You've all been waiting for pictures of Apache, well, here she is.
Another normal day. Not much to say here. We went to Gavin and Jen's house and the dogs were SOOO cute playing together. It was definitely more entertaining than most t.v. shows. Sarah was funny, she said "I must not be a dog person, because after about 5 minutes I was totally bored with watching the dogs play." Oh well, I thought it was cute...
So, I guess this weekend is Easter (and that would make today Good Friday). I don't exactly have tons planned. I am going to a dinner party with all sorts of random other people who aren't going home for the holiday. I am going to make deviled eggs, so this is a plea for someone to email me a good recipe (MOM!? Aunt Diane?). I don't know if it will be the same without leg of lamb and Greek salad.
Let's see, my four Easter's at uni (oh gods, did I just say that? those darned Australians really did rub off on me): 1. Karen provides dinner, courtesy of a Virgina Ham shipped to us by her mother and we eat in the study lounge of Harris Hall. 2. I don't remember, how odd (were we in Houston?)... 3. I cook massive leg of lamb feast for 10 (Irwin takes credit because he stood and poked at it on the grill while I prepared everything else). 4. Massive rush to finish senior design on Thursday (successful), so on Friday I drive home to Florida, sleep a lot and visit. Finally have real-family Easter dinner, and get in the car immediately following the gorging at 9 p.m. and drive all night (9 hours) back to Atlanta for senior design presentation on Monday.
Why is Easter such a neglected holiday anyway - you'd think someone, somewhere would get a day off for it?
Someone say "hi" to the Bunny for me!
I had a much needed relaxing evening last night - Sarah is staying with Ron for a few nights. The old routine - walk the dog, play with the dog, clean up the kitchen, do some laundry, watch West Wing... I didn't get around to paying bills though, which I need to do. The really good news is that I discovered I actually get 3 pay checks in April (because there are 5 Tuesdays), isn't that nice?
It was lovely, all this relaxing resulted in me even waking up on time this morning (even though I didn't come to work until late, because I puttered around).
So, I think the plan for tonight is that Sarah and I are going over to Gavin and Jen's for a puppy-play-date and dinner :) and to see their new house.
I really really have a lot of work to do today (I've been such a slacker this week) so hopefully I won't get myself too distracted by other things.
I am barely surviving Sarah's visit. Its been tons of fun, we went to the Cheesecake factory last night with some of her co-op friends for dinner and her birthday celebration. As usual, I ordered about twice as much as I could eat (leftovers are good, though). But I am very tired, and I think Apache is feeling neglected :). Anyway...
I am totally missing out on sleep. Its funny, I have had a Karen-like-obsessively-regular sleep schedule, and now Sarah has gone and blown it all to cinders. (Hm, how typical of those two personalities.) But, I'm slowly recovering, though I think Apache is angry that I have been sleeping a little later in the mornings. Last night I went to Barnes and Noble with Sarah and her friend Nacho. (We went to dinner too, yummm, fish, the same place we went with our very blonde reporter on the Vomit Comet trip). Anyway, we went and I was NOT going to buy any books, because I have about 10 waiting for me to read. But I did anyway. Someone stop me.
Sarah's here - yippee! She keeps making fun of my dog though :(. We had a fun weekend - just hanging out, talking, watching Oscars, riding roller coasters, complaining about men. We're definitely going to go to the movies a few time this week, as we both comiserated that not enough people like to go to the movies. It is REALLY nice to see someone from "home." Of course, I'm really jealous that she is back at my place sleeping and I am here. Oh well.
This was from an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, I really liked it:
The Department of Transportation deals with the movement of things, which is important. The Department of Agriculture deals with food, which is vital. However, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration deals with the origin, nature and meaning, if any, of the universe...
A famous aphorism holds that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible...
'Eternity,' says Woody Allen, 'is very long, especially toward the end.'...
Yet, research like NASA's is its own consolation. 'The effort to understand the universe is,' says Weinberg, 'one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.' Not a negligible mission for NASA."
Yeah, today is Friday! The weather is beautiful. Sarah is coming tomorrow. I am going to 6 Flags Astroworld on Sunday. So, in other words, this is going to be a good (possibly exhausting) weekend. Maybe tomorrow I will even find a place to fix my yucky bumper.
