Tamales, Alcohol, and haunted railroad tracks

just another average weekend in Texas. Since there was no Cowboys game to view, I guess we had to occupy our time with something.

My sister and her daughter come rolling into town at around 4am on Saturday morning, sleep for a few hours and then we all drive down to San Antonio to our cousin's house for a "class" on how to make homemade tamales. Several other friends and relatives show up. And then the drinks started flowing! One of our cousin's husband travels overseas and he had us try some Italian Grappa and then made us some drinks that he learned how to make in Brazil. OMG, the stories started flowing out of everyone then!

After the class, and eating some good food, we visited with mom & dad for a bit before starting to head home. But before we leave the SA city limits, we get the brilliant idea to go to the haunted railroad tracks since it's the weekend before Halloween and all. (see here for more info: http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa031201a.htm)
So off we went. And it turned out to be freaking Family Night at the haunted railroad tracks since there were carloads of people with kids in the back. They may as well build a Starbucks there. it's certainly not as scary as we remember it when we were kids.
Then after more wine drinking and stories, we finally head home.
I love the crazy, Mexican side of mi familia.
Currently listening : Under the Blacklight By Rilo Kiley

Happy Labor Day!

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. No more white shoes after today or the fashion police will arrest you.

This weekend was sort of a "Flashback" kind of weekend for me.

First off, I FINALLY got to see some familiar faces in town. Many thanks to Trudi and Dana for allowing me to accompany them to dinner this past Thursday and Saturday during their pilgrimage to Austin. Hope you had a good time in my fair city!

Then on Saturday night, I went to an '80's show at Lake Travis. The venue was on the shores of the lake and all these boats were pulling up and setting up anchor near there to hear the music - must be nice! The concert featured Tommy Tutone, The Romantics, Missing Persons and 10,000 Maniacs. (I left before 10,000 Maniacs came onstage so don't ask me how they were). I was impressed with Tommy and The Romantics - both put on rocking sets chock full of their classics. Solid guitar, vocals and harmonica. Missing Persons wasn't all that great. First off, the only original member is Dale Bozzio, the female lead singer. Second, her voice isn't what it used to be. I saw her go off-stage frequently to take a swig of whatever was in her cup so maybe she was sick. But her on-stage banter was weird. There were all these crickets flying up onstage at her throughout the set and she kept referring to them as "grasshoppers." It was like her voice was a beacon to them.

So although summer is over, I have no reason to be sad. There's too much stuff to look forward to: the ACL festival is next week, football season gets started, there are the cool holidays in the Fall (Halloween, Thanksgiving). So dry your eyes, there's no reason to cry over summer being over.

Austin - I am LOVIN it!!!

I am loving living in my new hometown and being so close to family. It truly does rock the roll. Mostly everyone here is SO nice and laid-back. I just got back from a free outdoor show at Zilker Park featuring Jimmie Vaughn and it was so nice to just sit on a blanket on the grass, smoke some grass (just kidding) and hear good music while surrounded by laid-back people. Even better - we were home in just 15 minutes with zero traffic. How can this be??? This would be unheard of in DC!

I've been spending most of the past month seeing the family, getting the car registered (it's a three step process), and getting official TX license plates for it. Tomorrow we're finally getting our TX drivers licenses. I am praying to God that we don't need to do a driving test. I suck at parallel parking and I remember my three older sisters having to do that when they first got their licenses in TX. Of course, this was waaaaaay back when.

Y'all will be disappointed to hear that last Sunday was the very FIRST concert I've been to since moving here. I know - I'm slacking off. But I'm making up for it starting this month. Last Sunday I saw Whitestarr, The Stray Cats, The Pretenders and ZZ Top in San Antonio. It was good. Brian Setzer is a guitar god and Chrissie Hynde hasn't aged one bit. ZZ was better than expected because they stuck to their old stuff (before they did all that 80's keyboard crap).

I've also been enjoying the food here. Chuy's is the best (Mexican). Rudy's is awesome (BBQ). And we've discovered a place called Brooklyn Pie for some of the best pizza I've ever tasted. SO much good food around here that we need to watch ourselves! But since a LOT of people here in this city are fitness-oriented, and we have a trail near our place that goes around a small lake, we've been keeping things under control. So I don't think we need the bypass just yet...

