My life, such as it is.

Working on Saturn

2009-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I was not working on Saturn, or even a Saturn V, but 2002 Saturn SC2, to the point, my car. Okay my wife's car. Last week I had taken it for an oil change and an inspection, where the guys told me, well it has a check engine light, so we have to run a diagnostic, then we can tell you what to fix. Okay, $60 when Autozone does it for free? Well I do know that the hand held readers do not go as deep and there are some error codes they just don't read. But when they told me that it was going to cost more to fix the car than the car is worth, I lost my cool, told them to remove it from the diagnostic gear, give me the readout and good bye. I took the car home, and started reading the list of repairs, which included replace the radiator fan motor, and coolant sensor. Okay a lot of sensor's need replaced, but the good thing about sensors is most of them are where you can get at them. A trip to the car parts store, and under a hundred bucks later I have 2 gallons of pre-mixed antifreeze, an engine coolant temperature sensor, a PCV valve and a Haynes manual. In less than an hour I had the aforementioned parts in place, had refilled the resevoir and the car looked good! No more error light on the dash (which had only started).

Polly had mentioned that the car had run hot on occasion, but not so much that it was a worry (just warmer than usual and this was prior to my work). Well after about a week the low coolant light started coming on and would not stay off. After more investigation I find that Polly thinks we have a leaky radiator, but I think it is the hose (mostly because a hose is WAY cheaper than a radiator) so I replace the hose, refill the fluids and satisfy myself that there was a pinhole leak in the hose (BTW there has never been a puddle of coolant under the car until now as I spilled a bit whilst changing the hose. Looks good at first, and about a mile away, coolant low light. This is frustrating, the engine is not getting hot, the coolant is moving through the system, what is the deal? Well further investigation leads me to suspect the fan is not turning. Like the fact that the fan is not turning. So I check the fuses...30 amp fuse, and yup it is blown. New fuse, and a fill up of the radiator, since the fan was not running, looks like we have been losing a bit of steam, so to speak. Test drive looks good and we will see in the morning.

Total outlay for parts:

$12.00 Coolant sensor
$20.00 Coolant premix
$3.00 PCV Valve
$20.00 Repair manual (still find good references on the net, but this is nice to have)
$18.00 hose
$5.00 Fuse

So for a total of $78.00 I resolved a cooling system issue, and 1 hour of laber is $60.00, plus I did not have to buy a radiator fan. And the guys at Autozone read my error codes for the other things I need to fix, so I can get started on them too. I still need to take it in for a clutch, and some other major repairs at a later date, but what the heck so far this has not been such a bad deal.

Now if only GM could fix their problems with Saturn...

Are you asleep in the light?

2009-02-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

This last week I saw a post on Digg.com that just got to me. It was a story about a body frozen in the ice of a basement in Detroit, but not about that, more about how the people around had just kind of accepted it. You can read that story here. Anyway, this really hit home as my wife has been doing a lot of work with our church outreaching to the homeless in our area. Polly has a huge heart, and these guys really touched her. I know Houston does not get cold like Detroit, but it does get cold enough. My pastor brought this news story up on Sunday as part of his sermon (read more on Kathy's Blog)

What really got me is that Keith Green addressed this in a song Called Asleep in the Light, often heard prefaced by a dramatic retelling of the sheep and the goats (he plays both a sheep and a goat). Thanks to the wonders of Youtube, I found both and wanted to share them with friends. Here they are:

Sheep and the goats:

Asleep in the light:

Okay so this is from the 70s and Keith does kind of look like the happy plants painter guy, but the message is the same today, as it was then, and even more important about 2000 years ago when Jesus said it originally.

I am a bad blogger

2009-01-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

Really I am, I mean I have all these intentions of keeping up on my blog, but that darn life of mine keeps butting in. Well be that as it may, I pledge to keep my one reader happy and start blogging more. Who knows, maybe I will get a second reader. My wife finally has a facebook, so anything can happen.

