I'm going camping at Enchanted Rock this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting away. I'll be back on Monday night.

My trip to Seattle just got nixed at the last minute by my management. Bummer. I'm going to refrain from commenting on this subject, and try to remain a lowly and understanding employee, and remember my favorite axiom "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketshup." Now I have to decide if I want to miss two classes (I was only going to miss one if I went to Seattle) to go to Boise, Idaho instead.

That's all.

I felt a wave of nostalgia today. It was a weird feeling. It started with my professor, who is absolutely cracking me up. He comes into class, a la Mr. Jenkins, and requests that one of his grad students arrive a bit early in order to set up the overhead projector for him. (Of course, they nod eagerly at a way to please their advisor.) Then he proceeds to instruct them on how to do this (just in case he wasn't in a class of graduate engineers): "First plug it into the top plug because there is something stuck in the bottom plug. Then turn it on. Then focus it. Maybe you want to put a pen on it to make sure its focused on. Everyone see? Understand?" I try to restrain from giggling. Later in the lecture, a la Dr. Kamat, he was saying something about the incompressibility of low speed air flow, and he said "I remember when I was your age, and driving back and forth to Austin all the time. I had a little car with a sun roof. I used to put it on cruise control and stick my head out the top of the roof and let the car drive itself. It was very exciting. A thrill. I don't suggest doing that now. Now, the police would probably arrest you and put you in jail for a very long time." Again. I supressed a giggle. I am the only girl in the class. And the rest look like serious, non-native-American type students, and I don't think we've broken the ice enough for them to appreciate it.

I walking back to my car after class. The birds were chirping. The big trees were keeping the sun from making me too hot. The tame squirrils looked at me like I was going to feed them. It felt like back at Tech. Just for a moment. Then the reverie was interupted by the realization that I wasn't going to lazily wait out the time until my next class by having a meal at Juniors, running into some random friends in the AE study loungue and complaining about homework, going back to my dorm to take a nap, or doing a quick run by the Technique office. I was going back to work. Where I would be for a very long time. But then I would be going back to my living quarters that are much nicer than a dorm room, and I would be playing with my dog, and going camping this weekend rather than stressing about homework. I guess its all a trade off. I also saw a student riding a Segway to class. Since they didn't exist when I was at Tech, that might have put an end to my nostalga too.

And my rant, Bush said he acted to limit raises because “full statutory civilian pay increases…would interfere with our nation’s ability to pursue the war on terrorism.” All I have to say is that I don't agree with the priorities expressed in this statement. If nothing else, civilian federal employees are at the forefront of the Middle Eastern crusade we have going on - more so than in any previous military campaign. And heck, even if I'm not in the front line, I am a civilian federal employee, I could use the extra $1000 pay raise that is recommend by the statutes.

Yeh! Cari made it to France and we can all read about it in her diary! Whoo hoo! Someone new to live through vicariously. Though, sometime, someone will have to explain to me what I do to my roommates to make them leave the country! I did have to break the news to her about Bennet's new ear piercing though. Hopefully she won't be back on the next plane from France to inspect the wound..

Last night, volleyball sucked. We got killed in the first two games, though we improved a bit on the third. Personally, I wasn't doing as well as I usually do. I was missing balls that should have been mine. Hitting balls in every which way. I think in the first game, I lost our team 5 points in a row. Not good. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

The ache in my arms from rock climbing seems to have migrated. Yesterday it was the middle of my arms (biceps?) and today it is the top back of my arms. And my fingers are starting to hurt too. I did 3 sets of 7 pushups this morning after my jog (I know, I'm a wimp, I can only do seven pushups at a time). I don't know if that will help or make it hurt more, but I felt like I needed to do something to keep up the momentum.

Today is my last day of sailing. Sigh.

Tut, tut, tut...

Rice has the most inefficient system of doing things in the known universe. Let me see if I can take you through a step by step process. Spring, 2003, I "pre-register" in class after speaking with my advisor, getting signatures, and hand carrying a form to the registrars office.

