Holiday Happenings

Saturday was our day for the annual family holiday get-together, and this year's was an absolute success. Our tradition is that we do not bring presents, but rather just try to focus on getting together and having some fun. This year, Mom hosted the gang at her house at Hilltop Lakes.

Leo and I picked up Michelle (daughter 2 of 4) in LaPorte about 8:15am, then headed out 45-N toward our destination. We were the first to arrive and Mom, Michelle and I started a game of "Upwords". Our arrival brought the headcount to 6. Ginger's [my sister's] crew was the next on the scene, with Rob [my younger brother] and his gang right behind. This brought the headcount to 13. Rachael (daughter 4 of 4) showed up with only one missing family member as her stepdaughter Kya was headed out of town for the weekend, bringing the count to 17. Dean [my oldest brother], now called "Charlie" by friends and family, arrived with his family next and we were up to 21. Rebecca (daughter 3 of 4) and her husband were last on the scene since they had to work until early afternoon. Their arrival brought the final tally to 23.

I didn't set up any formalized game play this year, but we had a whole lot of fun playing with the babies, looking through old photographs, teasing, laughing, telling stories, and eating, gaming, and carrying on in the way that friends who haven't seen each other for a long time do. This year's holiday gathering was a really wonderful event, "and a good time was had by all". Hope you enjoy this photo of me (left) and my siblings Charlie, Ginger, and Rob.

Texas Bowl

Leo and I had a BLAST enjoying the Texas Bowl on Friday. Our team, the University of Houston cougars, were defeated by Texas Christian University, but it was a great game and we had a wonderful time. We got to Reliant park early and walked around checking out the tailgater action. Although I didn't find my college booth (College of Technology), we did see a whole lot of people sporting their cougar pride and having a good time. The bands were in fine form making their way around the parking lot, and there was a general air of excitement. We had some really good seats, splurged on the Reliant stadium hamburger and fries special ($32 for two with drinks!) and enjoyed an exciting game that almost went our way, losing out on an opportunity to beat or tie the Horned Frogs in the last minute of the game. Leo and I had so much fun I wonder why this is the first time we've enjoyed a U of H game. Hopefully, it won't be the last!

Books, Movies, and Coincidence

I've enjoyed quite a break over the past week and, admittedly, accomplished very little. Leo and I saw two movies, "I Am Legend", a complete remake of the old "Omega Man", so a bit of a disappointment, and the second "National Treasure", an excellent adventure. I also finished three books in that period of time. Book 7 of the Harry Potter series was first; don't ask me to apologize for such a silly adventure...as with all the others, I enjoyed it so very much. The second was a spy novel called "The Faithful Spy" that was also very good. And finally (today), I finished up the third book, an interesting look at "The Wisdom of Crowds". It was a bit like traveling over the past couple of years of my undergraduate work, hitting on topics of communication, teamwork, group dynamics, and so much more. I found it to be incredibly interesting. To finish up the day (I played "hooky" from work today as I was a bit under the weather with a stomach virus) I listened to some of my favorite podcasts from the University of Houston in a series called "Engines of Our Ingenuity". Surprisingly, the very first one I listened to recounted a story from the "Crowds" book! What a coincidence! In an episode called "Fairness" the podcast recounted the story of a group of monkeys that had learned to engage in an exchange of pebbles for slices of cucumbers. When the researchers began rewarding certain of the monkeys with grapes, which they very much preferred over the cucumbers, the trading broke down. It seems the monkeys did not think it "fair" to exchange pebbles for cucumbers any more and preferred to not engage in trading at all rather than engage in trading that could result in less than optimal results. The book's presentation of the story made an entirely different point than that in the podcast, but the two taken together created quite the interesting view of our instincts and our sense of fairness. There is neither the time nor the room here to explain the topic in detail, but I very much enjoyed the entire discussion and tend to dwell on it even more now that it has been presented to me twice in the same day. Very interesting.

Still No Straight A's

After getting a "B" in one of my classes last semester, I really wanted to make a straight A showing this time. Although I got closer, I am still disappointingly short by just a bit. I made three "A's" and one "A-" this time. Again, with my age (47) and the fact that I work full-time, I really shouldn't be disappointed. So even though I understand why I can't seem to make a "perfect" showing, I don't like it. Here's my report card for the semester:

No Luck Fishing

We didn't have any luck with our fishing, but I thought I'd let you see the view with me anyway. (FYI: My pole is the one on the far right. It's a Garcia rig that I won in a raffle when I was at Dow Chemical. I really love my rig.)

Home for the Holidays

Yesterday was my first time to drive home in the daylight in a long time. It was a beautiful day. I passed through Alvin and was surprised to see it so busy mid-day. I waved at my sis' house when I passed by Danbury. In Brazoria, I stopped to pick up some cash at my favorite drive-through bank there and noticed several changes to the downtown area. When I passed through Wadsworth, things looked exactly the same as they have for the past year. Coming out of Wadsworth I saw several rigs carrying concrete bridge supports pulled over to the side of the road. When I passed the fourth or fifth rig, I could see the driver of the escort car and some of the rig drivers out in the grass...it looked like they were stopped to let their dogs run around a bit. I thought that a little odd, since they were almost to their destination. A few miles further and I saw that my guess was right, the big bridge being built on that little country road was really coming along. I have a guess about the bridge as well. The nuclear power plant expansion is HUGE and the amount of heavy equipment and vessels coming down that country loop will be amazing over the next few years. My guess is the bridge is being built to support that transport.