It has been a wild ride lately, lots going on and all of it at once. Sometimes it feels like the time is on a slope, and the further along we get the steeper that slope becomes. I said that last year went like falling down the stairs, a lot of bumps and confusion, and you keep trying to grab on to something to slow it down. And sadly enough almost everyone I know understood and agreed. Now I am looking at 2009 and seeing as tomorrow is the 31st already I have to say, looks like I missed that first step again.

More to come as I think of interesting, pithy or silly things to say.

Waiting on the world to change

2008-10-09T19:49:00.001-07:00

Well the seasons are changing, even in Houston, albeit slowly. And the times, they are a changing. And well the baby needs changing, but me, I think I have been changing too much lately. Okay, one thing is changing. I am getting whiter. No, not less tan,..just more white hair. Gray I did not mind so much, but the white that is bugging me. Just 2 years ago I still had a lot of dark hair in my beard and now it is almost completly white. My hair on my head is graying, or whiting. I once had brown hair with red highlights, it is still thick, but the brown is turning silver and the red has already turned white. I am still pretty unlined, partly because my face is rather full (read fat).

This really does not bother me as much as it sounds, but here is the weird thing. I know that I am 45, but inside, I am still 16. I look in the mirror and think, when did I get this old. I guess what is getting me, is that I am getting older, and so are we all. My aging is not so bad, but watching my wee ones (one of whom towers over me) grow up. I still want to take care of them like I used to, but that is not what they need now. And watching my parents grow old, that really hurts, because I know I am following. I look at some of the recent pictures and I see my uncles face looking back at me.

What is really funny is that one of my favorite songs is this classic They Might Be Giants song...older. give it a listen, and cheer up, we are all getting older.

A 20th birthday to remember

2008-10-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

But I am glad it was not mine.

Monday was my son Nathan's birthday. An all around good reason to celebrate. But somewhat muted for him. You see Sunday night he lent his car to his older brother to run to McDonalds, less than a mile away, at about 10:00 Pm. Why he was running for food that late when I had just bought groceries is anyone's guess. Now some background to make this more interesting. Joe is a terrible driver. He has wrecked at least 3 cars, burned up the motors on two others, and wiped out on his bike, at least 4 times. He even hit a parked undercover cop's personal car with his motorcycle in a parking lot. Get the idea? When Nathan got his car last year, we told him, you do not loan your car out to friends, and you do not under any circumstances let Joe drive it. Ever. Now I shoudl say, this is not the first time Nathan let Joe borrow his car, but it is the last time for this car at least.

The story we got is, Joe is driving along, wearing his seatbelt, at a safe and reasonable speed, when he suddenly hears a pop, the car skids to the right, into a nearby ditch, hits the culvert and winds up facing the opposite direction. There is a dent in the windshield with blood and hair on it, he cut his lip (right on the stupid labret piercing),his entire left side is bruised, and he can't move his shoulder and arm very much at all. He calls Nathan, asking for mom. We hear Nathan ask, where are you? Mom is at the store, I'll call her. I am on my way. Those of us who heard this assumed that Joe ran out of Gas (Nathan did the same on Saturday morning) and Nate was taking him the gas can. Not so much. After a long period of no word from anyone, I call my darling wife. She says, hang on, I will call you back, and I say, just tell me what happened. She says, Joe totalled Nathan's car. Sometime later she came by the house to drop off whatever it was she had left for, and gives me a synopsis.

Long story short. Car, totaled. Joe, alive, but finally went to the doctor; possible broken clavicle, no work for a week. Nathan, no way to school or work, except to bum rides. Car gone, not even worth $100 to a junk yard. Another bummer is that Polly (I wanted to wait) had decided to give him his birthday present (cash from the family) on Friday since he was going to San Antonio to see his girlfriend. So, he has almost no money. You see, he has a good job, makes about 600 bucks a paycheck, and spends every last dime. So now he suddenly discovering that when you have no money for down payments, and no credit history, people don't just hand over car keys.

He is however being very kind to his brother about wrecking his car. And the funny thing is I wonder if that is indeed the unkindest cut of all. You see when you mess up and someone give syou heck about it, you can feel justified in being mad at them, and not having to deal with the consequences of your actions. However when someone is kind and understanding, sometimes that makes it harder, becuase then you have to deal with the awful feelings of guilt and such that come along with a big mistake. But then again, Nate also thought that insurance would provide him enough money for a new (used) car, or at least a down payment. Suprise! Not with just liability. But he did get off the hook for towing. At least he did not put on 500 dollar wheels and a thousand dollar sound system in a 2000 dollar car.

