super long post full of random things

Last night we had a power outage that lasted 3 hours. Something blew up on top of some pole and several blocks went down. Luckily it was back on by 11:30 so we didn't freeze too bad, but never mind all the stuff I was hoping to accomplish. The good thing is, the moon was bright and the stars were shining and I spent a long time gazing at them. Wouldn't have done that otherwise.

I am FREAKING OUT about Christmas. I haven't done a single card or bought a single gift. And I can't do much this weekend because I'm in a wedding. And I have to bake 3 kinds of cookies for my office potluck. At some point. FREAKING OUT. And I didn't even decorate this year. Y'all people with mad skilz in time management - HOW DO YOU DO IT??? Seriously. Please tell me how. (If you're wondering how I have time to write this post, the answer is, by writing it at work, of course! heh)

The foliage around Austin is unbelievably gorgeous these days. I guess drought is good for one thing. I like to commute on prettier roads, and all along Mopac and downtown in the Clarksville area it's a feast for the eyes. So many colors, some trees are just glowing I swear. Please look around if you haven't yet, it won't last much longer!! Here are a few pics I took in Dallas over the holiday weekend, more coming later from here at home. Maybe. (See above plea for help.)

Haagen Dazs has a Limited Edition out right now, which is Peppermint Bark. Holy crap is it good. I ate three-fourths of the pint in one sitting. No, I'm not proud of that.

Why do those "Classmates" and "Reunion" sites keep emailing me that people are searching for me or signing my guest book, but then they won't let me see who's searching or even see my own guestbook without paying for a subscription? Fuck you, classmates and reunion.

I wish I could take pictures of smells. The other morning some guys were chopping down a tree behind my office and the fresh lumber smelled so good, I wished I could capture it and share it somehow. Poor tree though.

Over Thanksgiving, I learned that my brother and I apparently have exceptionally small ears.

It was a good holiday. Everyone got along, there was no real drama (though one nephew did squeeze out a few tears after losing at monopoly), it was downright pleasant all around! Plus I won the pot, twice I think?, in the card game we always play at B's family get-togethers. Suckas.

Also over Thanksgiving, I went to half a bachelorette party and I had a birthday.

37 feels a lot older than 36. (Hence, the attendance of only half a bachelorette party.)

My mom made me my "signature" birthday cake: devilsfood cake with chocolate frosting with M&Ms all over it. YU-HUH-HUMMY!

On the way home from Thanksgiving, we hit terrible traffic. No shock there, but it sucked anyway. B wanted to try a new alternate route, east of 35, so we did do that for a while. It was great, no traffic, just country roads and farms and fields and sky and grass and trees. Really pretty area (east of Hillsboro basically). The dying grass along the highway was sort of glowing greenish white. We had vast unobstructed views of the sky, silverlined clouds heading on towards sunset. (So many times when I'm driving, I see things that would make beautiful photos, and I'm not in a position to take any. This is very disappointing, but I suppose the bright side is it forces me to just enjoy the moment without filtering it through the lens, which can cause a detachment from the situation happening in real life.) I wanted to get back on the highway before dark, so we went back to 35 and the rest of trip was congested and annoying. Except for two things: the atomic sunset and later, our view of the moon's alignment with Venus and Jupiter. That was awesome! (Can you see the smiley face created by this alignment? Pic from Astronomy Pic of the Day. I love that site. As you might can tell, I love the skies.)




How about some more pics from the holiday weekend, even though it was like two weeks ago. This is my parents' dog, Zelda. Isn't she cute? My aunt thinks she looks like Falcor from The Neverending Story. hee hee

Not so much here!

If you can't be with the one you love, hook him up to a webcam. (My nephew was sick this day so he stayed home, but he still got to join us!)

Here's another nephew, preparing for his performace of All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. He's a method actor.

How many screens can one roomful of people look at? Is this weird?

Internet addiction starts young these days. And it's no wonder considering the environment. ^

B really likes pie. He ate two pieces of leftover pumpkin pie in a row, knowing that we were about to eat my birthday cake. He ate some of that too.

The formatting here on blogger drives me crazy!

Is that all for now? I think so. If any of you actually read the whole thing, I'm impressed. I mean it with those time management tips. I am in desperate need here. (After 37 years of extreme procrastination, though, it might just be too late.)