viernes, noviembre 30, 2001
Random entry: During our Thanksgiving stay in West Texas (deer hunting haven), I mentioned to Kenny that I had never tried venison so on the way home we stopped at Venison World in Eden and got a nice flank steak. Last night we had the opportunity to grill it over at CJ's - Kenny just peppered it and it turned out dee-licious! If only it wasn't that expensive, I'd replace beef with venison any day!
posted at 11/30/2001 11:19:00 a. m.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
to my best friend Kristin!
Love ya chica!
posted at 11/30/2001 10:28:00 a. m.
jueves, noviembre 29, 2001
Two crazy guys made a couple of bizarre bets! Check out their site and read all about it: The Home Depot Bet
(link thanks to lura.net).
posted at 11/29/2001 03:33:00 p. m.
Today is the birthday of my favorite childhood writer, Madeleine L'Engle, born in Manhattan in 1918. She is best known for her series of young adult novels like A Wrinkle in Time. I grew up with the whole series and recently had my husband buy me the whole set again so I can re-read it yet again! Funny thing is, her books were also banned much like the Harry Potter series mainly because of its witch characters. Hey, wait, I also like Harry Potter - I must definitely be evil and I didn't even know it!
By the way, if you want to read more on banned books, please go check out Michele's Banned Books Project! Also, thanks to The Writer's Almanac for the information on Ms. L'Engle.
posted at 11/29/2001 09:40:00 a. m.
miércoles, noviembre 28, 2001
A warm "Merci!" goes out to Becky for sending me a great postcard from France where she currently lives. Check out her blog - it's trés cool.
posted at 11/28/2001 03:01:00 p. m.
"One should not spoil what is present by desiring what is absent, but rather reason out that these things too [what we have] were among those we might have prayed for." ~Epicurean saying
(Thanks to Jackie's Quote of the Day.)
posted at 11/28/2001 10:09:00 a. m.
Well, I am finally going to bed after an unfortunately eventful evening... we were in our apartment when we heard a scream outside so Kenny and our friend Robert went to investigate. It turns out that this poor women had just had her purse stolen at gunpoint in our parking lot. To make a long story short... the police finally came out (not their fault, the apartment's fault) and the maintenance man finally came to let her in to her apartment (her keys had been in the purse) - a mere 2 hours after the the incident!
posted at 11/28/2001 01:28:00 a. m.
martes, noviembre 27, 2001
Elaine's New-Word-of-the-Day:
fugger(s) (fŭg'er)
int. used as an exclamation to show frustration or dismay;
n. a person who is just plain annoying
[copyright E. Mesker 2001]
posted at 11/27/2001 03:56:00 p. m.
Just got into work. My allergies were acting up today - actually, I've had a steady headache for the past few days and I finally did something about it. This morning I woke up exhausted and achy so I played 'hooky', called my co-worker and told him I would be in around lunchtime. I then popped an Allegra (non-drowsy, right!), 2 Advils and went back to bed. A few hours later I woke refreshed but groggy. It took all my energy to roll out of bed (literally) and get ready for work. The headache has unfortunately come back but at least I'm not as fatigued.
My dog Ginger was just as lazy as I was this morning. She stayed in bed with me all morning and was reluctant to get up even at 11:00 AM when I did. She really is such a comfort to me... I don't sleep as well without her at my side.
posted at 11/27/2001 12:43:00 p. m.
lunes, noviembre 26, 2001
I'm back! I was not totally disconnected since Kenny got us a dial-up connection out there but it was slow so I merely perused and left some of you comments... My Thanksgiving was nice but uneventful. Ate some good food, took a lot of naps and watched a lot of movies. As the only non-smoker though in a group of 4, I was never able to shake off the minor headache I had for those 4 days. :( Now it's back to the grind for a few more weeks. I just wish it would get cold!!! I think it's in the forecast for tonight. Finally...
