Hey....... it's 2006!! What's up everyone?

Okay, I haven't completely given up on this place..... but to be honest, maybe we should all get myspace accounts or something? At any rate, what's up with me?

Did I tell you that Greg has been accepted to Texas Tech University for next year? GAH!! It's seven hours away! It's in Lubbock! There ain't nothing in Lubbock but dust storms and ..... well, not much else. Oh, Tech is there. Hooooge college. Good college. He loves it. I'm kind of meh about the whole thing.

He hasn't heard from UT-Austin yet. 20 minutes away! In Austin. Great city for an 18 year old. Sixth Street. Live Music Capital of the World. Home of Austin City Limits. And did I mention it's only 20 minutes away from home?

He tells me that he wants to go to Tech even if he gets accepted to UT. One of his best friends is going to Tech and they are already signed up to room together. He's got lots of friends already there. But UT is only 20 minutes from home. I would be happy to do his laundry if he came home on weekends. What more could he want?

And I really love the Roy Rogers look of the Longhorn Band better than the Santa Ana look of the Texas Tech Goin' Band. Plus, the Longhorn Band gets to go to better Bowl games!

Oh well, he's gotta do what's best for him. I'm proud of him and I know that no matter what, he's going to do great.

HOOK 'EM HORNS!!!

CONGRATULATIONS UT!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a beautiful man!!!!!!!!!! My neighborhood is going nuts tonight - fireworks and people in the streets....... What a fucking sweet game!!

And Congrats to my other home team, Penn State and ol' Joe Pa for winning the Cotton Bowl.

I've fallen hopelessly in love with college football. Who needs the NFL?

Merry Christmas!

Well, it is now 7:39 AM and I've been up since 6. Not for any particular reason except that I always get up this early.



There was a time when the boys would come running in before the sun even came up.... normally Christmas morning would start around 5 AM. Seems so strange that I am the first one up now. Teenagers aren't going to be getting up that early when they don't have to!!



So...... here I sit with my cup of tea. And I know that they probably won't get up until around 10 or 11. Sometimes I think I should be going in and rousting them at 6:00 the way they used to do it to me! But it's just too peaceful to bother.









This one is from Deblin because she still hasn't found her password!!

It's that time of year again....

I'm sitting here watching the Eagles lose to Seattle on Monday Night Football. Crap!! And it's snowing there! Every once in awhile I do miss snow. But then I remember what it was like to shovel it. No thanks. I grew up just outside of Philly. Haven't been back in 12 years! Damn. I don't even have the accent anymore! But I don't think I'd want to move back. Nope. It's cold here tonight, 40 I think. But just two days ago we were at 80. Strange place, Texas. The cold fronts move in wicked fast.... but it never stays too cold for too long.

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Eat enough turkey? I think turkey is over-rated. But I cook it all the same. Tradition and all that....

Damn, I miss you guys. It gets lonely in here talking to myself.

I hope you'll all visit before Christmas!

The Last Butterfly

I'm so sad. We've had an extremely warm fall. It's been in the 80s for a couple weeks. Today, the cold front finally moved in. A little rain and then the temp starting dropping. It's really strange how quickly that happens. This afternoon while the wind was bringing in the cold air, a beautiful butterfly was hanging around the backyard. For hours. There are still blooms on my esperanza, and he kept going from flower to flower.... poor thing should have migrated to Mexico weeks ago. The temperature right now is down to 50 and supposed to drop further during the night. He isn't going to survive the night. Makes me so sad. He is so pretty.....

"Press one for english......"

Last month I was trying to reach Southwestern Bell about my bill. They have one of those annoying voice recognition automated customer dissservice lines. I really HATE those things. And they have also disabled the "dial O" to speak to a real person option. GAH!! Way to make your customers miserable, SBC.