Today, I go to a computer lab (because such things can only be done from an ON CAMPUS computer) and attempt to login. Unfortunately my "RUF" account isn't good on "OWLNET" clusters of computers. So, I apply for an OWLNET account. I attempt to use the same password as my RUF password, but the system tells me "You already have that password associated with another Rice ID", pick another one. (Don't ask me why the system can access the RUF password database, but still requires you to maintain a second account). I log in to my SISWEB account (a THIRD user ID and password). I add the class I want. I PRINT the form. Total time in computer lab: 30 minutes.

I hand carry the form to my advisor (who I have spoken with on several occasions about my plans for the semester, both in person and via e-mail). He signs the form. He makes a joke. He tells me about some interesting study he just read. I escape. Total time in the ME building: 20 minutes.

I take the form over to the Registrar's office. I wait in line. I get to a human being. She takes the form, and starts "tut, tut, tut"ing under her breath. I have a "Registration Hold" preventing me from doing anything. Why do I have this hold? Because I am not registered. However, in order to register, the hold must be removed. Does this seem to defy reasoning to you? Anyway, Ms. Tut Tut consulted her supervisor, and with all of three mouse clicks, she removed the hold, and switched my status to "Registered." And then she typed in my user ID, retyped in the course number (which I had just entered an hour ago on SISWEB), and kaboom, I'm in the class. Total Time at the Registrar's Office: 1 hour (30 minutes in line, 30 minutes with registration lady).

Anyway, I feel like I've just lost 2 hours of my life.

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes

I went to the rock gym last night. My arms hurt a lot. I'm still afraid of rock climbing. Give me a break, I can't be a thrill seeker in EVERY aspect of my life. Sarah said on our way out "You did much better than I expected...", which, I jokingly suggested was difficult to tell whether it was a compliment, because I didn't feel like I did very well at all, since I'm both weak and a chicken! But I guess I did ok, because she commented: becca came for the first time last night too, and she did awesome for her first time. i was so proud. This was particularly nice of her considering my overzealous belay-ing gave her a good case of rope burn on the arm.

I don't know if I'll be able to go regularly though, I have *so* much on my plate right now, I really need to cut back. I'm already trying to figure out how I'm going to manage to work until at least 6:30 tonight, mow my lawn, play volleyball, and pre-clean for the cleaning lady. Then tomorrow is my last night of sailing. And I'm going camping all weekend. Busy busy. And on Thursday of the next week I'm flying to Seattle for a long weekend of work and fun. Except I just found out I may not get to go. I'm going to try not to get frustrated and take it as it comes. Try try try.

I'm tired after this weekend. I was up every morning at 5 a.m.ish to get the balloon I was crewing for in the air. We also tried to launch every evening, but plans were foiled by mud, sunset, and thunder. Yesterday morning, we launched next to a hot air balloon shaped like a giant deoderant bottle. Weird. Every time a balloon took off, though, I pictured more and more the scene in Wizard of Oz, where the wizard casts off to return to the "real" Kansas.

It was a really fun time, though. It makes me want to learn how to fly a hot air balloon. Then I remind myself I already have a few too many consuming (both time and money) hobbies and I shouldn't add one more. It didn't stop me from having a weird dream that I volunteered to crew for a wacky balloon pilot who was flying him and his rooster around the world in 80 Days, I woke up a few weeks into it when we were somewhere in Africa. The whole weekend made me feel that special high you get the first time you do something new that turns out to be something you really enjoy.

I basically didn't see the inside of my house for this weekend - I tried to fill my down time with naps and helping Sarah move.

I don't think I'll have any time to rest in the near future either, 'cause classes start this week, making my schedule significantly more exhausting in order to squeeze my 40 hours in (especially with the no-working-Saturdays prohibition and this week where I'll have to spend a few hours longer at Rice in order to navigate their idiotically low-tech "computerized" class registration system). But camping this weekend will be a nice relief. And tonight, I think I'm going to go to the rock gym for NASA night, despite the fact that in general, I find rock climbing very scary.

