Get your magnifying glass and get ready to play Pong, bang some drums or even try to make your way through a maze over at The World's Smallest Website!!

posted at 5/31/2002 09:50:00 a. m.

Damn it - Two nights of dreams in a row. What's up with that?? Last night I dreamt that I was at an amusement park waiting for other bloggers to meet for a social. While I was waiting, I went into a cafe in the park and saw Markie Post (from Night Court), whom I somehow personally knew because I too had been on the show in a minor recurring role.

Yes, I watched it a lot in the 80's because there was nothing else on but it wasn't one of my favorites so I don't know where I got this.

So are there any dream interpreters out there?

posted at 5/31/2002 09:28:00 a. m.

OK. So, remember Observation #7 about not ever remembering my dreams? Well I proved myself wrong last night.

I had this weird dream about moving into a new place that was sort of like an apartment-house. It was in this huge complex with two other styles of apartments. The other 2 complexes were your typical run-of-the-mill newer-styled apartments. What made them nice was the main lobby and public area between the complexes that had a bar/restaurant area and pool hall so you could hang out with friends. It was full of people in their mid-20's, no families, very much like a college atmosphere.

So I was walking through this huge complex with a couple of friends trying to find our new place. We were moving into the nicest complex that offered only two huge apartments per floor. They were big enough to be houses; you just shared the floor with a neighbor. Strange, huh? I just remember thinking how in the hell was I going to give people directions to our new place since the complex was so huge and confusing and we were in the back!?

I guess I’ll add this to my short list of remembered dreams…

posted at 5/30/2002 10:12:00 a. m.

Aw... how sweet! Boobka made his own list about me: "In Elaine's Honor: 10 weird things I noticed about her"

posted at 5/30/2002 12:29:00 a. m.

Ten weird, completely random observations I have made on my life:

#1. I can *never* make it to work on time, no matter what I try to do. I’m always about 10 minutes late.

#2. I cannot seem to get to bed before 2 AM anymore, no matter what I try to. This may be part of the reason for observation #1.

#3. You know those toilets that automatically flush? They never seem to work for me. They always flush at the wrong time or never do. Why?

#4. Another toilet observation: Fellow ladies, why don’t you change the roll? If it’s easy to do (i.e. it's not in one of those commercial holders) and you’re just sitting there, why do you just leave the new roll on top of the empty holder???

#5. OK, enough toilet stuff. Here's a shameful admission: I watch 7th Heaven when I happen to be home Monday nights and am too lazy to get off the couch. Hey! At least I don't go out of my way to watch it and really, there's nothing else on the Monday primetime line-up...

#6. I still love to send postcards when I am on vacation and will spend several hours handwriting individual notes to friends while on the trip.

#7. I can never remember my dreams. I’ve only remembered 3 or 4 in my entire lifetime. Is this bad?

#8. This CD playing really loudly, blue skies, cool weather and a wide-open sunroof make me extremely happy!

#9. I really don’t like the summer because I abhor the heat (go figure, I live in Houston).

#10. Related to #9, I don’t really like beaches or pools and typically only wear a bathing suit about once a year when I am forced to.

Now you know a little bit more about how truly strange I am! My friends and husband can vouch for that!

posted at 5/29/2002 11:53:00 a. m.

It's a dreary, stormy day here in Houston.

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

posted at 5/29/2002 10:08:00 a. m.

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. Mine was full of grilled food (yummy lemon herb chicken & scallops Saturday, fajitas Sunday and T-bone steak Monday), good friends and good DVD's. E.J.'s friend Lawrence (aka Manz) was in town visiting from California so it was especially nice to see him.

It wasn't without its drama though! E.J.'s 9-year old girl Gelli had an anxiety attack Saturday night and not knowing what was going on except that she was having major difficulties breathing, I drove her and her Dad to the emergency room. It ended up being a very bad case of hyperventilation and she is perfectly fine, just shaken and scared by the whole experience.

And although not that big of a scare, it seems that one of my fishies tried to jump to freedom Sunday night. I found one of my tiger barbs on the floor in front of the fish tank (lucky for him I found him before Ginger did). He was still a little moist so I quickly threw him back in thinking he was not going to make it. Lo and behold, he looks to be fully recovered, has all his color back and has one hell of a fish tale to tell his friends (har, har... bad pun, it's Monday)!