Actually a lot of interesting fallout has come of this. Polly has lost a lot of trust in these guys, and instead of trying to fix the situation, she is saying, your problem, not mine. Told you not to let Joe drive. Oh, and for the next foreseeable future, both boys paychecks go directly to Mom, who will dole out cash as needed, and by her determination of need is. May get interesting around here.

Anybody want a couple of post teenage boys? Cheap? They do work hard, when they are not banged up.

It's a beutiful day in the neighborhood

2008-09-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

It really is, the weather is gorgeous. Warm, but not hot, clear, not too humid. Once the mosquitioes settle down post Ike, it will be delightful come evening. This is the time of year that makes being in Houston through the summer worth while. I know some folks talk about our humidity, but I have lived in the desert, and I have lived in the snow country. Say what you like about the humidity, I have never had to shovel it. Or put on humidty screen, unless you mean right guard. And here in the lovely west Houston area, we are treated to mostly quiet evenings, and pleasant places to gather and visit. In fact I think it is time I put in a firepit so that when the weather gets just a touch cooler we can sit out side and just visit and enjoy the nice weather. As I sit in my windowless office in the center of the building, hearing the roar of the File server fans as they cool the computers down, it almost makes me miss when I worked out of doors. Then I remember being in jeans and boots, pulling barbed wire or chasing escaped critters in the summers heat. No thanks. Oh, and anyone who thinks Houston does not get cold, get a map of the us, or better yet a globe one of the ones with bumps to show the mountains (topographical, I know). Now look from Canada to Houston, you see the two sets of mountain ranges that seperate the east and west from the middle of the country? those run north south, mostly, and work like a funnel to channel the cold winter air coming down from, or worse, across Canada. Hot and humid is muggy, sleepy weather. Cold Humid air is painful like knives when the wind blows. On the more bright side, our winters are maybe a couple of weeks of cold weather.

Yup, I do like it here, mostly. And like Ben Franklin said, Everyone Talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.

Me I am getting my hammock, an umbrella and a blanket out, with a mosquito net a cold beverage and a good book. Wake me if another hurricane is coming.

Some things they don't tell you to prepare for in a hurricane

2008-09-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

Grind your coffee beans before the power goes out
Find something to do while you are waiting for the storm
get something to keep everyone occupied after the power is out
Everyone eats the boiled eggs first, boil more
The more stuff in your fridge/freezer the longer it stays cold
The more stuff in your fridge/freezer the more you may have to cook, eat or pitch
Cat food and cat litter, you don't have enough, trust me
Wash all the towels first, and everything else. Really you don't know how long until you can wash again
LED flashlight bulbs last longer. weirder light, but longer.
Sleep while you can, you may not get too for a while
Get to know your neighbors before the power is out
Trim branches before the storm is close
Grind the coffee before the power is out. Starbucks didn't open soon enough.

One Week Later

2008-09-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

It has been one week since Ike took his hike through Texas, and all the way up to Pennsyvania. One week that seems short and long. Here on the west side, life is mostly normal, for example we only had to work 3 and a half days this week at my office. We have water, and power, cable TV, internet. All the tree limbs are cleared up, fences are being repaired. Mostly it seems to be back to normal. Then there are the reminders. I made a peach cobbler and the family wanted ice cream to go on it. My son and I went to the store, which seemed normal until we got to the frozen foods section. It was emtpy. I mean there was milk, bread, meat, produce...but hardly any frozen goods. Waffles were about it. I picked up some beer, some sodas, some Excedrine, but no ice cream. It seemed to really hit me again, how big this thing was. And how lucky and blessed we are. We lost no food becuase power came back. We had to boil the drinking water for about a day (but we had plenty of bottled in the mean time). Galveston is hurt, badly. But she will recover. Downtown Houston is reopening. Probably by the end of next week most of Houston and the surrounding areas will have power. Our lives will go back to mostly normal.