Did come in to work today to some sobering news. We recently hired a gentleman to work on some out-of-town projects and last week was his 1st week. He was to be mostly traveling but we got to meet him during the 3 days he was in our offices here in Houston. Wednesday he even joined us for our potluck lunch and contributed delicious home-made rolls that his wife made. I found out today that he died Thanksgiving day of a massive heart attack. He was not an overweight man. He seemed very healthy, probably mid-50's. We joked about his Canadian accent and he seemed to be a very nice guy. I am still in shock to think that he was gone the very next day. It makes me want to scream at Kenny to stop smoking! He is only 30 but all of our bad habits add up over time. Together, we also need to adopt a new, healthier lifestyle because I am not getting any younger either. *sigh*
On that note, please go out there and tell someone you care about how much you love them and be sure to do something for yourself. Life is too short to be putting things off.
posted at 11/26/2001 10:48:00 a. m.
jueves, noviembre 22, 2001
Have a safe and happy holiday everyone!
I'll be away from an internet connection till Sunday so see you guys when I get back!
posted at 11/22/2001 09:20:00 a. m.
miércoles, noviembre 21, 2001
I am soooooooo tired. Potluck lunch was yummy although I think that is the 1st time sushi has been one of the dishes (I work for a Japanese company). Alongside the sushi was sweet potatoes, homemade dinner rolls, green bean casserole (the 1st one I've ever made and it turned out fine), sliced honey glazed ham, pumpkin pie and a cheese-rice casserole. Overall, very good and now I am very, very sleepy... I don't know how I am going to make it till 6 PM! *yawn*
posted at 11/21/2001 02:55:00 p. m.
Yes, yet another Mirror Project submission but this time it's an old picture my father took back in 1975 with me as a toddler... This was an extra special submission for me and was sent in in his honor since he passed away in 1994. I love you Dad.
{ Car Ride }
posted at 11/21/2001 08:27:00 a. m.
martes, noviembre 20, 2001
The movie lived up to all the hoopla!
(And the casting director should win an award!)
posted at 11/20/2001 02:37:00 p. m.
Weekend Update #2
OK - Sorry for the delay but I've been busy. I won't make this too long... Saturday morning my old college roommate came in from College Station (90 miles from Houston). We watched the new Absolutely Fabulous episode I had recorded early that week (they've come back to Comedy Central after a 5-year hiatus), waited for Daniel, who finally came by and brought yummy kolaches, then ran out the door for my dentist appointment.
Now my dentist is in Southeast Houston and I live in Northwest Houston so I thought I would find a new, quicker, easier way to get there. Well, it would have been quicker if I had not turned the wrong way into the 5th Ward District. We finally made it and I came out an hour later cavity-free! Poor Michelle was falling asleep so we went straight to Brasil's for some coffee. Spent the rest of the day together, driving around Houston. Dinner was Michelle's famous Mexican Chicken, dinner entertainment was the Shrek DVD and afterwards we finished the evening off with drinks at Privé. We finally got back home and talked till about 3 AM. For the record, I did get up an hour later at 4 AM and attempted to see the Leonids Meteor Shower but the fog was still in my area and I couldn't even see a star at that point!
Sunday was extra lazy. Michelle left after lunch and we went home for an afternoon nap. I fell asleep on the couch with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on in the background and when I woke up a few hours later, I was able to watch The Facts of Life Reunion! Yep, Tootie (er, Dorothy now), Blaire, Natalie and Mrs. Garrett were all back... Jo was missing but they had her daughter and her husband instead... Ah, I am such a child of the 80's!
posted at 11/20/2001 10:07:00 a. m.
Shamless, shamelss plug... my birthday is in about 3 weeks so if any of my good friends who read this need ideas, my Amazon Wish List is full of stuff I want!! *hint, hint*
OK. Sorry. Just trying to help my friends. :P
posted at 11/20/2001 09:35:00 a. m.
lunes, noviembre 19, 2001
Well - the weekend was soooooo unproductive and I was in a cranky mood, which is very unusual for me. Overall, it was a positive experience though. Where should I start? I guess Friday is a good place...