September 19th, 1783. A sheep, a duck and a rooster become the first passengers in a hot air balloon

August 22, 2003. I take my first hot air balloon ride.

I had my first ever ride in a HOT AIR BALLOON today! I volunteered to spend the weekend as a balloon chase crew-member, lending an extra hand when needed. I volunteered as part of the annual Ballunar Festival they have here on-site. They have 100 balloons that go all over the place every morning and evening for the whole weekend! The real festival starts tonight, but this morning they were doing media flights. Anyway, I helped the pilots of the balloon I was assigned to set up. My big thrill was holding the "crown line" which is the long line attached to the top of the balloon that holds it at the right angle while its inflating.

Anyway, after the balloon was ready to go, I went to help the other crew members hold the basket down while the pilot got ready. And then he says: "You. Get in the balloon." My first response was "Who? ME?" after all, I'm just crew. And he said "Well, you're the only one who's never been in a balloon before!" So away I went!

Anyway, we went over work then over the drop zone (a big "X" where the pilots drop streamers with hopes of winning a prize for the closest drop). And then we flew down NASA Road 1 at about 500 ft. After we crossed I-45, the pilot started mentioning we should find a place to land. We dropped really low over a forest of trees (and I mean less than 10 ft!) and just kind of drifted along. There was one empty pit of dirt in the middle of the trees and there was one guy down there along with a huge yellow plow-contruction truck. The pilot yelled "Did you dig that all by yourself?" The lone guy in the field of dirt looked really confused.

As we landed, we were told by the chase crew that there were a bunch of police cars blocking their path because the local landowner didn't want us on his property (at this point we're really out in the boondocks of Friendswood/Alvin, miles from work). We set down anyway, by two other balloons already on the ground. As luck would have it, the little shack on the edge of this guys land is a lawyer's office, so he'll know where to go. Anyway, in one of the other balloons that landed in the same spot was Ekaterina, the space bride, the woman who just married the cosmonaut Yuri while he resides on board the Space Station. I didn't really know what to think of the whole space wedding thing, but she turned out to be really awesome!

After the ride, the other members of the chase crew were talking about something conspiratorially, and then when I mentioned I had to get back to work, they said "Oh, you're going back to work? Well, we'll have to cerermonize you tonight then..." I feel like I should be worried!

So, that was my exciting morning. I'm going to be working as chase crew for this balloon all weekend (early a.m. and late afternoon every day). In the between time, I will hopefully catch a movie, help Sarah move, see Rich dressed as an axe murdered and have an all-together hectic weekend.

I'm enjoying the quiet of my house, living "alone" just for a few weeks. Its eerily calm and less chaotic than it usually is. I even

I'm tired. I don't know why, I've gotten 8 hours of sleep every night this week. I'm not sleep deprived. I go to bed exhausted and wake up groggy. Maybe I'm a little sick, I have had a pounding headache off and on all week.

Sailing last night was fun. We finished in the middle: three boats ahead of us, three boats behind us. But it was a close race and we were pushing our speed until the very last minute, which feels good. I am so disappointed that next week is going to be my last week of it. I'm taking an evening class (Astrodynamics) at Univ. of Houston - Clear Lake (in addition to the morning class I'm taking at Rice) on Wednesday nights. Goodbye sailing. Hello three hours of orbital mechanics.

The happy news of yesterday is that Dixie got adopted! Hurrah!

Last night, I tried to be a vegetable. But I ended up doing more weeding, dusting (which I think is going to be a perpetual chore given the layer of fine concrete dust that is on EVERYTHING), doing laundry and cooking myself a yummy dinner. I find myself wondering if (and when) life ever slows down. I know I had some respite in Switzerland, and a little bit more right when I started work. Now, I know things are going to keep getting crazier and crazier. This weekend, I'm getting up early every morning and going out every evening to work as a member of a Chase Crew for a local hot air balloon festival. And I'm helping Sarah move which I am expecting to consume the greater part of the day on Saturday and possibly Sunday too. Then, next week, classes start, so I'll be back on the two day a week commute to Rice, this time in the morning, and though I'll still only be working 40 hours, it will be much harder to fit them all in during the week. To make matters more interesting, I'm taking a second class on Wednesday nights (sigh, goodbye sailing).

