Overheard

Yesterday while I was waiting to meet Jenna for lunch, I overheard a very interesting conversation. There was a group of construction workers on the other side of the hallway, apparently also waiting for someone.

One of the guys says, "Aw man. You know what I heard? I heard that when you die, the coroner takes your gold crowns and then they become government property."

Another man in a reflective vest replies in disgust, "No way man! Really?"

Construction worker #1 continues, "Yep. We work our butts off for that grill and then the government gets it after we die. It's not fair!"

#1 pipes up again, "Ya you have to will them to somebody in order to keep 'em."

The others continue to moan in irritation about the government.

Good thing Travis plans to get a white "grill". Otherwise we'd have to work on our wills.

Really people? I mean REALLY?! If the mortician steals your gold crowns, that's on him. It has nothing to do with the government. I promise.

Jury Duty

I slept hard last night after a very busy weekend. Although, I think it will take me another night to actually feel rested.

I got called in for jury duty for the first time today. Not sure if I will get picked or how everything will run, but if I can muster the energy tonight I will post some photos from the fun-filled weekend (Landry's 1st birthday party near Austin, picked our own pumpkins from a pumpkin patch and Travis finally had a softball game after starting three weeks ago).

Day 75 of BP Oil Spill

I'm sorry I've been slacking on my blogging duties. I had a really busy weekend and we have family in town. I have about a million photos to sort through before I can really get down to business.

In the meantime, look at this awesome Oil Skimmer that is on it's way to save the Gulf, despite the fact that it still needs to be approved by the EPA and Coast Guard. Hope they get on that...

A Whale Oil Skimmer

It's December? What?!?

Can you believe it is December already? So. Funny debate. It has come up several times in conversation now, so I thought I'd throw it out into the world wide web.

When the clock strikes midnight on December 31st and the year becomes the futuristic-sounding 2010, are you going to read the date as "January first, two thousand ten" or "January first, twenty ten"?

Personally, I like twenty ten. It is simplistic.

In related news, how many of you out there write the date like so: 6/10 for June tenth? I do. I also write the date 6/09 for June 2009.

At work, we have to record the expiration date of everything. The other day I was attempting to write an expiration date of June 2010 and I wrote it 06/10. Guess what? Two months from now, when I go back to read that date, I'm not going to know if I meant June 10th or June 2010. I thought twice about this, acknowledged that it might put me in quite a pickle in the months ahead, and changed it to read June 2010.

What a pain in the ass.

New Blog List Layout

I'm trying out a new layout for my blog list. What do you think? Should I get rid of the snipits?

Pollution Tornado

Look! It's a tornado! Just joking - it's pollution pouring out of the oil refineries. Gotta make that gasoline!

My New Do

This weekend was fairly ho-hum for us. We kept busy, but nothing crazy. I know it wasn't quite the weekend yet, but Thursday we watched the movie Juno - IT WAS SO GOOD. I laughed hysterically for the first half. Juno's character was absolutely hilarious. That's another DVD I'll be buying. Friday night we went over to Sara and JR's for a delicious meal of beef stew. Sara's friend Dana came over too, so we hung out over there for the rest of the night. Travis worked on Saturday, so he didn't stay late.

Saturday I ran a bunch of errands. First on my list? My hair appointment! For just a trim, I usually go to some cheap place like Super Cuts. I've never had a problem with those place, so the price seems just right for me. But when I go in for a color change, I go to a nice place. I'm not going to risk the integrity of my hair with just anybody! =D I decided to get highlights again for the summer and I'm attempting to get rid of my layers. It will probably take a few months to do this, so in the meantime, my hair is a little shorter than I had wanted. In the following panel, the first photo is my previous brunette color. The second photo is my new, shorter blond hair, straightened. The third photo is my new, shorter blond hair, scrunched.

I am totally in the car the last two pics. But I was stopped at a stoplight in both... I swear. I have always had blond hair. I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to get used to it again. Nehoo! I ran a couple errands (picked up my new glucometer, grocery shopping, dropped off camera for repair, etc.) and then that evening I went to the movie theater with Sara. We saw the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was pretty good, but I tell you what, that first scene where Sarah breaks up with the main character, is hilarious. There are a bunch of shots where you see a full frontal of the guy. It surprised us every time!