Now it's just back to work even though I still want to be in my bed back home... *yawn*

posted at 5/28/2002 09:34:00 a. m.

Yay! It's Friday and it's a 3-day weekend with no plans!

We are getting out of work early so I just wanted to make a quick post before I disappear for the weekend...

Have a good one folks!

posted at 5/24/2002 04:11:00 p. m.

Have some fun with the Dancing Queen... I sure did!!

(link thanks to Goluboy)

posted at 5/23/2002 06:30:00 p. m.

Still feeling crappy but I'm in a good mood becasue it's almost Friday and the start of a long holiday weekend. Yay! I have no plans except the usual group hangout on Friday.

Do y'all have any Memorial Day weekend plans?

posted at 5/23/2002 12:55:00 p. m.

Allergies suck. My whole head is scratchy, itchy and congested!

posted at 5/22/2002 10:08:00 a. m.

I'm home and about to plop down on the couch for an evening of season finales: Gilmore Girls (my favorite show) and Smallville (Clark is dreamy).

Oh - and that headache I've had? It doesn't seem to be the new glasses but rather allergies. To accompany my headache today, my nose is runny, my throat is sore and my eyes are itchy. The Allegra I took after lunch hasn't had any affect either. *sigh*

posted at 5/21/2002 06:44:00 p. m.

Oh - I also saw Episode II: Attack of the Clones Sunday. No review here (there are enough out there), just go see it for yourself. All I will say is that the acting was not Oscar material but the movie overall was better than the first one. The visuals are also stunning.

One more comment - Amidala kicks ass just as well as her daughter Princess Leia does in the future episodes!

posted at 5/21/2002 01:13:00 p. m.

No, the warranty does NOT cover stupidity.

So I get in my car a few days ago and notice that my passenger side window isn't working. No big deal. I figure it's just a fuse. I finally get around to it this weekend and ask my husband to take care of it. He and Robert go out and pull various fuses out, all which look perfectly fine. Soon they come back in and ask for the service manual. At this point, they are seeing what else could be doing it - broken motor on the window maybe? Yuck!

Ten minutes later I go out to the garage to check the status and ask them if they think the warranty may cover what is wrong. They both look at me funny and go "No, no - we don't think your problem is covered on the warranty."

Want to know why? I had accidentally hit the child-lock on my side and disabled the window. Oops! Funnier still - my husband was more upset at himself for not having thought I would have done something that simply stupid first before checking the fuses... *sheepish grin*

posted at 5/21/2002 10:47:00 a. m.

I hate getting a new set of glasses. I get a splitting headache since it always takes me a day to adjust even if they are the same prescription!! Argh!

posted at 5/20/2002 01:50:00 p. m.

Welcome back Hanna!

posted at 5/20/2002 10:11:00 a. m.

Saturday was spent at Astroworld at my husband's company picnic. We stayed close to a small group of friends and had a good time running around the park. Enjoyed watching Gelli & Brendon go on their 1st roller coaster rides and relived how much fun Greezed Lightenin' and Texas Cyclone are!!!

Here is the photo album for the day...

posted at 5/20/2002 10:00:00 a. m.

What a busy weekend!! Before I get into that I thought I'd write a quick blurb on my sister's visit. Last week I had lots to say but today I thought I would keep it simple. In short, it was a nice visit because my sister was much calmer than I had expected in regards to my Mother's situation and the visit went by with no arguments or "family discussion", which is something I had been dreading. The girls were good too although the younger one, Olivia, was scared of my dog Ginger for almost the entire time. She finally became friendly with her about an hour before they had to leave!

As always, I regret not seeing my nieces more often because seeing them only about once or twice a year for a day or two doesn't let me get to know them and they feel like strangers to me. I know my friends' kids better than I know my nieces so spending time with them is always a bit awkward and even stressful. I look forward to seeing them as they get older though because then they’ll retain more solid memories of our time together and the awkward getting-to-know-each-other phase will get shorter each visit. Until then, I guess I’ll have to learn to stress less and enjoy myself more!

posted at 5/20/2002 09:37:00 a. m.