So Jim was home and he was laughing at me because I was soooooo frustrated. (this pisses me off, too, because I don't like to be laughed at when I'm frustrated LOL)

Computer: "Please state the last four digits of your social security number"
Me: xxxx
Computer: "Thank you. Please tell me how I can help you, your options are...."
Me:I want to talk to a real person.
Computer: "I'm sorry. I didn't understand that request. Please tell me how I can help you."
Me: I want to talk to a customer service agent.

Repeat the above for a couple more times. Then,


Computer:"I'm sorry. I didn't understand that request. Please tell me how I can help you."
Me: Will you put a real live person on the fucking phone!!!!!!!!!
Computer: "I'm sorry. I didn't understand that request. Let me connect you to a representative."
Me: (yelling at this point) ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!

I am positive that they have programmed the phones to respond to the word "Fuck" (the universal word for intense annoyance) and connect you to a real person asap. At any rate, Jim found this article in the paper tonight. Great find!! I went to this guy's website. He's got an IVR Cheat Sheet which has tips on beating the system and getting straight to a real live human being.

Hang Up Already Dammit!

Yesterday I went to the grocery store. Exciting, isn't it? My life is just full of amazing events. At any rate, that's not the point. I was stuck in the check-out line behind a woman yakking on her friggin' cell phone. She talked while she unloaded her cart. She talked while the cashier ran the stuff through the scanner. She talked while she swiped her credit card. She yakked while the cashier gave her the receipt. She yakked while the poor woman said "Thank you". She only lifted her hand in a condescending wave to acknowledge her. She kept on yakking while she pushed her cart out the door to the parking lot.

I hope she got hit by a fucking truck.

Doesn't anyone have any manners today? Are people really that self-absorbed? Are cashiers, who work hard and make minimun wage, invisible and beneath contempt to these people?

And don't even get me started on the 'hands free' cellphone users who walk around talking to themselves. grrrrrr

Rant over.... Have a nice day :)

Virtual Update, Monday 10/10/2005

As a service to our millions of fans, I present a quick update on recent Virtually Drifting news. Since there is so much to wade through, I thought this would make it easier for visitors to catch up.

• The enigmatic Scotsdude popped in to drop off a few words and threaten to cook a lizard. (Now I know why the lizard is always hiding.)
  

  
  

• Lovable Luc (formerly the devilish Lucifer) is back to work at the Hotel New Hampshire.
  

  
  

• ShadoRydr lost his way due to a hard drive crash, but has since been located using new GPS technology. He'll be back soon.
  

  
  

• Deblin lost her password again, and has to make do with voyeurism for now. I'm sure that she'll locate the secretly encrypted scrap of paper with the vanishing ink one of these days....
  

  
  

• KeyMaster did a drive-by on our tagboard. He didn't stay long and Deblin thinks he may have been found out.
  

As for me, well I'm just taking up more than my share of bytes here. That's really strange since I was always the quiet and shy one... I think it's time for my daily cup of STFU.

Huggs to all of you.

edited to add:

Looking at an ad for the new movie Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. and I was remembering C$erve. There was a guy who had the handle "Werebunny" there. I think he was from New Orleans. Didn't follow us to the IRCs though, at least I don't think he did. But everytime I hear about this movie, I think "Werebunny" instead of "WereRabbit" It's really strange how many endless bits of information are still stored in my brain. But I still have to write down passwords and stuff (are you reading this Deblin???)

It's October!

Well, it's October and we're supposed to cool off this week. But I don't trust the weathermen anymore. Okay, that's enuff whining about the damn heat.

I finally have another Picture of the Day! I know you've all been waiting impatiently for this (yeah, right). There is a lizard that has taken up residence on my back porch. Okay, so there is always a lizard, I can't tell if it's the same one or not. We're not on a first name basis or anything. I have been trying to get a picture of him for a long time. But every time I run into the house to get the camera, he disappears. Camera shy? I guess.

But today when I came back out with the camera, I found him hiding between the downspout and the wall. So I took the picture anyway. He'll get over it.... I think it's a cool pic. Hope you like it.