Weekend Update Part #1
Friday afternoon was "Girl's day Out" - three of my ex-co-workers took the afternoon off and we all joined up for lunch and a movie. I was in a horrible mood and it showed but we still had a good time. We watched Serendipity which was an OK movie. A little too sappy and unrealistic but then again, I was in a bad mood and probably affected what I thought of the movie. After an hour & a half drive I finally made it home. Hanna followed me since she was going to go to pool with me that evening. I was especially looking forward to this evening because I was going to finally meet Edge - actually, E.J., a fellow blogger who is also a Houston resident.
Well, we made it and E.J. was patiently waiting. Since he wasn't sure what my husband looked like, he waited for us to show up! I recognized him from his site and he recognized me as well... After a handful of introductions, I was happy to see that he was so comfortable around my friends. Here he was, thrown in with a bunch of people he didn't even know, playing pool with someone he had just met... We played for about an hour and then decided on Thai for dinner, thanks to Hanna's suggestion. Fortunately, there was a new Nit Noi Thai restaurant just a mile away so off we went...
We had a nice group of eight people and the conversation was good. Again, E.J. felt right at home. He and Kenny got along real well and Kenny told me he definitely hopes E.J. will come out with us again. I think E.J. felt the same way!
This has now been the 3rd instance where I've met someone in person after initially meeting them on-line and I think I can say all 3 have been extremely positive experiences. I foresee E.J. becoming a good friend like Gilda and Daniel have become.
Weekend Update to be continued...
posted at 11/19/2001 12:34:00 p. m.
viernes, noviembre 16, 2001
jueves, noviembre 15, 2001
This picture just made me smile - all personal feelings on Bush and his administration aside, isn't it amazing to see the US and Russia so comfortable with each other after all the years of Cold War politics?
posted at 11/15/2001 03:43:00 p. m.
Well, I've been kind of a slacker in here and haven't really been writing anything of substance lately. It's just that there hasn't been anything exciting going on. My work still sucks but I am surviving. The holidays are coming and that is exciting. I just wish the weather would get cooler so it would add to the holiday mood. The lights have been put around town and some of them are already lit. The gorgeous lights that they put up in The Galleria area are up but not lit - that happens Thanksgiving night in an official ceremony. I will take pictures when I return from Thanksgiving in West Texas. If I get a good enough picture I may even make it this year's Christmas card.
I do think it's a bit early for personal Christmas trees - I already saw one up and shining brightly in an apartment window a couple of days ago - over a week before Thanksgiving!! In my house we don't have many Christmas traditions but one of them is to get the tree in the 1st week of December so it is up by my birthday December 13th. We always get a real tree too - a Noble Fir to be exact. I don't think I could ever switch to an artificial one because I really love the process of picking it out (every year the tree is slightly different, giving it personality) and I like to walk in to the smell of a real tree.
Talking about the holidays coming up has put me in a better mood but I am still in a funk. I hope I can shake it off because this funk has been around for way too long. I am going to write down my feelings a little more so bear with me. I'm hoping that by writing about stuff, I'll be spurred into action to take care of things. Well see...
posted at 11/15/2001 10:28:00 a. m.
miércoles, noviembre 14, 2001
I came across this slide-show on the Houston Chronicle's site: Children Express Feelings Through Art
Children really are amazing. They absorb so much more than adults do. Their art reflects this.
posted at 11/14/2001 10:22:00 a. m.
martes, noviembre 13, 2001
An incredible story of "a photographer who died taking pictures of the Trade Center... when his body was recovered, so were his last frames": Shooting To the End
posted at 11/13/2001 10:13:00 a. m.
lunes, noviembre 12, 2001
Susan posted her digital pictures from Friday night!
Some favorites:
* CJ & the blue light
* Boys will be boys... and I got stuck in the picture with these freaks!
* Whoever took this picture of Kenny must have been falling over!
* Susan being tortured or lovingly played with...?
* And I just think Hanna's profile looks beautiful in this shot...
posted at 11/12/2001 02:24:00 p. m.
