same as Friday, but with more building and more sports. Our time with the kids and the women was much more productive! By this time, the guys had almost finished both houses. Quite impressive, if you ask me!

Sunday recap:
We attended church with the staff at the orphanage, and it was quite a new experience for most of us. The corporate worship time was really active, lots of songs and dancing, and it was so neat! The pastor who spoke also had a translator, which made the service just a smidge longer :) After church, we packed back into the car, and proceeded to wait in line to cross the border for about 2 1/2 hours. Uh, yeah. No so much fun. Here's a picture of the Rio Grande. Yeah - no so grande in this picture…

Anyhow, we made it back safe and sound. We're now praying about possibly going again in December...keep you posted!

Still alive, I think :)

Hey folks, sorry for the lack of posting as of late. We went to Mexico over the holidays and I'm working on summarizing the trip in a different post. I'm still getting caught up here and there, so that's the story.

And just to see how many countries I can go to in the shortest amount of time, I'm off to Brazil in about 2 weeks with work.

Before you get any ideas, this will not be the most glamorous trip in the world. I'll have to (get to?) wear a hard hat, safety glasses and steel-toed shoes while I'm at work. And when you add on the fact that there is no indoor plumbing yet at the office, well, you start to get the picture.

So, more updates coming soon. I promise.

In the mean time, here are the various things in the works in the Rama household:

• Finish up Thank You notes from the wedding!!! Oy!
• Decorate for Christmas - yay!
• Unpack from Mexico
• Pack for Brazil
• Figure out what the heck we're doing for the holidays
• Shop for Christmas presents
• Briefly entertain the idea of sending out Christmas cards
• Learn basic Portuguese
• And on, and on, and on :)

Doh!

Every now and then, I arrive at work to see that I've been visited in the night by the cubicle elves. Those little guys sometimes leave trinkets and PR garb on our desks when new processes or new HR policies come out.

Well, the latest gadget was a little alien desk clock. He kind of looks like a little space alien guy and has a paper-holder built into his space helmet. Yeah, he's classy.

So anyways, I wanted to set the clock, naturally. I took out the instructions that were placed in his helmet and started perusing them. I did a double take at first, making sure that I could still read properly.


Behold the power of grammar check.

P.S. And yes, I'm a big enough dork to have taken a picture of it.

Gig 'em?

This weekend, the soon-to-be Kuceras joined us for a trip down to Aggieland. Amar had never been to A&M before, so this was a great opportunity to see the campus and take in a good ol' fashioned college football game.

Well, at least that was our hope.

The campus tour went off without a hitch, as the Aggies showed the non-Aggies around. We saw old dorms, old friends, and lots of really, really young-looking freshmen. We even saw some kids in Aggie shirts that read "Class of 2013." Talk about an age check. That really made all of us feel old.


We had lunch at Hullabaloo, downstairs in the MSC. Then we made it outside in time to see the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band march into Kyle Field. Everyone got the A&M garb that they needed, and after a few brief photo-ops, we headed up, up, up to our seats.

We climbed up to the tip top of The Zone and settled in, hoping that the Aggies would not disappoint...especially since this was Amar's inaugural college football game. Right before the game, there was a flyover by 4 planes in honor of Veteran's Day. It was pretty cool (I'll post a video on YouTube later...), but since we were already at a relatively high altitude, for the first few seconds of the flyover, our section was bracing for a possible direct hit.

Well, if you watched it on t.v. or read the recap, it wasn't the best game that's even been played at Kyle Field. We endured the first half, as the Aggies struggled to make a first down. After a great performance by the band, the second half was underway. After we took the lead, our whole section was optimistic about us being able to pull it off.

And then, with 2 minutes left to go, we flushed ourselves down the toilet yet again. Before the game started, I mentioned that I didn't trust our team. And I was right. What business do we have calling a timeout in a situation like that? What business do we have making plays that put the other team in scoring range? What business do we have running out of bounds when we're trying to run out the clock? Ugh!

I think our post-game picture tells the whole story.

Friday?

This week has gone by very slowly. Someone said that Monday felt like it should be Thursday, and I couldn't have agreed more.

Today began with much that same sentiment.

I tried something different with my hair.

I put my makeup on while driving to work.

I got to work, bought a muffin and some coffee and headed up to my desk.

I turned the corner to my aisle and a guy that I work with exclaimed, "Wow! You look miserable!"

"I look miserable?" I replied, and continued on to my desk.

I redid my hair and double-checked my makeup.

I proceeded to work at my desk and in meetings for the next few hours.

I then decided to leave for lunch, so I started to walk to my car.

I met up with some girls I work with and we all headed to the parking lot together.

"Do I look miserable?" I asked, hoping they would emphatically deny that I did.

"Well, I wouldn't say miserable exactly..." said one girl.

The other chimed in, "More like beat down."







Yeah. I'm glad it's Friday.

Fun for free!

For our date night this week, Amar and I went to a book reading. Prior to that, I had never been to a book reading before. But let me just tell you, my friends, it was really worth the time. And it was free, so it was definitely worth the money ;)

We went to hear John Hodgman. Three weeks ago I had no idea who this guy was. I think his book was linked to in some article I was reading, so I looked into what he was working on. Once I saw a picture of him, I instantly recognized him from the Apple ads. He's the PC guy.

So I read about his book, about his sense of humor, and I also started reading his blog. He seemed to have a dry, nerdy sense of humor (I mean that in a good way, John, if you're reading this). And honestly, that was somewhat appealing to me. I was hoping he'd be the same in person.

Well, he was. And it was a riot.

The second floor of Book People was filled with eager fans. We got there early and got pretty good seats. He and his troubadour, Jonathan Coulton, put on quite a nice show. Jonathan even performed his original piece titled "Code Monkey" which seemed to be quite a hit with the crowd.

Last night we caught him on the Daily Show, as he is their Resident Expert. Not bad at all, my friends...

Here's a link to his book: The Areas of My Expertise. If you're the kind of person that's into fake trivia, then you should really check it out. Or, if you're the kind of person that gets a kick out of reading 700 hobo names, then this book is also for you. You will not be disappointed.

Ode to winter shoes

Now that winter is upon us here in Central Texas, and we've officially turned the heater on in our apartment, it's time to start pulling out the winter gear.

Every year I seem to have the same problem: I have nothing to wear for winter. Sure, winter here only means 45 degrees for more than 5 days in a row, but still, I am a person in need of quality insulation. But somehow, every winter I survive, albeit with chattering teeth and permanent goosebumps. But I do survive.

This winter will be no different, as I have recruited some much needed footwear assistance. I give you my new favorite shoes:

Exhibit A: The Privo

• The Privo could not be more comfortable
• The Privo goes with pretty much anything you could throw at it
• The Privo is all terrain
• The Privo is also warm
• The Privo is a trooper

Exhibit B: The Merrell

• The Merrell is a fun shoe
• The Merrell will not embarass you at holiday office parties
• The Merrell likes to keep a low profile
• The Merrell always uses its blinkers
• The Merrell has a zipper that makes a fun sound when you walk
• The Merrell has a fun pull-on loop at the back for easy handling

So, that's the scoop, my friends. Check 'em out if you don't believe me.