I've been getting used to working from home. It's a whole other world doing that. You have to be real disciplined. I get dressed and put on make-up before going to the home office just so I can get into that mentality of "going to the office." But it sure does get lonely! I miss going out to lunches with co-workers and yelling at them over the cubicles. I'll be seeing them soon, though, for a trade show in NYC coming up Aug. 19 - Aug 22. It'll be good to see them again.
All in all, life's been good. I'm happy and I'm grateful for where I'm at.
Currently listening : Easy Tiger By Ryan Adams Release date: 26 June, 2007

Movies, Books and Football

This weekend had it all. It started on Saturday morning when the UPS man delivered my HP book. I finished reading the 700+ page book on Sunday. It was a very satisfying end to the whole HP series. But man, what a body count at the end, eh?

But I didn't stay indoors the ENTIRE weekend.
Mike dragged me out on Sunday afternoon to go see Sicko at the Alamo Drafthouse. I'm so glad he did this because it's been years since I've been to the drafthouse and I had forgotten what a blast you can have there. We had the best cheeseburgers, fries and beer while watching a movie on healthcare (oh the irony!)
Check out the "Signature Events" on their website here: http://www.originalalamo.com/default.aspx?l=4
Oh and check out the Safety Instructional video shown before every movie - LOL: http://youtube.com/watch?v=V-bcHA06zw0

THEN, I was hunting for some Cowboy tickets. I haven't found any at Texas Stadium YET, but I got tix to the pre-season game with the Houston Texans in Houston next month. Yeah, I know - it doesn't count and who cares. Well I do because in all my sport-loving life, I have NEVER been to an official NFL game. I've seen all the other games (NHL, MLB, NBA, MLS) But never NFL! And as if I would go see the Redskins in DC (Pfft!) So I waited until I was back home sweet home to see a Texas team on Texas soil.
So yes, I'm ready for some football...

Currently listening : Icky Thump By The White Stripes Release date: 19 June, 2007

July 7, 2007 Post

As promised, here is a quick video journal/montage of the trip home. Come along with us, won't ya?June 30th was supposed to be THE day. The move day. The big kahuna. The big cheese. The main event. However, it didn't work out that way thanks to U-Haul. Apparently they didn't have a 17' truck or a tow dolley for us to pick up on the morning of June 30th. They blamed it on previous renters not holding up their end of the bargain with returning the trucks on time. So we waited...and waited...and waited. Once noon rolled around with no truck, we talked to the leasing office of the apartment complex we were moving out of and explained the situation. They were very gracious and said as long as we were out of the apartment by Monday, July 2, we were fine. So that eased our worries quite a bit. It wasn't until 3pm that we finally got a truck. U-Haul gave us the extra days we needed for free, plus some extra miles. Cool. We started loading as many boxes as possible. We had two buddies stop by to help us load (thanks Jim & Rene!). We decided to stay ONE more night in the old apartment. We unpacked the bed and slept in an empty place. The next morning, we finished loading and cleaning up the apartment. Here's a quick video of our last walk-through:http://youtube.com/watch?v=KojCIa-psp0

We left the apartment to go pick up the tow dolley and attach our car to it. Here is the final result - and our little traveling "home" on the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkOw2khN08

We made it to Abington, VA - right outside the border of TN. Then on July 2, we crossed into the great state of TN. Here we are crossing into TN:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIWEZ-tqT0M

Later on that same day, we drove straight through Knoxville, TN, or K'ville for the natives. We were looking for that golden sphere in the city and couldn't find it. It now has an obstructed view from I-40, which is a bummer. But we managed to get a quick glimpse of it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4baGBL-uFVg

We made it just past Nashville and spent the night outside the city. As we pulled into the hotel parking lot, we went around to the back and then discovered *gasp* - a dead end! This wouldn't be a big deal if you weren't pulling a towed car. However, if you are, this means you have to back up. And backing up a towed car is a B-I-T-C-H. After several expletives and even detaching the car from the tow dolley, we FINALLY figured out how to back the truck up without the tow dolley going crooked. Fun stuff! And good times...