Sarah seemed very dismayed that she will be sleeping on an air mattress with my puppy (I don't know if she was more upset that I didn't have a couch or that I had a dog). I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to sleep with Apache - a cute, soft, affectionate little fuzz ball! I guess I will have to keep her locked in my room at night, as usual. So, Sarah, we won't hold your anti-puppy attitudes against you too much!
My apartment is so dirty. Needs a massive cleaning spree (Saturday activity, I guess). My plants are still alive (surprised) and flowering (more surprised). The dog is still alive (most surprised?) and a little less hyper yesterday than previous days (which is surprising, too, because I left her alone a long time yesterday evening to go have a social life)..
I missed a call from my brother last night asking me for fun Miami destinations. I find it very amusing that HE (party animal, social butterfly) would be asking me (small social circle, nerd) where to party. Anyway, the funniest thing, is I would actually have known the answer, but I was out walking the dog, so he was out of luck.
The excitement of the day (in my finally dull, normal life) is a lunch get-together at my favorite sushi place Miyakos - $10 for all you can eat sushi! Though I miss the Irwin & George sushi events (it was always funny when they called and asked for permission - "Becca, can we please go to sushi tonight?"") this is a much cheaper way to feed the habit... yummmm, raw fish.
Note to self: don't wear work clothes to walk the dog in the rain. I had to change after getting home. And, while I'm at it, does someone have an explanation for why my puppy Apache seems to have a fascination with the sand volleyball court only when its raining and the sand sticks all over her? And why is she convinced that fire ant piles are good things to stick her nose in?
Tonight I have a life - golf and then $6 special for steak, beer, baked potato and salad. Of course, being the pseudo-veggie that I am, for me it will just be the beer, baked potato and salad - still a deal if you ask me.
Stupid Dog Story:
So, Apache was REALLy hyper last night (usually I walk her for an hour, and she is so pooped she naps long enough for me to relax and cook dinner etc.). I hope this isn't a growing trend. Anyway, she discovered my door stopper. This was a more entertaining event than watching Boston Public (though Monday-night TV has gotten much better since the advent of "The American Embassy" - the quote of the week, from a droll British police officer regarding the Vice Consul's job She teaches Americans not to drive on the wrong side of the road. Maybe I should join the Foreign Service).
So, back to the door stopper, its one of those spring ones with a rubber tip. And the the square area aroung my door is tiled. So, Apache slides across the tile right into the rubber stopper. First, there's the quizical, "What's that?" look. And then she squats down to examine it further and POUNCES. She was really surprised by Newton's Laws to have the stopper bounce right back at her. So she starts dodging it, getting into position to pounce, growling, poking at it, running awake, getting up the courage to try again, only for the thing to spring right back in her face to send her running. This provided over 20 minutes of entertainment for her. The only other thing that I have seen keep her attention that long is when she got stuck in some poor guy's fishing net (he thought it was endearing, because he raised sheep dogs back on the Farm in west Texas... I live in HICKVILLE).
Stupid Man Story:
Speaking of Hickville, I met a man out walking yesterday (having an 8 week old puppy attracts a lot of attention from just about anyone, which is good, since I am meeting all my neighbours. But so far the only SEXY men I have met are out walking with their girlfriends, the losers are out alone, and this is the case and point...) Anyway, he proceeded to regail me with (a total stranger) how he just moved here because he's looking for a job, and very out of money (don't ask me why he's living in one of the more expensive apartment complexes with a view of a resort and marina or how he even was cleared as you have to prove you have a monthly income higher than 4 x the rent - of course, he told me what a deal he got because apartment rent in Dallas is so much higher than Houston, I guess he hasn't figured out that here salaries are lower to match the lower cost of living).
So, he told me he felt the Houston economy was better than Dallas (which is where he moved from) and that's why he was looking here. I had to explain to him about Enron (which he had never heard of) and the possibility of all the Compaq employees (15,000) being laid off if HP manages to merge with them today. This didn't seem to deter him, because he thinks Dallas is a cess-pool of evil. Then he told me how he applied to be security at NASA, but he was deterred by the number of pages the application was (what did he expect?). He also told me he applied to work at our new Walmart, Target, and Home Depot, but was deterred because the process was too formalized (they have a computer station set up where they have all the new applicants sit and fill out forms).