Drastic Changes..... are sometimes good

Okay, first of all, I took this picture yesterday afternoon at 4:00PM. This is the thermometer on my back porch, in the shade.

We have broken records for seven of the last eight days. This is the end of September for cryin' out loud!

Went to bed last night with the promise of a cold front moving in. This morning at 6:00AM, went out on the porch with my tea. It was like entering another world. Windy and 68 degrees. Thank Gawd!!!

Possible severe thunderstorms today, which always happens when the fronts move in quickly. I hope that we've seen the last of summer!

Bats!

It's 10:25 PM. The oldest son is already in bed - he gets up every morning at 5:30 AM for band practice. Did I tell you he's drum major this year? It's so cool for him, really. He's the one on the right. I'll get a picture of him in his spiffy white uniform once marching season is in full swing. He's proud to be a band nerd. And I'm proud of him, too.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Son #2 is at hockey practice with his dad. He won't be home until after 11. I loathe this schedule. He's got football practice every day after school until 6. On Mondays and Wednesdays, he has hockey practice from 9:45 until 10:45! This is only the second week of school. Homework every friggin night. I don't know how long he'll be able to keep it up. Lucky for me, he is a very good student as well as a dedicated athlete. But this is his freshman year in high school, and he has chosen to take a very aggressive schedule with many pre-AP course. I know he can handle it, but can his body keep up with his mind?

Now..... about the bats. I was just out on the back porch. The neighborhood is quiet. About half a block away is a streetlight. From the back porch I have the perfect view of a bat swooping in on the bugs gathering under the light. The squeeking is unmistakable. I used to hate bats, but I've learned to appreciate them. We have a huge bat colony here in Round Rock. It's not as famous as the one in Austin, but it's very impressive. What's so impressive? Well, until you've driven down I35 at their time of mass exodus and seen the wave after wave of bats flying out, you can't appreciate it. It's just so cool. It was part of the elementary school curriculum when Greg was in 3rd grade. We all went to stand under the McNeil Street overpass and watched them leave one evening. It's creepy, and yet it's amazing.

So I've learned to love bats. They are actually a tourist attraction in Austin. The Congress Avenue Bridge attracts people every night the bats are here (from spring until fall) to watch the nightly exodus. Even our ice hockey team is called the Austin Ice Bats. Pretty cool, isn't it?

So I sit in the dark (I never turn on the back porch light) and watch a solitary bat ridding my neighborhood of flying pests..... and I can appreciate this ugly flying rodent for what it is. "What it is" is a pretty cool specimen of Mother Nature adapting to urban life.

August....... yuck!

Well, it's August in Texas. And damn hot!! And it cost me 4K for a new air conditioner last month. grrrrrrrrrr..... Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about the price of heating oil this winter.






We had a 45 minute power outage this afternoon. That was interesting. I went out on the backporch to have a smoke, and it was sooooo quiet. And still. There was no sound at all. Usually the buzz of air conditioners is just white noise that you don't notice at all. Until it's gone. And I think I am alone in this place during the day. At least it seems that way.

I was sitting on the porch and the quiet was a bit weird. A couple of hummingbirds were chasing each other away from the feeder. They have high pitched squeaks when they fight with each other. Very cool critters though. But they don't like to share the feeder! There was one psycho hummingbird the other day who was hiding in the tree and just ambushing any others that came to feed. It was actually pretty funny. I got a second feeder across the yard, but they will still fight. I'll miss them when they are gone for the winter.

The kids are back in school. Both boys are in high school. Greg is a senior and Chris is a freshman. I should go get a job. But my eyes are still not right. Having another surgery next month. Hopefully they'll get it right this time. My depth perception is perfect now though. And my reading vision is perfect (with the reading glasses of course). But looking straight ahead and up is all double. So the doc is going to rework the muscles again. Fixed one problem and created a different one. Is it worth it? I guess it is. I have no choice now. The distance vision is worse than before. I'm sure it will be right this time... won't it? I have to be optimistic. Otherwise I would be kicking myself for doing it in the first place.