And then there's travel plans. Labor Day weekend we're going camping. The following weekend (well, really Thursday through Tuesday) I'm going to Seattle (I'm helping out with a "Benefits of Space" exhibit at a fair there). And, I'm still hunting for the perfectly priced ticket to Greece for this year's AE Mafia adventure. One day I'll slow down, really.

Sore subjects

I hurt. A lot. Apparently soreness is the thing to talk about today (reference Karen). Actually, its mostly my upper body that hurts. It has made me resolve to make more of an effort on strength exercises for my arms. I'll try pushups, and maybe the occasional trip to the rock gym (though rock climbing is one of those few things that scares the heck out of me).

Last night, I went over to borrow Katie & Fred's lawn mower. Why did I do this? Because mine fried a few weeks ago. So, this is strike three against an electric mower (one of the reasons I was recommended this mower is because it takes LESS maintenance than a gas mower. yeh, right.)

Anyway, their's was a lovely, self-propelled, many horsepower gas mower that just tore through my lawn. Hurray for inefficient, polluting fuel sources! In a little over an hour I was almost done with my front yard (which usually takes twice that much time with my electric mower). Then, as I'm cutting the last little patch on the side of my house, the mower goes vrooom, vroooooooooom, vrum, choke, vr... and just stops. I figure, maybe out of gas. But that is not the case. I try to restart it, and it kind of halfway spins up, but dies again the minute it hits grass. I let it cool off and start again. Still nothing. I check to see if there is something caught in the blades. Nope. Its just dead.

I guess this means I'm having a run of bad luck with lawn mowers.

I didn't stop there, however. My yard was looking really ragged. So, I edged, weedwacked, and weeded all the beds around the trees (I still have a couple flower beds that need some help). All and all, it was a very productive three hours of yard work, and definitely a much better workout than my normal 30 minute occasional morning jog. I was most surprised when the sun set at 8:30 p.m. though! This is the first time I've noticed it, but the days are definitely getting shorter (ok, well, not that short, but still shorter than the 9 p.m. sunsets we had last month). Finally, I went inside, made myself a yummy salad, ate the last of Cari's brownies and pretty much passed out.

Floors and roommates rock

I love my new floor. I can't say that enough. It feels so good. I love it I love it I love it. Oh, here's what Nick (my future roommie) has to say ...for those keeping score at home, that is almost exactly TWICE the area in which I lived for nine months in France. Speaking of which, I'm selling tickets for the first day all three of us are in the house at the same time (which, given Kennda's travel schedule, may not be until November). I'm beginning to call my house (in addition to the House of Becca's Wayward Strays) the Home of Difficult people... three opinionated, outspoken, (and probably a little brash/tactless) people in one house. Sounds like a great time! Oh, I'm sure it will work out after some adjustment, but in the meantime, its going to be VERY entertaining.

Birthdays

My dad's turning 50 next month. My brother called yesterday afternoon with an exceptional idea for a gift. Its perfect, he would appreciate it, he's offhandedly mentioned on a number of occasions how it would be perfect if he had this, and its a downright good idea. However, its about 4 times as expensive as any gift I've ever bought before, putting it well over my price range (my first thought was that if I had the money to buy the item, I would probably buy one for myself). Not to mention, its setting a precedent for the gift we'll have to purchase Mom next year for her 50th birthday. This puts into motion a downward spiral that can only lead to increasingly complicated gifts (such as taking a trip with my grandfather in Italy for his 70th birthday and my Aunt Ellie's 60-somethingth birthday, like was done two years ago!). Not that my family doesn't deserve wonderful and thoughtful gifts. But I'm a civil servant! I need to win the lotto or something...