And that is what is most comforts and confuses me both. I mean people are back to worrying about the little stuff, when a week ago, we were excited to hear someone else we knew was okay, and had hot water. My home hosted a few guests, and friends, and some were too proud or something to come over. I actually understand that, you want to be in your home. But I have seen people back to their petty ways, griping about everything, and the ones that gripe the most, seem to be those that lost the least amount. I just don't get some people.

In the meanwhile, we are coping, going to work, seeing whom we can help, and I think all of us here are tired of the news and want just to forget it all for a little while.

But we shouldn't.

Shut up Tigger! or Ike part 2

2008-09-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

It is 1 am and my fat cat Tigger is yelling at the door. He does this whenever it is raining, or windy out. He wants to see it for himself. I have tried to explain to him that this is a hurricane, or at least a tropical storm, but you know, it seems I am not getting through to him. Well the good news is that the rain is just now starting here. And the wind is not that strong. We have storms like this regularly. I know that power is out in some other parts of Houston, but the far west side is okay for now. Not sure how much more storm is headed this way, but I am going to try to sleep again. I am glad I did not do the coffee I was thinking about. But you know, I was going to lace it with baileys or kahlua anyway. Hope Dr. Tiki would approve (www.tikibartv.com, watch it and you will understand). As long as we have power and cable, I can blog and watch Stargate. and if the power goes out, I can still try to post short entries or emails.

Truthfully the worst part of a hurricane seems to be waiting for it to get here. On my facebook I put down the old 80's song by REO Speedwagon Riding the Storm out. Now it seems more like Tom Petty's The waiting is the hardest part. Yup, even in the face of a storm, I am a music geek. I thinki I will close this off for now, before I think of other songs for the storm.
Now where is my Ipod...

We don't like Ike...

2008-09-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ike the Cat 2 hurricane is coming to town. Okay it has been coming for days, but it is finally getting here. The good news is that the hurricane is being downgraded to a category 1, and where we are at, probably tropical storm level. Good news for us. These Pictures my wife took at about 6pm show how the neighborhood kids are playing, and people are out and about. The clouds are coming in, and the wind was just starting to blow, about 10 or so mph. Now the wind is just starting to gust, and we are getting ready for the storm. No rain yet, but that is fine, I need the water in my fishpond!

This is a big storm, but I know that God is bigger, and that he is with us. If you are worries about the storm, pray, it is the best thing. I know that God's people have been praying, this storm has already done things that the weathermen can't understand. I expect a rough nite, and as long as power holds, I will keep on blogging.

BTW did I mention I have a brisket cooking in the oven? Even if the power goes out, I have a gas stove, and the gas grill, so we will eat well. Seems that in looking in the fridge, I have found about a dozen chicken breasts, one ham and four beautiful NY strip steaks. Yum. Yes I am cooking it all, since cooked food will last longer if the power goes in.

Anyway, more later, and take care of yourelf, faithful reader!

In the land of AZ

2008-06-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, not so much the land of Oz, but let me tell you, Lake Havasu City Arizona (AZ, Get it?) is indeed quite a bit different from my home town of suburban Houston. First off it is rather...well...brown here. The sand, the rocks, the people, are mostly brown. That is probably becuase of the oven that this place becomes in the summer. It was 121 farenheit today. I don't care where you are from, that is hot. Okay, so the humidtiy was 2%, and it is a dry heat indeed. It is still hot. The really odd bit is that because of the low humidity, the evaporation rate is high. So even though the pool is 85 degrees, it is cold. Why? Glad you asked; because when there is a 30 or more degree temperature difference between the air and water, the water feels cold. It was 115 yesterday, and the pool was chilly. But the real pain was getting out. The water was evaporating so fast that as soon as you get out you grab your towel and try to keep warm. Yes, in the direct sun at 115 degrees.