So where has everyone been?

Home Sweet Homepage

I am trying to remember when I first 'published' a personal webpage. It was an awfully long time ago - when it was a pretty major accomplishment. I worked so hard at learning HTML and I thought that I was pretty hot stuff. Who would have known that in a few short years, it would be strange NOT to have some kind of presence on the web. Blogs, photo albums, emails, blah blah blah.

Tony - you and I used to talk webstuff all the time! You had a great website.... do you have one still? I know that your old one is gone. But is it really? Check this
out! See, nothing is gone forever, is it? It's not complete - graphics and stuff are missing. But the Wayback machine has it preserved anyway! Amazing, isn't it?

I became interested in building a page around the time that chatting at the cafe became stressful and combative. And it was soooo much fun! Geocities was a thriving community back then. Guestbooks were the best way to meet other residents and cultivate visitors to your own site. The web was so new and fresh and exciting then. Now it's all about the $ isn't it?

I am so glad that I managed to save my page from being deleted. Don't know why I lucked out, because several others that I worked on were trashed, including the cafe1 site. But one day I checked and it was still there, so I make sure to log in now and again to keep it going. It's a shadow of it's former self (no pun intended, Tony) but every so often someone will 'find' it and then I get an email or else they show up here. To me, that's the beauty of it.

We all had so many friends back in the day, but really, how many do we keep in touch with? I have one or two (yes, Linda, I'm looking at you, dear ) But it's so nice to hear from someone out of the blue. That's why this blog is so great, I think. It's more interactive and I love getting visitors (even if they only show up once, but I wish they'd visit more often!)

Oh, and Linda, I was on Donner Path the other day. My son was visiting a friend over there and locked his keys in the car. Had to go bail the kid out..... I thought of you. That's one ritzy neighborhood, let me tell ya!

Oh, 104 here today. Summer sucks!!!!!!! Last month, my electric bill was $350 and we hadn't even hit 100 yet! This month I'm sure it will be at least $400 and my water bill... Yikes. Texas is just a lovely place to be in the summer. NOT.

YUCK!

I have a phobia about bugs..... and since I've been living south for about 12 years, I thought that I'd seen it all. The size of the tree roaches here in Texas is really scary.... If one ever got in my house, I'd have to move. Seriously. They are hoooooge. I've seen them out and about, and they are nasty.

Today, though, I saw something that I've never seen before. Went out on the backporch to have a cigarette. There. On the flower pot. The ugliest thing I have ever seen. The weirdest thing I've ever seen. The scariest thing I've ever seen. It was at least as long as my index finger, but the antennae were longer. It was some kind of beetle. It was white with black stripes. It was creepy! I yelled for my son to come see it. (This was after I retreated back into the house behind the screen door, mind you). He says he had seen one like it before, but didn't know what it was. He wanted to get my camera and take a picture. I told him Noooooooooooo!! I don't want that ugly picture on my camera! Okay, so I'm really a chicken. Don't even want a picture of the ugly thing.

Curiousity got the better of me though. I searched on the web for it. I found it. It's HERE. The Cottonwood Borer. There are no cottonwood trees in the neighborhood that I know of. But my next door neighbor has a big willow tree in her backyard. And apparently they also like willow trees. I have ALWAYS hated that tree. I think willow trees are gorgeous next to a pond or a creek, but I know for a fact that their roots can do major damage to foundations and underground pipes. Now I have another reason to hate that tree! I'm NOT going to tell her about these critters because hopefully they'll kill the damn tree.

I'm a bad person, aren't I?

Oh, the fugly bug is gone. I don't know where it went, but everytime I open the backdoor, I am compulsively checking to make sure it's not on the porch.

I'm a wimp......