The next day, July 3rd, was easy. We decided to just drive to Memphis and spend the night there because we wanted to make the pilgrimage to Sun Studios and Beale Street. We reached Memphis just past noon, had lunch, then went to Sun Studios for the 2:30pm tour. We ended up spending lots of dough in the gift shop - including a purse made out of genuine 45 rpm Sun Studios records. I think Mike was more excited about this purchase than I was! I may have to fight him over it...;-)
Then we took the trolley down to Beale Street - where the bbq was eaten, and oh yes, the drinks flowed. We watched several street performers do some blues. Here's one of the crazy guitarists we saw there. Notice how he dressed for the 4th of July holiday. Everyone should have an outfit like THIS guy...(and please tell the Pizza Hut lady to get her umbrella out of the freaking way)http://www.youtube.com/v/KoUJm-10_5E

So the next day, we wake up and cross into Arkansas. Here we are crossing the Mississippi River into Arkansas - wheeeee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjoYWx2EZcs

We drove to Eureka Springs, AR - which is in Northwest Arkansas - to visit with Mike's dad until our place in Austin is ready on July 10. We arrived on the evening of the 4th of July - just in time for a genuine BBQ and popping some firecrackers till 11pm! Here's a shot of one of the loud poppers going off. You will hear Haley, a precocious child, asking to assist me with keeping my ears plugged during the loud explosions - lol.http://www.youtube.com/v/ukGJH0Y__MA

We've been having a great time here. And of course, got some videos of the nice, twisting roads of AR that scare the shite out of me. I'll load those up in the next week or so.Thanks for everyone's well wishes as we made our way across. It feels good to be returning to the "motherland."
Current Location: Eureka Springs, AR
Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Live Earth concert on Bravo

I am living the White Trash life! And in 4 days....

...I AM MOVING!!! Goodbye Virginia. It's been real. You've been my home since 1987-back when I had hair as high as the heavens, listened to GNR religiously, and drove a POS Chevy Chevelle with holes in the floorboard where you saw the street rushing by and with a bumper sticker that read: "Have you been Kaged?" (a local metal band). But it is LONG overdue that I return back to my home state of Texas. I'm the only one from my immediate family that is NOT in Texas. Now the circle will finally be complete - mwahahaha.

SO since the cable has already been cut, we are now using rabbit ears to watch TV. This results in only ONE channel coming in - CBS. There is no possibility to channel surf when there is only one channel. I think I have gotten over the initial shakes from the withdrawal effect.

Our sofa was taken away by the junk removers, so we are currently using lawn chairs as furniture. This results in a nice, waffle pattern to appear on the back of your legs and your ass.

Our silverware and plates are all packed away. So we are using plasticware, paper plates and paper cups all this week. You cannot properly cut a steak or chicken using plasticware.

It is when one is "roughing it" out in the wild like this that you become thankful for all of the modern-day luxuries such as silverware, cable TV and properly-cushioned chairs.

I will be documenting the looooong trip with pictures & videos. I hope to be posting those as we go along. Au revoir!
Currently listening : Cocked & Loaded By L.A. Guns

What the hell is going on in this world???

Today a NASA contractor shot a NASA employee and then killed himself. This happened at Johnson Space Center in Houston which just happens to be where my sister, Patty works. As soon as I heard the news I was burning up the phone lines and trying to call her desk, her cell, her home numbers - but no answer. Then I called my parents in San Antonio to see if they had heard from her, but they hadn't. So my Dad got on the job of trying to find out what was going on.
My mom called back to say that Patty did call Dad back to let him know she was okay. That she was on 'lock-down' and couldn't leave yet. She works in the building right next to the 44 lab - which is where the incident took place. When they were allowed to leave, she FINALLY called me back directly.
I tell you, THAT was hard. I mean, it certainly doesn't compare to what happened at VT, but when it's close to a family member, oh my God, it's hard.
I just thank God she wasn't in that building and I am so grateful. I tell you this whole week has been so weird. I think I've told everyone that I love them (esp Mike) about a thousand times since it proves that you just never know.
In other news, I am heading to San Diego on Sunday evening for a trade show next week. It ought to be a good time. (Boy do I need THAT.) I'm tired of worrying and crying.