What a busy weekend and full of friends! Where to begin??
FRIDAY - Spent the evening with a couple of best friends - Hanna & Gretchen. We grabbed a late dinner at Niko Niko's where I had a really good lamb gyro. Afterwards we went across the street to Prive Lounge and caught up with Kenny and a handful of other friends (Sherry, CJ, Susan, Dennis and Robert) - CJ welcomed us as Charlie's Angels since the 3 of us were dressed up for the evening. The group already there was definitely in a rowdy and silly mood since they had been drinking earlier and this produced a lot of interesting shots on Susan's digital Elph... hope she posts them soon! Afterwards I grabbed coffee with the girls and Kenny at Brasil's. Finally made it home where we re-watched Memento (see Friday's post) and Gretchen crashed on the couch for the night.
SATURDAY - Most of the day was spent hanging out at home (and falling asleep on the couch). We did go out around 7 and went on a "double date" with our good friends Pamela & Daniel. They have a 7-month old (Nico) so they wanted an evening out without him. We had a wonderful evening with them!! We enjoyed a good dinner at a new Argentinean restaurant call El Buen Bife and then spent the rest of the night at Prive Lounge (yes, we went again). We had great conversation and great drinks (Cranberry Cosmopolitan martinis are extra nice when you find gummy bears at the bottom of the glass). We had such a good time that we lost track of time and stayed long enough to shut the place down at 2 AM. Kenny already asked me when we can do this again - thanks Pamela and Daniel for the great company!
SUNDAY - Went over to Spencer's housewarming get-together. He bought a beautiful new house out in Spring (North Houston area). What a great place! I'm very happy for him.
And now it's Monday and I am anxiously listening to the news reports on the NYC plane crash... It's looking like it is an accident but horrific nonetheless. New York City DOES NOT this. The country does not need this. *sigh*
posted at 11/12/2001 12:57:00 p. m.
The Houston Cow Parade is finally over.
Final numbers: 241 cows photographed out of a possible 320 cows.
Not bad! :D
posted at 11/12/2001 11:16:00 a. m.
viernes, noviembre 09, 2001
Wow! This was an awesome movie. A great physchological mystery that deserves to be watched more than once!! Go rent Memento tonight!
* Added bonus - Guy Pearce looks extra yummy with his shirt off for half the movie (the picture doesn't do him justice at all) *
posted at 11/09/2001 09:51:00 a. m.
jueves, noviembre 08, 2001
I scored 52% on the Are You A Blogaholic? quiz. It says I am "... a dedicated weblogger. You post frequently because you enjoy weblogging a lot, yet you still manage to have a social life. You're the best kind of weblogger. Way to go!"
:D
posted at 11/08/2001 04:06:00 p. m.
I've tweaked my site just a tad by making the red links a little brighter (and hopefully easier to read - I'd had some complaints) as well as added a brand-new comments program thanks to BlogBack.
A question to my all my readers (and a good way to test the new comments) - is the text easy on the eyes? Since the colors are dark it gets a bit hard to read on monitors that aren't as bright. Thanks for the feedback!
posted at 11/08/2001 12:22:00 p. m.
miércoles, noviembre 07, 2001
I would like to send out a late birthday wish to my good friend Robert! We had a great time celebrating last night at Mikado's where we watched our chef flip rice bowls, create flaming towers of onions and flip on the strobe lights for special effects at our hibachi table. It was a nice way to have dinner and I think Robert enjoyed it as well! Can't wait to go back... hey, I have a birthday coming up...
posted at 11/07/2001 04:29:00 p. m.
Another good article - this time discussing the media's coverage of the events in Afghanistan: A feeding frenzy over ‘failure’
(Again, thanks to NextDraft for the link).
posted at 11/07/2001 09:56:00 a. m.