The worst part of all this is that Apache has no loyalty at all and as soon as a total stranger starts petting her, she's his until I tear her away. So everytime I tried to walk away from this strangers sob story, Apache kept turning back to get all the love and affection she could (apparently getting petted by me is a worst-case scenario). I was very happy when she finally let me tear her away from this guy.
My weekend was successfully uneventful. No, little Apache still isn't housebroken, but she's starting to get the idea. I cooked myself two wonderful dinners, slept a lot, read (a hobby I've been neglecting since my return to having a television), and went on walks around the marina (a guy in a 50+ foot Cabin Cruiser - a la Hans - offered to buy Apache from me, in a true Texas manner, "Howdy ma'am, that's one fine lookin' dog you have.. how much d'ya want for her?" I tried not to laugh.)
Now, its back to work, getting busier every day. No slacking off this week.
Ever close your eyes
ever stop and listen
ever feel alive
and you've nothing missing
you don't need a reason
let the day go on and on
Let the rain fall down
everywhere around you
give into it now
let the day surround you
you don't need a reason
let the rain go on and on
What a day
what a day to take to
what a way
what a way
to make it through
what a day
what a day to take to
a wild child
Only take the time
from the helter skelter
every day you find
everything's in kilter
you don't need a reason
let the day go on and on
Every summer sun
every winter evening
every spring to come
every autumn leaving
you don't need a reason
let it all go on and on
What a day
what a day to take to
what a way
what a way
to make it through
what a day
what a day to take to
a wild child
I am totally looking forward to this weekend! With my minimal social life, I have absolutely nothing planned for the weekend (in fact, the only social items on my radar screen is a golf/beer outing on Wednesday and a trip to 6 Flags next Sunday... and, of course, Sarah's visit). Its so the opposite of Switzerland, where we went to the local pub practically every day after work, and had enormous plans (either a trip or a huge party) for the weekend. Its nice to finally catch my breath. And with my puppy, life is anything but quiet. But I do feel like I am at the complete opposite end of the social spectrum here - eventually, I'll find the happy medium, I'm sure.
Anyway, after that tangent, I am immensely looking forward to doing nothing for two whole days. My only goal is to convince my dog that she shouldn't go to the bathroom in my apartment - wish me luck. Gavin (a co-worker) and his wife Jen housebroke their puppy in a weekend (but their puppy is a few months older than mine), and I am feeling competitive...
Not much to say. The housebreaking nightmare continues as the dog had an "oops" in my bedroom at 2:30 a.m. I guess her sleeping the night for the past couple of days is not yet a routine.
I went shopping with Becky, a girl from the Training Academy last night - I have to say we shop at TOTALLY different stores, mostly because she's a petit size 6-8 and I am a size 14-16 - for instance, I don't think I have shopped in an Express since I've been 14 years old, and she couldn't believe when I found a stack of clothes at Eddie Baeur. But we had fun anyway and both got clothes (which, as always, were desperately needed) and had fun (even though I missed West Wing...)
So, work is plugging along. Its kind of frustrating, I'm not REALLY starting on the CRV (that's "Crew Return Vehicle" , a space station escape pod, in NASA-ese) stuff for ANOTHER month because my mentor wants to modify a bunch of code, and, though I offered to do it, he would prefer to do it himself (long story), but right now he's too busy preparing for the next shuttle flight which he is supporting. Anyway, that leaves me with one other major project that's kind of tedious, but very practical (I am evaluating a change to a redline in fuel usage on the Space Shuttle, which is involving a lot of statistics). I'd talk more, but then I would have to break down into evil acronyms and none of my faithful readers (well, except for certain members of the AE female mafia) would understand anyway.
So, signing off for today...
Ok, second entry for today, because I find this really funny... My Dungeons and Dragon character based on my personality is:
I Am A: Lawful Good Elf Mage Cleric
Alignment:
Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs.
Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently conccern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.
Primary Class:
Mages harness the magical energies for their own use. Spells, spell books, and long hours in the library are their loves. While often not physically strong, their mental talents can make up for this.
Secondary Class:
Clerics are the voices of their God/desses on Earth. They perform the work of their deity, but this doesn't mean that they preach to a congregation all their lives. If their deity needs something done, they will do it, and can call upon that deity's power to accomplish their goals.
Deity:
Mystra is the Neutral Good goddess of magic. She is also known as the Lady of Mysteries. Followers of Mystra wear armor and carry shields with her symbol on them. Mystra's symbol is a ring of stars.
Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy of
NeppyMan (e-mail)
Moving here has made my life go from terribly exciting (you know, Swiss adventures, traveling), to pretty normal - even dull. I think about housebreaking my dog, my monthly budget, and what piece of household item to buy next. Don't get me wrong - I am genuinely enjoying the quiet and living a normal life for a very rare change. But it doesn't make for exciting reading. Now I know why artist types are always out seeking inspiration. My schedule is even filling up with a weekly golf appointment, occasional weekend activities, some semblance of a social life is even slowly returning (make that VERY slowly returning).
So, in other words, not much to report from the rocket scientist home front today.
So, I made a comment to a certain few members of flying club who I actually still like, which should have beem enough. But then I made a more public comment to the club list defending the Technique when the flying club president wrote a really nasty message about it - resulting in me being flamed by, get this, every alumni member of the flying club who is fighting to keep their position on the executive committee. One of the responses I got amused me, so here it is: "Becca, you have a reputation of wildly liberal, emotional, misinformed and impulsive outbursts." Well, that's why I don't think I will ever be a southerner - impulsive outspoke women just don't go over well, and that's who I am. But, I am probably more "informed" than they know... Oh well.. 'Dem good old boys (only three women, including me, in the last 6 years have held an office on the exec. committee) who run the flying club aren't taking it well that someone is trying to steal their titles from them. Of course, I know better than to dabble in campus politics from afar, but the things they said about the Technique on a public email list were really really off base...
Goodbye Mom! We had fun. Of course, sleeping was kind of erratic because of the whole wining-puppy factor. But we ate well, and did a lot of shopping. Mom even tortured the puppy with her first bath. I'm afraid nothing else was too exciting about the weekend - next time she comes, we'll have to be more touristy.
The puppy is adorable and cute. Her first vet appointment is this evening. I don't want to be so embarrassed as to tell the vet she has no name. I've been calling her Annie, but I'm not to thrilled with it yet. Of course she probably thinks her name is "HUSH puppy" because that's we say to her all night.
My mom is coming to visit tomorrow (yippee!). I will also be getting my new dog tomorrow. You know the one - Annie-Shadow-Noodles-Oreo-Rogue-Gypsy-Flopsy-Mopsy-and-Cotton Tail "Catkiller" Cutri-Kohart. So, tonight, I am going to buy dog food (a fairly essential item.
I will also finish cleaning the clutter off my floor (since puppies.. like babies... like to chew). So, mom can expect a fairly clean living room, dining room (currently serving as the computer room) and kitchen. The bedroom is still a disaster, but no one's perfect!
The weather has become nice again. I was told the unfortunate news that summer will be arriving very soon and the nice, temperate, sunny, wonderful weather we are having will be replaced with hot, humid and disgusting Houston.
Nothing exciting here. I am definitely getting my puppy on Friday, so I am engaged in a massive effort to de-clutter my apartment. I made an appointment with the vet. His name is Doctor Larry. I find that very very funny for some reason. Maybe I should name my dog "doc" or "skip" or something as her first name. What you think of Dr. Annie?
Ok, anyway, my piece of Texas trivia for the day (since you are missing my former Swiss trivia): Did you know school children here have to pledge allegiance to the U.S. AND to Texas in the mornings?
Just one more reason not to raise children in this state..
Well, I am back in the office. I passed my test.. Whoo hoo!
Anyway, graduation is tomorrow. Another astronaut is going to come speak to us (let's see, I've been here three months and heard two astronauts speak and met another one.. I wonder when its going to get old. It turns out that we all went out to a Celtic pub on Friday night and when the tables got full, some of us moved to another table where there was a guy and his daughter sitting, we talked to them for a little while, it was her birthday. As it turns out, one of the CSA people who was at another table, told us later, that random guy had flown into space 6 times.) So, I know its old hat to all the people here, but I still think its cool...
My apartment is a mess. I unpacked TONS of boxes last night, almost done, but now there is trash and clutter all over the floor I need to collect. Also, I need to bring my textbooks and notes to the office, but since I'm moving desks sometime in the near future, I want to wait. Oh, and I need to get a new front bumper for my car thanks to my little fender bender on Sunday. Lovely. All I have to say it was neither of our faults, I guess that's why they call them accidents.