It has been an interesting week here, I got a sinus infection and bronchitis just before I came, but hoped the dry warm air would help clear me up. That was wrong. So I spent a couple of hours at an urgent care, where they said I was dehydrated (after drinking about 5 bottles of water, vitamin water, and okay, hops water (beer, and honestly about 5 of those). But I also had sinus, ear and chest infections, so antibiotics, steroids and decongestants it is. 24 hours later I feel much better and am looking forward to sleeping 8 or so hours straight tonight. So far I have been up and down a lot, and waking up about 5 AM local time.

On the cool side, this town has a lot of classic cars and hot rods. On the downside, the folks sold the boat, so we won't go down to the river, cruise then park in the channel, and watch the boats and people parade past. I love the parade of stuff past, but my wife is always amazed that I don'tm really gawk at all the girls in their tiny bikinis and stuff. Truth is I kind of find her more interesting than all of these toothpicks with two olives (skinny with a boob job) girls that parade past. Most are far too young and also vapid to hold my interest. I like a mature woman, one who knows who she is and doesn't have to try to impress everyone with her looks alone. Plus I am still monkey crazy in love with her. Really! Shoot, she doesn't even have an RSS feed to this, so she will only see it after I show her another blog entry later anyway if she does.

Well there is more to do, and I have to add some pictures to this, so here they are, classic cars and the view out front. Maybe I will get a sort of tan even through the 30 spf sunblock I wear out of self defense.

Remember Tech TV?

2008-04-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

I got sick, I got better. Okay I am not best, but I am better. Not as sick, but allergies and heavy doses of tree pollen did take their toll. Good news for me is that today was a half day at work, and even though it is awesome beautiful today, I spent the most of my time off napping with a couple of my cats. When I was not watching Diggnation (check the links to the left and visit Revision3).

Man I wish I had my own TV show, my friend Jude and I always said we could do this sort of thing, but we could not figure out how or where. If you are in Houston, you can also listen to geek radio (www.geekradio.com) on wednsday nights with Technology Bytes on good old "Kommie" KPFT 90.1 on your radio dial. The funny thing is that the guys who host that are also members of the band The Flying Fish Sailors. Again if you are in the Houston area you should see them too. Any way I am planning to start a new blog about Technology, and the software that I find, especially freeware. Please tell your friends.

Illin' like a villain

2008-04-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have been sick this week.
Okay, correction, I have been ILL all week. Started sometime Sunday night, and just got progressively worse. I tried the usual, ignore it, try to outsmart it, out stubborn it. Nope, was not working. At first I thought it was just bad allergies, as here in the beautiful gulf coast it has been alternatively warm, cool and then rainy, and the pollens are going crazy. But no it turned into something meaner. I tried cough drops, and my allergy medicine. I took benedryl (which often causes a Jekyll and Hyde thing for me), but that only made me wiped out and tired all the next day. What finally worked was, I took two days off of work to rest (I did dial in and work some), and I tried the following:

Sudafed for allergies
Nyquill/Dayquill
Flonase
Mucinex Nasal spray
Nasalcort
Tylenol sinus
Excedrin Migraine
Mentalatum rub
Halls cough drops
Tea with lemon and honey
Rosemary steam (breathe the steam)
Hot and Cold compresses on my face
Hot baths and steamy showers

At some point today, it seems that the combination of treatments worked, becuase my sinuses are no longer feeling on fire, and my head only slightly aches. Okay my chest is greasy from the rub, but at least I can breathe. And the fever broke. Now I am less miserable, but still sleepy, sneezy, dopey and a few other dwarves.

Well that is the level of excitement of my life today, hope yours is better.

And to think, I had the wisdom to get sick before the weekend so I could be healthy by Monday!

Yeah, that's the bright side...

and now we are Forty-five...

2008-03-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Kudos if you got the A.A. Milne ref above.

Had a birthday very recently, and it was not as bad as I thought it might be. I am creeping up slowly on the half century mark, but trying to do it with more grace. To be honest, I have to say that I still feel closer to 16 than 60, but maybe that is the way of the human mind. Getting older does not suck, but it does take getting used to. I mean, I can do a lot of the same things I did when I was younger, but it takes longer to recover from them.