Mayday

It's a beautiful morning here in Texas! But the weather is supposed to get hot over the next couple of days. Once we get a few 90 degree days, then it's all downhill from there. So I'm enjoying the milder temps right now.

Yesterday when I took the dogs for their walk, I noticed the prickly pear is in bloom. This morning I remembered to take my camera with me. (I know - you're rolling your eyes because it's more flowers)

Sorry, but I have to enjoy the pretty while it's here. A few more weeks and we'll be brown and dry for months!

So why are you crying?

My eyes have been getting consistently worse over the last couple of years. I have difficulty focusing and I have lots of double vision. Forget reading - I can only do that for ten minutes before my eyes get all buggy. Depth perception? Shot. I was trying to weed my garden and I would reach to pull out a little thing growing in my flower bed and I would reach for it and miss! Frustrating. I have reading glasses, but they don't seem to help much. My other glasses are off my face more than on because they make my near sight worse (they are for far sightedness anyway). So I've pretty much given up driving except very locally on roads I am familiar with. And I've been depressed about it alot lately because I feel like an invalid. The doctor I've been seeing for years can't seem to help me (but he's just an optometrist, not an MD) and he just keeps changing the prism in my lenses to compensate. See, my eyes are off level. Instead of being horizontally level, like _ _ they are like this _ - But it's not really visible, I don't look like a freak or anything, honestly. It's just fractions of a millimeter, but enough to screw up my vision.

So I have been getting depressed because I thought this was all related to the optic neuritis and can't be fixed. After all, if you have a virus in your hard drive, you can't fix it with a new monitor. Does that make sense? But I've been to a specialist finally, and it is NOT related to the MS at all! It's the problem I've had all my life which they were trying to control with prisms, but now that I'm getting old (fuck it), the eye muscles are just worn out from trying to focus with each other all the time. AND IT CAN BE FIXED! And I am going to have surgery on June 15th. It's pretty gross - they have to move the eyes out of the way first (ewwww) and I'll have some discomfort for a few days. Yes, there are minimal risks. But those are worth it, I think. So I cried. Yes. I sobbed. When she said that I didn't have to live with this and I'm not going to go blind unless I'm very unlucky, and I cried like a baby. Then I called Jim, still crying, and told him. And he's the one who said "So why are you crying?" Men! It was a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. I can't explain it. I'm so angry for not seeking answers earlier. I'm scared that it won't work. I don't care, it's worth a shot. And I cried with relief. Does that make sense?

And if it works, and I can see again, and I don't have to change the text on my computer to "huge" and I can actually read the paper and read a book and weed the garden... it will be the best thing that's happened to me in years!!!

Hey, it's almost Sunday. Need to get to bed....... huggs all!

Add to the list of dumb things I've done lately.....

Happy Mother's Day to all of us mothers!

Got an early start this morning - 8:30 left the house to get groceries. I like to get my shopping done before the 'after church' crowd shows up. That's another reason I'm going to hell - I'm at Saint Fresh fruits and Vegetables on Sunday mornings instead of church. I figure I'll go fill up the gas tank first because gas is finally down to 1.99. Leaving the gas station, I'm driving through the high school campus (it's the easiest way to get to the road I needed). On one of the quiet campus roads, there is a roadrunner stopped in the middle of the road between the band hall and a cow pasture. I have been dying to get a picture of a roadrunner. There is one that I see sometimes on the way out of my neighborhood too (also by a cow pasture.. hmmmm could that be a favorite place for them to nest?? nah, just coincidence I'm sure). I remembered my camera was in my pocketbook, so I stopped the car (no traffic there obviously), but by the time I got the camera out, he had scampered through the fence into the pasture. DAMN!!! I'll catch a pic of one someday, I know I will! They are so cool.