Nick suggested we go in on the gift with Rini (avoiding sarcastic comment in order to finish telling the story). I'm not comfortable with this option, because, well, let's face it, she'd be spending Dad's money on her part, which is basically like Dad buying it for himself -- not much of a gift if you ask me. Last night I dreamt an unfortunate fate befell Rini. Thank Sarah for putting that image in my head.

The great-floor-project went incredibly well, minus a few snags (such as a high spot in the concrete subfloor, which lead me to confuse the idiots at Home Depot with the question "So, how do you grind concrete?"), and a couple late nights. All the planks are down, and the molding has been started (though not completed). I had a suprising amount of help, which I am really thankful for, because I don't think there's any way I could have done it on my own. It feels good to know there are people around when you need an extra 3 or 4 or 5 sets of hands (and in turn, I think I will be peeling some wallpaper and building hot tob decks and moving furniture for them...) and someone to tell you "Well, if you reall want you can lay the planks down randomly, or you can do it pseudorandomly."

And that, my friends, is how you replace 400 square feet of carpet with laminate (for those of you who don't know, laminate is basically fake hard-wood). The floor looks excellent. I will try to get a picture and put it up for you.

In the meantime, we basically created a dust storm (insidious concrete dust), that it shut down the A/C sometime early Sunday morning (making it really hot working yesterday). So, I'm sitting here waiting for the A/C guy to come clean everything out. After that, I have one of my less favorite activities - a tooth cleaning. Then, off to work.

And, in the latest dog antics, they can't seem to run on the new floor. They run but their legs slip out from under them and they just end up staying in one place. Then they go sliding across the floor. It cracks me up.

The great-floor-project went incredibly well, minus a few snags (such as a high spot in the concrete subfloor, which lead me to confuse the idiots at Home Depot with the question "So, how do you grind concrete?"), and a couple late nights. All the planks are down, and the molding has been started (though not completed). I had a suprising amount of help, which I am really thankful for, because I don't think there's any way I could have done it on my own. It feels good to know there are people around when you need an extra 3 or 4 or 5 sets of hands (and in turn, I think I will be peeling some wallpaper and building hot tob decks and moving furniture for them...) and someone to tell you "Well, if you reall want you can lay the planks down randomly, or you can do it pseudorandomly."

And that, my friends, is how you replace 400 square feet of carpet with laminate (for those of you who don't know, laminate is basically fake hard-wood). The floor looks excellent. I will try to get a picture and put it up for you.

In the meantime, we basically created a dust storm (insidious concrete dust), that it shut down the A/C sometime early Sunday morning (making it really hot working yesterday). So, I'm sitting here waiting for the A/C guy to come clean everything out. After that, I have one of my less favorite activities - a tooth cleaning. Then, off to work.

Texas has its own power grid. Go Texas!

I got my new cell phone last night. I absolutely adore it. If you get an e-mail from 18324190602@tmobile.com, that's me! The phone has a camera in it and I'm totally in love with the idea of e-mailing my friends/family with random pictures! (Especially since I get unlimited pictures for the first month free!)

Last night I went on a shopping spree to get the last of the supplies I need to do the Great Laminate Floor project. I felt like such an idiot, I asked the Home Depot guys all sorts of stupid questions about appropriate uses of a saw, using a chalk line, a cawking gun, getting the measurements I need from a level, etc. Its hard to believe I have a degree in engineering and my father owns a machine shop -- for all I know the world of practical construction is about as foreign to me as decorative Japanese flower arranging (unless you count building, and re-building, and building again the dock at our cottage). Luckily, I have some people stopping in to help, and Sarah's going to stick out the majority of the project with me (thank god!) so hopefully common sense will prevail and no major screw ups will occur.

I'm back in Houston. So, no, Mom, you don't have to call out the National Guard to come find me. I want to move to Austin though. Its got personality, hills, and a lake. How could you go wrong? The hot weather even seemed more temperate there than here.