And for those who did not know, I prefer pie to cake. But who ever heard of Birthday Pie? In the mean time, I am loving my birthday gift a really cool new gas grill, and I am looking forward to lean grilling healthy meals for myself and my family. And hanging outside more/

As part of my gift is also getting a deck and landscaping installed in the back yard. Once that is done, I think it will be time for more pix. Until then, here is one of me, and my Mercedes chilling by the pond.

Until next time keep it somewhat sureal.

John Fogerty Flat out Rocks.

2008-03-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a fact to which I personally have been a witness. I just attended the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo; two weeks in March that feature a huge rodeo, carnival, livestock show and best of all concerts following the rodeo. While many of the acts are indeed both Country and Western, we do get some other performers as well. I have seen ZZ Top at the rode, and Lynard Skynard, while Beyonce, Fergie, and even Tony Bennett have also played the rodeo. Wednsday night was the show I had wanted to see since I was just a small boy riding in my dad's 67 Thunderbird (metalflake blue paint, I recall, white seats and plenty of power).

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last 40 years, you have heard John Fogerty. He was the singer and songwriter for the band Creedence Clearwater Revivial. John fronted the band that his (now) late brother formed, and soon became so much the focus of the media on the band that tension caused them to break up. John was not allowed to play any of the songs he had written and recorded as CCR due to contract disputes. He was even called in to court in the mid eighties because his new song "The Old Man Down the Road" sounded too much like his old song "Born on the Bayou". But times must heel or at least mellow old wounds, becuase John and his old label, Fantasy Records, have reached an agreement, and now John can play the same songs that thousands of bar bands, and most beginner guitar players have been for the last 40 or so years.

And he does it with a vengence. John must be approaching 60, but his set list started out with the classic Good Golly Miss Molly, and then rocked into a mix of the old, the middle, and the new songs. In fact his new songs on the album Revival are pretty darn good. It is amazing how a guy can play pretty much the same types of songs, and yet they still sound fresh coming from him. I thought it was great to hear these songs live, and to see him hit the stage with so much energy and vitality. I think playing these old songs live for a crowd that loved them as much as the Houston crowd did would have brought tears to my eyes. The thing that was great is that we all knew the words to the songs. They have been in our childhood radios, movie soundtracks and commercials, and in garages and bars across the world.

And let me tell you, John has not let the time he has not been touring go to waste. One big surprise was at the beginning of a new song called Keep On Chooglin'. Armed with an Ernie Ball Axis guitar, similar to Edward Van Halen's, John did a fingertapping, tremelo divebombing amazing intro. EVH would have been proud. And if you are a guitar geek, like me, you can read more at Guitar Player magazine. There is a good review of the album Revival which also mentions some of his gear. Too bad he is heading out of the country for a while, because this is a show that needs to be seen by more people. And as good as a DVD is, it is not being there.

Keep On chooglin'!

Who I am is Who I have been

2008-03-10T11:14:00.001-07:00

The other day I started thinking of all the things I have done in my life, and it started to get a little confusing, so I started to take stock in a spreadsheet. I saved mine in Google Docs, and I was going to send it to my friends, but instead I decided to share it here. I stated with the jobs I had held, then started thinking of the places I had been, then the relationships I had had..well it got a little big. I would up with listing pets, cars, clubs, hobbies and the list goes on. I recommend trying it, it was kind of fun. Anyway, here is my list:

Relationships
Son
Father
Only Child
Step Brother
Half Brother
Uncle
Step Father
Cousin
Grandchild
Grandfather
Friend
Husband

Occupations
Gas Station Attendent
Carpet Layer
Pizza Cook
Ranch Hand
Fry Cook
Waiter
Bartender
Bar Manager
Newspaper Subscription
Telemarketer
Procurement Agent
Hardware Store Clerk
Corporate Trainer
Lab Sample Coordinator
Lab Sample Prep Tech
Data Center Tech
PC Technician
System Administrator
Support Analyst
Network Administrator
Support Coordinator

Places I have lived
England
Saporo Japan
Hokaido Japan
California US
Mass. US
Colorado US
Philidelphia US
Idaho US
Texas US

Too Many Goodbyes Lately

2007-07-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well it happened again, we had another goodbye party, another friend was moving. Miss Amy we will miss you muchly. In the meantime, it made for a great excuse for a party. We had a shindig, people came over, and we had a good time. Anyway, here are some pictures, if you were there, let me know and we can add them to this blog entry!