Sunday, Travis and I took Bella to the vet. She was due for her annual visit, but most importantly we wanted to discuss her inappropriate elimination. Turns out, she DOES NOT have a urinary tract infection. That means that it is a behavioral problem. Shoot me. Just shoot me now. The doctor gave us this thing that looks like a Glad plug-in that contains an imitation cat pheromone to promote happy cats in my house. So far so good, but then again it's only been a day since we plugged it in. I sure hope this works, because the last thing I want to do is pill that psycho every morning with Kitty Prozac. She was so mad at us on the way to the vet that she peed in her carrier. Talk about yuck! I can't wait to go a day without smelling cat pee. Seriously.

Travis spent the rest of Sunday working on widening our driveway with our across-the-street-neighbor, Cowboy Willy. (Yes, he really goes by Cowboy Willy.) He dug up the grass on either side and gave the sod to Willy in repayment for his help. Then he spread the remaining dirt in all the random holes in our yard, including those dug up by Callaway in the backyard. That evening, we had Ariel and Robert over for fajitas. There was this awesome deal at HEB: buy the pre-seasoned fajita meat and get the following for free - beans, shredded cheese, Jalapeno cheddar sausages, shredded lettuce, tortilla shells and a 2L of Sprite. Freakin awesome deal. After dinner we watched Sweeney Todd. I've decided that I'm just not made out for musical movies. I like going to the theater to see musicals, but it's just not worth it on the TV. On a fun note, we did try a healthy treat of edamame instead of popcorn during the movie. It was pretty good. It reminded me of roasted Chinese chestnuts that we used to eat all the time when we were little. Ah, memories.

The Beginning

I have been contemplating starting a blog for a while now. I've been posting occasionally on my other website (MySpace), which you can see under my contacts. Many of my friends have blogs and it seems like a good form of therapy, if nothing else. So I figured, why not?! I'm hoping that I'll get a blog up at least weekly, but I'm afraid I won't have that much to talk about. My life isn't crazy interesting. Same people, different place. Sometimes the same place. But we do try to get out there and do things. I cannot stand not having anything to do! When I mentioned "we" a minute ago, I was referring to my husband Travis and I.

To bring you up to speed on my life, I currently work in a research hospital as a research technician. It is the first job I have had since I graduated from college that I actually enjoy. My lab does work on viruses, which is not my first choice of employment. At least I'm in a lab in the science field. I would prefer to be doing behavioral research in marine biology, but it's been difficult to find a job here. Travis and I moved here in 2002 so I could go to school. We had planned to move to wherever our hearts desired once we graduated, but things didn't work out that way. First we wanted to get married, then money was tight. So we decided to stay for a few years to pay of some credit cards and build equity in a house. We bought our first house together in the beginning of 2007. It's a great little place, but not in the best of towns. That's probably why we got such a good deal on the place.

Since moving into our new home, we have acquired a dog. Travis wanted a dog and I thought I wanted a dog. Now I'm thinking I'm more of a small dog type of person. Or maybe I'm not a dog person at all. I do know for a fact that I am a cat person. We have three cats and they are my FAVORITE. They don't require constant attention and I can find them whenever I need a moment of peace. But Callaway (that's the dog) wants to be interacting EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY. It's very stressful. He is now 11 months old and still likes to chew on anything he can get his paws on. Once a month he pees in the house. He likes to dig holes in a yard (which is giving me qualms about starting a garden). And he barks everytime a leaf falls to the ground outside of the window. Not to mention that he constantly licks at any exposed skin he can get to. IE, hand hanging out of the bed at night, swinging hand while walking, face hanging over edge of bed, etc. Ahhhhh!! Someone told us to try giving him fish oil on a daily basis because he might have some sort of a nutrient deficiency that is leading to licking EVERYTHING. We've been on this for almost two weeks now. This person said it won't start to work until half the bottle is gone. We're still waiting... If anyone has recommendations, please let me know. Thanks!