The conference went really well. They even nominated our paper for "Best Paper" of the conference. That was cool. We stayed in a posh hotel (Sarah and I shared a room and it took both of our hotel per diem to pay for it). We ate really well at fun resteraunts. I ran into two professors from Tech (Tsiotris & Calise), one who recognized us and one who didn't. I ran into an old mate from when I worked at Langley (though I didn't have much to say to him). And I met up with David Cohen (David Cohen, from high school!) who I haven't seen in like 6 years. But we got along great - no awkward pauses or no lack of conversation! It was fun to see him again and catch up on funny things and gossip and such.

Last night sailing rocked. Another close finish (we got third).

My house is so empty. Cari moved on Tuesday, and Kennda is on perpetual work travel. It will be nice living "alone" for a little while. At least I'm alone until Nick moves in and converts my puppy room into his dance studio (in my mom's words: wonder who's next? maybe a hair stylist or makeup artist who can set up a mini-salon... or a circus tight rope artist who can install a high wire... or an olympic gymnist with mats and a balance beam... the possibilities are endless).

Anyway, today's entry is the last you'll hear of Cari - the kick ass roommate -'s exploits in America. In the future it will all be funny French stuff. Cari was insistant on leaving on Tuesday (she was driving to California before flying to France), despite having no clear time constraints. Anyway, she ended up leaving at 9:30 p.m. 9:30 p.m.! She drove through the night (stopping to nap in a Best Western parking lot) and was still driving when we spoke to her on Wednesday afternoon. Houston to L.A. without stopping!

But this was only the end of Cari's exploits. When Gavin and Jen came to pick up Bennet (after Cari left) at my house (they were babysitting the dogs while I was in Austin) - they noticed there was no sign of Tang (Kennda's cat). They looked around (making sure that he hadn't locked himself in the bathroom cabinets, which occurs more frequently than you'd expect). They found him sitting outside the back door in the pouring rain staring in forlornly. We are only left to wonder how long Tang (an indoor cat) had been outside without Cari noticing.

Maybe later I'll start talking about Bennet's new un-neutered male marking behavior or how despondant he is with Cari gone (he keeps going into Cari's room and sighing loudly, I'm sure he'll get over it).

The Zoo...

Becca's Home for Wayward strays has inherited Gavin and Jen's two dogs (Roxy and Zoya) for the weekend. Five young adult dogs in our house. Crazy you say? Completely! Tomorrow, sigh, we're taking Dixie back to the shelter permanently. Its so sad. I don't know how I am going to close that gate on her and not cry. She's a foster dog and was never supposed to stay with us permanently, we hoped to have her out when her puppies were grown, and we kept her another full month hoping to find a home for her. The shelter people seem confident that she will find a home eventually (hopefully before they run out of space and put her to sleep). But she's such a happy, loving dog, and she loves people so much, she's going to be lonely and stressed in the shelter. I wish I could keep her for longer, but Cari is leaving for the year and Kennda is gone for a month at a time, stopping in only for a few days between trips - alone it will be a handful to just take care of Bennet and Apache, I can't take on Dixie too.

Working late...

The last couple of months have been fairly (extremely) slow for me at work, to the point of depressing. Yesterday afternoon I got to do some last minute AND important work that kept me here late. But it was ok. Because I felt like I was actually contributing. Let's just say there's been a lot of downtime lately.

And next week, on Monday and Tuesday, I'm going to be at an AIAA Conference. Its my first non-student oriented conference. Sarah and I are presenting a paper on Monday afternoon. I know I used to be a very good debater/public speaker, but such things fade with complete and total lack of practice, and frankly, I'm just darned nervous about presenting too a bunch of old men with PhD's, which pretty much sums up one of these conferences. I know, I know I'll do fine. But I'm still nervous.

Good help...