Congraduations are in order?

2007-05-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well we had a graduation again...high school this time. My younger son-by-choice (stepchild) graduated from high school this week. I want to say good work and congratulations are in order. Let me tell you it was an iteresting week. Thursday morning I hurt my back (muscle spasm, just have to ice and wait it out) and Thursday night we had a progressive dinner for the graduates starting at the church for appetizers, my home for salad, on to another family for lasagna, and back to the church for cake and coffee. I had to bail before lasagna. But it was all good. The ceremnony was Saturday, part of the wonderful 3 day weekend. Let me tell you, if you have ever heard the Stevie Ray Vaughn song, Texas flood, well it was written about weekends like this. It rained in bursts like buckets off and on all weekend. When we got to the Merrill Center it was coming down buckets and they made us park as far as they could away from the center. We got soaked to the bone. I mean soaked, and the a/c was running high in there. My wife wanted to be there early so we wound up sitting wet and cold for an hour before the ceremony. After Nate walked part of us split and got the BBQ we ordered for his post graduate meal. Off he went to project grad that night, an all night affair where they had a number of prizes, swag bags and such. He wound up with an Ipod shuffle, 100 bucks in cash and lots of gift cards. Shoot he did better than I did on my last birthday! Go kiddo!

Maybe I shoudl graduate from something.

Tales of the Texas Highways...

2007-05-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you something about Texas, it is big. Really big. For example, the drive from Houston to Los Angeles is about 1527 miles, give or take. And if you drive to the halfway point, it is EL PASO TEXAS! you are halfway there an you have not even left the state yet. This was my first drive corner to corner so to speak. I have driven the Houston-SoCal drive many times. Down I-1o into Blythe and beyond, down 8 into San Diego, and even across 40 once (that is the most interesting one). But from Houston to Lubbock there are no big interstate style mainline highways. We took a back country route up, and a fairly decent state highway, and yet we passed through many areas where we had to reduce speed to 35 or so miles an hour. Really wild.

However, the drive across texas is not with charms, for example we saw an 18 wheeler hauling an elephant. Okay sort of saw, the truck was next to us, and I looked into an open side door with one of those chain net lookng rigs, and there was a huge belly, two tree trunk legs and a skinny rope tail swinging around. Good enough for me, that is an Elephant! A little further down the road, we were admiring some really nice Longhorn cattle, one of which posed nicely for us, when I looked across the way and saw...zebras! Really, striped horse looking zebras. Of course we turned around and got pictures. This along with many different houses, cars, business and whatnot that lie along the road just to dazzle my curiosity. I have to say though, 9 1/2 hours in a car can kill a lot of curiosity, other than the wondering...are we home yet?

A long and winding road...

2007-05-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

It was that, or What a Long Strange Trip it's been.
(I found I had never posted this one!)

If you read the post about driving to Lubbock,, we now headed home, let me tell you, leaving Lubbock at 4 PM (oddly enough the same time we left Houston two days earlier), with a plan to stop in Austin to see Oldest Boy Child as he moves into new apartment. Sure it is still a long drive, but with 2 1/2 hour off the tail, and some time in Austin, it sounded fine to me. Well just about 2 hours from Austin, MDW talks to her son, and he says don't bother, I am beat and I have to be at work at 6 AM. She says fine, and we decide to drive on to home. Then he calls back and says, whoops, Happy Mothers Day! All in all it was fine, we drove on, although I started feeling like I did not trust myself after a while and had to give her back the wheel. MDW did the lion's share of the driving, and is beat today. Looks like a day off for both of us.

Did I mention earlier that we found out my license has expired in March? whoopsie. I guess I know what I am doing later.

Oh yea, the odd parts. If you live in Texas and have never really gotten out and driven "corner to corner", you should really give it a shot. I would not do it in the heat of summer, but in May, the weather was fabulous, and the scenery was even more so. Now this may seem odd, but we saw zebras on the drive home. I am not joking, I will post the pictures soon.