Went to an impromptu Happy Hour last night with a few H-Town Bloggers. Mike was in town from London, I finally got to meet Ted and Rob showed up as well. Had a good time chatting and sipping on frozen margaritas at Chuy's!

posted at 5/17/2002 01:56:00 p. m.

Woo-hoo!! My computer just arrived!

posted at 5/16/2002 02:51:00 p. m.

Whew! I just finished putting together my new leather office chair and I did it all by myself! Still waiting on the computer though - it was in neighboring Stafford, Texas this morning according to the UPS tracking information.

posted at 5/16/2002 02:27:00 p. m.

My sister, her husband and my nieces made a quick overnight visit
and are already gone, on their way back to Florida.
Click on the picture below for more cute pictures of the girls
and I promise a longer entry with details later!

posted at 5/16/2002 12:46:00 a. m.

Work Observation #3849: The ladies' bathroom smells like cinnamon-apple spice. It always reminds me of the powdered hot spiced cider drink I like. I still can't decide if this is good or bad...

In other news, my new LaserJet printer arrived today. Now where is the rest of my computer??

posted at 5/14/2002 01:45:00 p. m.

I saw this book in the store this weekend and burst out laughing when I read the title. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? I feel sorry for the kids whose parents feel they need this book. This one isn't any better.

(I know it's the name of the series but it's just not a good combination of ideas).

posted at 5/14/2002 09:49:00 a. m.

Hee, hee - If you add me as a favorite bookmark now, you'll get a cute little icon instead of that boring old Internet Explorer icon! Try it and see!!

It was easy to do (thanks to an old archived File13 post that was thanks to Neurotic Fishbowl)!

posted at 5/14/2002 12:02:00 a. m.

Yeah, yeah - I know my template is doing screwy things in the right margin. I'll look at the code tonight. Argh...

Edited 7:06 PM: Screwy margin fixed!

posted at 5/13/2002 02:15:00 p. m.

Ah, Monday! It was actually cool and gray this morning, a change form the heat we've had the last week. Since I never watch the local news, I didn't realize a cool front had come in so I was caught unprepared. Not to worry - I grabbed a sweater before I left.

Had a good weekend. Sort of lazy, sort of productive. Saturday and Sunday afternoon Kenny and I ran errands and bought even more stuff for the house - this time around it was an awesome utility shelf for the garage (7 feet tall, 4 feet wide and all we needed was a rubber mallet to put it together) as well as a hydraulic car jack and ramps so he can start saving us money by changing the oil in the cars himself. We finally got rid of all the leftover boxes and trash in the garage, shoved stuff onto the new shelf and managed to squeeze in both cars (my Civic, his Jeep) and his motorcycle (Kawasaki Ninja). It's a cozy fit but manageable.

I think my biggest accomplishment was finally figuring out our sprinkler system! Yay! The grass was getting dry and I was tired of having to drag out the hose to water the plants in the front yard when I knew there was a sprinkler head in the bed itself so I I grabbed the manual and set up the timer. When I ran the test run, I was amazed at all the sprinkler heads that popped up that I never knew were in the yard. They are everywhere, both in the back, front and sides of the house!!!

I did neglect the computer though so I didn't finish updating the site and the new template but I'll get to it eventually - although I did fix the margin problem I was having (each entry was getting indented further and further over due to a line of code in the css file)! Tonight I have to sweep and mop in anticipation of my sister's arrival with her family in tow (husband and 2 little girls). They will stay Tuesday night and I will take Wednesday off at work to spend time with them. I'm a bit stressed about the visit for reasons I won't get into. Suffice it to say, they involve family issues and politics.

Socially, I had a good weekend as well. Friday night E.J. cooked up a wonderful chicken and pasta dish from scratch in honor of my new job. I was fashionably late to my own dinner but that's OK - the food was still great! Thank you E.J.! Saturday night we went out with a good friend who we don't see as often as we used to. We took her to a bar she had never been to in Downtown and she took us to one we'd never been to. We had a great time catching up and both bars were very enjoyable and places I'd love to frequent more often.

Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day and took my Mom out to dinner. We are supposedly also celebrating while my sister is in town but due to the family politics, I wanted to see her alone in a more stress-free environment. I think she enjoyed it and was glad I called up with the invitation.

Well, back to the grind. I hope everyone everyone had a nice weekend as well...

posted at 5/13/2002 10:48:00 a. m.

You know that little moment of doubt that flies by when you start a new job? Well, I just got a call from the HR lady at a local company and she wanted me to come in and interview. I think it was for a bilingual account rep position. Argh. My only consolation is that it might have been more administrative since she and I were both afraid that I didn't have any enough import/export experience for the position we had been discussing. She was one of the 1st people to contact me after the lay off but the department hiring took its sweet time looking at resumes. It wasn't her fault but the question still lingers in my mind... I wish I had had a chance to interview with her before accepting this position. She really expressed an interest and had put my resume out in front.

Maybe my doubt is really strong right now because I just haven't settled in here yet and I still am unsure of what I am to do. Plus, with these doubts comes a stupid idea that what I don't have *might* have been better. But who am I kidding? An interview is NOT a job offer and I may have even hated the environment, the people, the commute...

Please - I need some help here. Tell me I did the right thing! I made the right choice... that they were just too late. I didn't accept too quickly did I?

posted at 5/10/2002 11:53:00 a. m.

TGIF! I never got a chance to write up on my 1st day at work so I'll take a minute and do so now. I think it will be easier if I just write out my impressions in a list form.

-- Everyone is really nice and laid back. I really like this. I also seem to be connected to almost everyone in a small, insignificant way. For example: I went to high school where one of the partners sent her daughters, my boss grew up in the area where my husband grew up, one of the girls and I frequent the same bars and coffee shop, another woman lives in the part of Houston where I grew up in, yet another woman is about to enroll her son in the elementary school I attended and an older lady and I share a Cuban background.

-- Everyone here in the office on payroll is a woman except my boss, the main partner. I'll also add that we represent every major ethnicity (Asian, African-American, Hispanic and Anglo).

-- My office needs some work. My PC is ancient but I will be getting a brand-new Dell next week. My furniture is also nothing to look at but this may or not be remedied soon. The back part has storage boxes stacked up but this will hopefully be taken care of next week. All in all, despite the lavender walls, I can't complain since it is an office. In the next month, I'll try to cozy it up with some framed art.

-- I'm still getting used to my chair. I think my floor slopes slightly and I am having trouble rolling over to the computer... ack!

-- My boss seems like a great person and I keep hearing this from the rest of the co-workers. I look forward to working with him.

-- I still don't really know what I'll be doing because everyone has been too busy to show me anything but hopefully next week while my boss is out of town they'll get a chance to train me some more.

-- I still haven't figured out how to get here on time. Traffic sucks, even at 8:45 AM and the extra 3 mile commute I have has thrown off my schedule. Luckily, they don't seem to mind and I actually got in before anyone else this morning!

-- Covered parking, free cokes and juice and free tissue boxes are nice little perks.

Now I must go now. I've been handed some filing and I need to read up on eighteen different trusts I will be helping my boss handle! Toodles!

posted at 5/10/2002 10:03:00 a. m.

Well - I'm here in my new office and the walls are lavender... hmm.

Catch you guys later!

posted at 5/09/2002 11:36:00 a. m.

Oh yeah - I'm also working on a re-design for the summer to brighten this place up... working on getting all the links working right now as well as formatting the rest of my pages so please bear with me. I should have all the loose ends tied up by this weekend!

posted at 5/09/2002 12:02:00 a. m.

Well - I guess I owe y'all an update! Where to begin? I'll start from the weekend...

-- Saturday: This was a crazy day that started early with a trip to Target and Hobby Lobby to get some last minute things in preparation for the housewarming party. The day was spent cleaning up, organizing and generally panicking a bit as I saw myself running out of time. Thanks to Hanna for helping me sweep and mop, hang pictures (the lounge "photo wall" looks great - yes, those are all my own photos) and for renting the margarita machine. That was a great idea. Robert soon came over and he helped Kenny fix our bed (some important supports had bent underneath the frame) while Hanna and I went and bought lots of tequila for the margaritas. Pamela soon arrived and started to set up the kitchen with yummy snacks!