Salman Rushdie has some interesting things to say about the war against terrorism:
"Highly motivated organizations of Muslim men (oh, for the voices of Muslim women to be heard!) have been engaged over the last 30 years or so in growing radical political movements out of this mulch of 'belief.' ... Poverty is their great helper, and the fruit of their efforts is paranoia. This paranoid Islam, which blames outsiders, "infidels," for all the ills of Muslim societies, and whose proposed remedy is the closing of those societies to the rival project of modernity, is presently the fastest growing version of Islam in the world ... If terrorism is to be defeated, the world of Islam must take on board the secularist-humanist principles on which the modern is based, and without which Muslim countries' freedom will remain a distant dream."
Go read the full NY Times article. It's definitely worth the read. (Thanks to NextDraft for the link).
posted at 11/07/2001 09:38:00 a. m.
lunes, noviembre 05, 2001
What a wonderful weekend! It was spent with good friends with some great weather.
Saturday was the highlight though - I organized a group outing to Galveston Island. The goal was not to go to the beach but rather see the other wonderful sites the city has to offer. Had lunch out on The Waterwall's patio, enjoying the weather -- here is wonderful group shot with almost all of the group -- and then we split into small groups for the afternoon. Some of the group went to the Flight Museum and the rest of us headed over to The Grand 1894 Opera House where my friend Daniel gave us a behind-the-scenes tour. Then we headed to see a couple of historic homes - The Bishop's Palace (completed 1893) and Ashton Villa (completed 1859). The Bishop's Palace was definitely my favorite!
We met back up on The Strand for some homemade ice cream at La King's Confectionery and some shopping (thanks for the purse Hanna). Ended the wonderful day with a great dinner at The Fisherman's Wharf and some downtime out on the balcony overlooking the Tall Ship ELISSA (built in 1877 and she still sails). It's a beauty at night when it is all lit up.
Here is the complete photo album of our day. Hope eveyone else had a good weekend as well!
posted at 11/05/2001 11:53:00 a. m.
viernes, noviembre 02, 2001
The ABC's of yours truly...
A - Age: 27, 11 months (almost 28)
B - Best Friend: Well, I have several - Gretchen, Kristen & Hanna
C - Choice of Meat: prime rib!
D - Dream Date: a weekend in Paris or Barcelona! (I think big, it is a dream date after all)
E - Exciting Adventure: 3 weeks studying abroad in Dominica, West Indies (rum is good)
F - Favorite Food: snow crab legs
G - Greatest Accomplishment: turning my personality around 180 degrees to become the person I am today
H - Happiest Day of Your Life: it's hard to pin down just one happy day and say it's the best one...
I - Interests: photography, traveling, surfing the internet, reading, spending time with friends and collecting floaty pens
J - Joke: What did the Aggie do with his Olympic gold medal? He went ahead and bronzed it.
K - Kool-Aid: I prefer Tang...
L - Love: my husband, my dog Ginger, my nieces
M - Most Valued possession: my husband
N - Name: Elaine
O - Outfit You Love: black drawstring pants and any of my many tank tops
P - Pizza Toppings: mushrooms & Canadian bacon
Q - Question Asked To You the Most: You speak Spanish?
R - Radio Station: 90.1 NPR
S - Sport: ugh, I don't like sports at all
T - Television Show: Gilmore Girls
U - Umbrella in the rain?: Depends on how hard it's raining and if I have one handy
V - Video: The Matrix
W - Winter: love it! I only wish it would get colder here in Texas...
X - X-rays recently?: nope - I was 14 last time I needed them (and yes, the arm was broken)
Y - Year Born: 1973 - the year of the Watergate scandal
Z - Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
Thanks to Creature of Comfort for the idea.
posted at 11/02/2001 09:59:00 a. m.
Oops - looks like he pissed off a few people...
"Governor's alert irks federal officials..."
posted at 11/02/2001 09:52:00 a. m.
jueves, noviembre 01, 2001
California Gov. Gray Davis said on Thursday he had received "credible'' information indicating that the state's major suspension bridges -- including the Golden Gate Bridge -- could be targeted for attack between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7.
*Wow.*
posted at 11/01/2001 05:40:00 p. m.