I feel like such a snob when I say "Good help is hard to find", but I'm in desparate need of a cleaning person. Someone suggested that maybe I could breakdown and *gasp* clean the house for myself. No way jose! Its hard enough for me to keep up with everything else I have to worry about (and I mean, let's face it, my life isn't that chaotic, but it certainly feels like it) - why deal with three people's worth of mess too!? Anyway, I think I've found a new cleaning lady, I checked her references, and she sounds good.

I had an *excellent* time sailing last night. It was pretty much the best regatta I've been in. Ever. We were ahead most of the race, but only by one boat length for the nearest competitor. And there were two other boats trailing us by about 2 boat lengths. That's close! Especially considering usually the boats in our fleet are spread far apart (because they are all different types of boats, and therefore have different speeds) and each different type is handicapped to make it more even. Each time around the marks, all four of us were fighting for the best position. It was so cool to look back and see everyone trailing behind - my heart was beating much faster because they were so close to passing us, though. Anyway the boat right behind us picked a different tack on the last leg and ended up pulling well ahead of us to finish in first place. However, the three of us remaining stayed neck and neck right until the end for a photo finish. It rocked! I think we probably finished second or third, I'm not really sure what the handicap on the other two boats were - I was too tired to go to the awards ceremony.

Oh, I found out that they've been posting pictures of the races here. You have to scroll down and click on "Hoover" - Second Wind is the boat's current name (its about to be changed).

ADOPT DIXIE!

Do you ever have one of those mornings that no matter how hard you try, you just can't get out of the house? Today was like that for me. I woke up at 7:00 a.m., but I didn't walk out the door until an hour and a half later (if you include a pit stop at the drug store). The good news about this is that there was no traffic and it only took me 12 minutes to drive to work - my fastest drive ever.

Sarah is amusing herself reading about the so-called "heat wave" in England. After all, most of the summer brings heat indexes over 100 in Houston, and England has topped out in the low 90's, which would be a downright pleasant summer day here. Its like the top story on the BBC. Personally, I think the differences can be boiled down into two words: air conditioning.

Kennda's back. But Cari's leaving on Monday. And then Kennda's leaving to continue her schedule of perpetual traveling. And then Nick is moving into Cari's room (which will henceforth be known as La Chambre, because it has become a waystation people coming to or from France, at least Nick and Cari -- well, except for that random Italian lady who lived there for a week.)

I had the most surreal phone conversation this morning. First, my phone rings, and a weird number appears, it has "011" before it and at first I thought it was an international call. I'll transcribe the conversation as best as I can remember it:

Becca: Hello. Who is this?

Jen: Its Jen.

Becca: [thinking hard over who would call me from an international number]Jen, who? O'meara?"

Jen: No [stupid], its Jen Mendeck. [as it turns out they just got new cell phones]

Becca: Oh, that makes much more sense than Jen O'Meara.

Jen: So, are you home now?

Becca: Nope, I'm at work.

Jen: Well, you'll never believe who's sitting at my doorstep.

Becca: What are you talking about?

Jen: Well, my dogs started barking, and I went out to look what's going on, and there are a very wet Bennet and Apache sitting at my front door

Becca: No WAY!

Jen: Yeah, and they're soaked

Becca: [confused - because it was a crystal clear blue sky] Is it raining out?

Jen: No. No it isn't. Anyway, your dogs are in my back yard now.

Becca: [flash of realization] Where is Dixie?

Anyway, to make a long story short, Cari was home, so she went and collected the dogs from Jen. We are assuming before traveling the several blocks over to the Mendeck's house, they stopped for a swim in the drainage ditch that I let them swim in sometimes. As it turns out Dixie was sitting on our house's front stoop, also soaking wet. So, it was a day-out for the dogs.

ADOPT DIXIE!

And while I'm linking to things, now that Karen is coming back to the U.S., and Nickis already back, I finally have another friend who is just about to start her European adventure. Read all about Cari's move to France.

Canada was excellent. I wish I were there rather than here at my desk. I'll update more later when I'm done going through my millions of e-mails.