I was still frantically cleaning up the bedroom when the 1st guest arrived at 6 PM. I made a late entrance since I still had to take a shower but I soon made it out all clean and refreshed while the guests kept coming... We had quite a few babies show up as well as a few out-of-town guests. I had some dear old neighbors stop by, friends we haven't seen in a while, friends we see all the time, and even my own mother and a family friend! All in all, we had about 40 people stop by at some point or another and 3 overnight guests (not including Jace, the baby) and it was really a lot of fun. The house looked great, the guests had fun and the police never came despite the wackiness coming from the patio (that's my new patio set) as a result of going through a bottle and a half of margarita mix.

Hare are the rest of Hanna's pictures: Elaine & Kenny's Housewarming Fiesta

I'd like to thank everyone for coming and for the wonderful gifts, especially for getting together and buying us the gas outdoor grill! We love it. Can't wait to have you guys back over for some good BBQ.

-- Sunday: The next day Kenny and I took our guests - Beau, Hanna, Kristen and Jace - to Baba Yega's for a dee-licious brunch and a nice stroll in their gardens. That evening, Robert came over and brought us sausages and corn-on-the-cob to cook on the new grill. They turned out yummy!

-- Monday: Hung out at the house, touched base with some headhunters, became anxious about the job search and spent the evening with friends (Sherry, E.J., & Robert). We made tacos and headed out to watch the new Spider-Man movie. It was good and Kenny enjoyed it especially since the comic was one of his favorites as a child.

-- Tuesday: Hung out some more and finally got the call with the job offer!! Kenny was so happy he told me to pick out a place for dinner to celebrate. That evening he took me out to a wonderful little cafe we hadn't been to in a while called The Daily Review. They offer a slightly different menu each day and use fresh ingredients from their own garden. C.J. and Susan joined us and we had an absolutely wonderful dinner out on their new patio under a gorgeous tree. It was a nice balmy evening that was surprisingly bug-free and pleasantly warm – a very nice way to celebrate that made me really appreciate what I had in terms of love, friends and opportunity. Afterwards, Kenny had wanted to play miniature gulf at a new place he had seen so we headed over and played a round of indoor putt-putt golf - all lit by black-light and strangely eerie. I lost horribly (after having been in the lead earlier on) but we all had a great time!!

So, here I am today - just hanging out and trying to catch up on the computer before I head back to full-time employment. I don't know if I'll be able to post from work yet but if not, I'll try my best to do so from home in the evenings. Thanks for everyone's love and support throughout these trying times and for coming back to check on me!!!! Y'all have been great! Don't stop visiting!

posted at 5/08/2002 10:05:00 p. m.

I'm gainfully employed again!!! I start Thursday morning!!!

Woo-hoo!!!!!

posted at 5/07/2002 01:59:00 p. m.

I've been busy, busy, busy and today I am resting at home but I promise an update in the next day or so (including pictures from the housewarming party).

Stay tuned...

posted at 5/06/2002 03:16:00 p. m.

We are back home after our overnight trip to West Texas for PaPa’s funeral. It was sad but MaMa did well and she was surrounded by family (her two remaining sisters, PaPa’s sister and a handful of other relatives). We had a small and short graveside service and then all went out to dinner.

MaMa has a hard road ahead of her though. As I told Chris in an e-mail, she is about to start to go through some hard decisions and will be having to realize they are hers alone to make. A final thought on yesterday… I liked what the pastor said at one point and hope MaMa takes this to heart – we gathered yesterday not because PaPa died, but because he lived. I myself feel very fortunate I had a chance to meet such a wonderful and loving man, even if for such a brief time. I love you PaPa!

Well, I have to cut this short since I have a 2nd interview today at one of the firms I saw Tuesday. I am getting very good vibes from this place and the headhunter says they may even be offering me something this weekend. They (the headhunters) are pushing for a bit higher than what I was making at my last job so this lay-off may net me even more money than I was making before! Keep your fingers crossed… Toodles!

posted at 5/03/2002 09:40:00 a. m.