Getting back to my story, I did my shopping, came out to the parking lot, put the groceries in the back of the car and stepped around to the driver's side to get in. The gas flap was open and the fucking gas cup was gone!!! I must have forgotten it after I got gas. Shit! I always put the cap on top of the car and it must have fallen off when I was driving. So I re-traced my route. I thought for sure it must have fallen off when I went over the speed bumps at the high school. But no luck. Nowhere to be found. So Greg went to O'Reillys and bought a new gas cap for me - Happy Mothers Day, Mom....

I swear the doctors got it wrong - I must have Alzheimers instead of MS. Did I ever tell you about the time I went to PetSmart and came out and the car was running, and locked???

So, no picture of a roadrunner for you all today. It's a dark, stormy day here in Texas. I just made a pot of meatballs. Bought some fresh bolillos (rolls, for you non-Texans because they can't name anything normal here), so it's meatball sandwiches and salad for dinner. I know, they should be taking me out to eat. We did that LAST night because I hate holiday crowds. We went to the SaltGrass and had some great steaks.

Tony made my weekend by 'finding' us here. Now he needs to answer my email LOL.

Bye for now!

I think I'm going straight to hell

Gawd how I HATE Mothers Day!! No really... it's a great sentiment, it really is. But I just got back from the card store looking for the perfect cards for mom, mom-in-law, grandmother.. and I feel like a total freak. I mean they are all so flowery and gushy and maudlin. I'm not that kind of person. Really. I'm not! Don't get me wrong, I love my mom. But these cards absolutely ooze sweet sugary sentiments that I would NEVER say. Hell, I'd never even think them! So then you go to the other extreme - which is "Have a nice day" which is too cold and impersonal. I kept picking up cards and tossing them back. And then I feel guilty because as soon as I read the first line about how grateful, how lucky, how wonderful, I just want to gag!!! Gawd, I hate Mother's Day!!!

So yes, I found a card. No, it's not too sweet, but not too impersonal. But it's definitely NOT me. I think that having mom here with me for the past ten years has taken it's toll on any sentimental view that I ever had of my mom. I must be menopausal or something because lately she is driving me nuts!!!

Oh well, the card is bought. We're going out for dinner Sunday. And I think I'm gonna tell my kids that when they grow up and move away, a phone call is all that's necessary to wish me "Happy Mothers Day".

The guilt really SUCKS!!!

Sorry - no pictures or words lately. I'll get back into, I promise.

BTW - where the hell have you been Deb?? Find the password yet? LOL

Pretty Spring Day

Took a ride out to Old Settlers Park today to see if the wildflowers were blooming... there were some, but the full blanket isn't out yet. At least, I hope there is going to be more! Wildflowers in Texas are gorgeous! Sometimes they cover entire hillsides in color.

Here's one pic, I have more.... but I have to edit them so that they are smaller. Right now they are big enough for wallpaper, but too big to upload to my website!

I know these pictures are boring, but humor me! I don't have much to say it seems, so I might as well share some pics. It could be worse, I could be posting pictures of my dogs.... wait, that's a great idea!! LOL

hugggs all....

Texas Politics

Seems like Texas has more elections than a hive has bees (this analogy is highly relevant)...... at least two or three a year for various local positions, bond issues, blah blah blah. The road leading out of my neighborhood dead ends at a redlight onto a semi-major road. The pasture fence opposite the light is always decorated with colorful campaign signs.... Seems like every couple of weeks (disclaimer: this is likely an exaggeration, but it seems like only a couple of weeks) the current election signs are whisked away and replaced with the propaganda for the next election's hopefuls.

Well, it's boring. But I have to admit that this sign caught my eye. For one thing, it wasn't the usual red/white, blue/white, or red/whiteandblue. This one was bright yellow and black. Rufus Honeycutt????? Would you vote for someone named Rufus Honeycutt???? Particularly charming is the addition of the little honeybee in the upper right corner... Oh how clever!! I couldn't help thinking that I am glad this advertising genius wasn't responsible for the campaign signs of George Bush.... although that could have been pretty funny actually!! LOL

Oh hell, I think I'll vote for old Rufus just because he got a good laugh out of me!