American Airlines and Buddy Holly's Glasses

2007-05-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

I am in Lubbock Texas today, a nice town really, home to the Buddy Holly center, and Texas Tech University. While those that know me know my affection for my Buddy, I am actually here to see my daughter graduate from Tech. She did, and it is awesome, and I am so proud of her. But this post in not about that, she deservers one of her own for that. This is about getting here...

Well we had a plan, we booked the flights in February, and it was all worked out. My Darling Wife (MDW from now on), and I were to fly from Houston to Dallas, and connect to Lubbock, my mom and stepdad were to meet us at the airport, their plane coming in about an hour earlier. Then we meet at the rental car counter and get a car and head to our hotel. Good plan. But "no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy".

We had some spectacular storms hit Houston Thursday night, but nothing on the far west side where we live. Just a cool Light Show from the lightning. While it snapped branches and made a bit of a mess in other parts of Houston. But no, this did not affect our flight. We left early, packed and not arguing, which is unusual for MDW and I when travelling. No big fights, just little stresses bubbling up, and I usually can't sleep before a trip. Come to think of it, I slept great. Should have been a sign. We got to the airport early, checked our bag, and wandered the airport, playing the usual games (where is he going, can you believe that outfit, that guy is a spy...), and wound up getting a snack at the McD's because we didn't know when we would get a chance again. On time and all is good, right?

No.

Mechanical problems had grounded our plane, and moved the departure time to 1:00, which was when we were to be catching our connecting flight them. Okay, go to the ticket counter and work on a new connection. Well they could not get us on the connecting flight, and well we could take one standy, no we will both go. Get us there, make it so. No we can't the plane has continued to push it's departure time further and further out. We get booked on a Continental flight instead, to try to connect with a 3 PM lubbock flight. Grabbed our bag and got over to Continental 12:00 PM for a 12:25 flight. Yeah right, that is going to happen. We did not even get through the ticketing process in by 12:30. Not to mention the security checkpoint. So we went back to American. The deal was, there was no way to guaruntee us making it to lubbock. They could get us to Dallas, but not guaruntee Lubbock. And we were not likely to make Lubbock before midnight. What to do?

We rented a car and drove.

By the time we got a rental car and got on the road it was now 4 PM, and we had at least 8 hours or more of driving ahead. Well it is a pretty drive, through a lot of Texas Hill country, and we both just rode along and made the best of it. A few tense moments, and a very tiring drive, we finally got here a 1:30 AM. So we left at 9:00 AM, and arrived here in Lubbock at 1:30, 16 1/2 hours to get a direct distance of 524 miles.

But it was worth it, and I would do it again, with no qualms. Okay, I would prefer to know we were going to drive, so I could skip the whole airport part, we would have been here by dinner time, no problem.

So now we are planning the trip home. I think we will stop by Austin and sleep there, as it will be late by the time we leave here. I have had a great time visiting with my Mom, and Stepdad, and enjoying the local cuisine and weather. I have no idea what the rest of the day has in store, but at least I got to see my lovely child walk her graduation, and I got to visit the Buddy Holly Center and see the actual strat Buddy used to play. Both were amazing.

Looking forward into the past

2007-05-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I finally got a blog. The funny thing is, about 9 years ago I had a website, and I posted my thoughts and opinions and experiences on it, with pictures and stuff. But I had to edit it in an HTML editor and upload it and all that, and after a while I asked myself, is there any meaning to what I am doing? so I stopped.

Fast forward a few years and weblogs get started. What a concept, wish I had thought of it. Now after reading many really good blogs, like Sarah Lane's and then her and her husband's travel blog, I just decided, well this is as good a waste of bandwidth as anyone else's, so why not.

What am I about? what is this blog going to be about. Well I am about 5' 8" or so, and heavier than I like to be. I like cool guitars, and have special affection for the odd ones. I also just put in a pond in my back yard, that is a lot of pleasure for me, and I also work in the IT field and have some useful tips about computers and stuff. So I guess this site will be as attention deficit as I am. And that can be a good thing. Come along for the ride, let's see where we go from here....