On the other side of STP ("South Texas Project", the nuclear power plant) I was going at a pretty good clip and didn't notice that the road looping into the north side of Palacios is now finished. I thought about turning back, but decided to check out the progress on my way home instead. I continued on the alternate route and it was only a few minutes more before I was back on course. Circling on the north side of Palacios back around to 35, I saw several nice size falcons. I forget about things like falcons and cow birds when I've been in the city too long. It takes a long trip on a beautiful day to remind me how much I enjoy driving the country back roads.

When I got to Carancahua, I called Leo to let him know where I was. We agreed to meet at El Patio in Port Lavaca in 15 minutes. There was a bit of traffic in Point Comfort, surprising since I usually don't see that except during Formosa's shift change. I realized I was speeding through Point Comfort, but I just couldn't help myself. When I reached the causeway, I was rewarded for the long drive with an incredible view. The water was a very bright blue with the sun shining directly overhead. I looked north, an old habit, but (of course) could not see my house. Still, I felt comforted knowing it was there waiting for me.

When I came into Port Lavaca, I decided to detour through downtown instead of hitting the traffic, and that one really long light, out on the loop. I saw that Main Street was in full swing with lots of folks strolling through the shops. I spotted a restaurant that I didn't know was there (the "Texana Grill", I think) and made a note to try it out sometime. One more right turn, and there was El Patio. Even though I haven't been there in more than a month, the waitress brought our tea and asked to make sure we wanted two #27's, the Monterrey Special. As I settled in to a nice late lunch with my sweetie, I realized that I was, indeed, home for the holidays.

Round the Clock

True to my game plan, I've started working some really long hours. However, there is not really any stress on me at the moment, so things are going well. The end of the year is generally a busy time for me as the databases, spreadsheets, and other tools I've created for customers are getting ready to "roll over" to the next year. It is a time for clean-up, fix up, update, modification, and backup. So, at this time of year I generally find myself in front of a computer for hours at a time, music cranked up and diet cokes coming in a regular stream. And contrary to what you might think, this is just like heaven to me.

"Heaven?" you say. Yup...heaven. Right up there with my all time favorite job of raking hay (something I haven't done in 20 years, by the way). When I can relax into the work (Leo says I get into the "zone"), and get to the point where solving the programming puzzles is a bit challenging and very rewarding when I solve the dilemmas, well, that's like heaven for me.

Anyway, just wanted to drop in for a minute and leave you all a message. Even though I generally leave the house at 6am and am home sometime after 9pm, I'm healthy, happy, and getting things done. P.S. I don't sign in on my own computer as often, so if you write me, it may take longer to get a response. It will probably this way until after the first of the year.

Happy Holidays!

Twleve Blessed Hours of Sleep

Yes, that's right. Although I have some work to catch up on today, I decided not to set the alarm clock. After several days of catnapping for a few hours here and there around the clock, I think I finally caught up. I slept for twelve hours straight last night. Sweet!!

We Won!!!

In May of this year, I sat in the back of a large conference room in tears. After meeting and greeting all the new members of my class, and spending a few days getting to know them, the time had come to start forming teams. Everyone began grouping up, but there I sat at the back of the room alone. It was like one of those horrible experiences in grade school where two freshly appointed team captains begin selecting members for their teams and you begin to realize that you are going to be chosen last. It is a strange feeling of having no value.

On that day a lifetime ago, I dried my eyes and began looking around the room only to discover that there were a few others that had not found a group. There was Adam, the young man that had been so funny in some of the team exercises, Ferdinand, the guy from Houston that seemed quiet at first, but had such impressive things to share when he began talking, and Angela, one of the Taiwanese students that seemed shy, but was quick to laugh and thoughtful in what she had to say. When we all noticed each other sitting "ungrouped" around the room, we began making our way to a table together. A few weeks into the semester, we were assigned a late enrollee from the online group, Pedro, a guy living in Portugal with lots of interesting ideas. This was our team...the five of us put together as randomly as any group before us. Later, we became team "Innovation 1", the five of us and our wide range of backgrounds, our interesting mix of ages and experiences, and our quirky mix of personalities. We became a team.

Tonight, we learned that we tied for first place in the class business plan competition.

F I R S T P L A C E ! ! !

We are a team, in every sense of the word now. We are often like siblings, actually, picking and teasing, arguing and laughing, struggling to establish boundaries, covering for each other, sharing and hiding, and always, always, always working together in mutual respect and admiration as we conduct our business. I am as proud as an old mother hen tonight that I am a part, an integral part, of such an impressive team of winners.

This is my team, and together we are winners.

YIPPEE!!! I am flying high tonight!!!

Frappr Tool

Just wanted to say "thanks" to everyone who has put themselves on the Frappr map at the bottom of the page. Every once in a while, Leo and I will watch it "play" and talk about who it is in Chicago, Istanbul, Mount Laurel, and more that stopped in for a visit. In case you don't know it, I experiment with a LOT of tools like that, partly out of a desire to "keep up" with technology, an partly out of a love of learning. I have too many accounts to manage effectively, a distinct disadvantage to my attempt to try out everything, but I'm going to start a list of things I've tried as a comment to this item, in case you are interested. Feel free to add your experiences to the list.

Breathing Easier

I have had so many brief interactions over the past week with people who are so very encouraging, very supportive, and very understanding, that even though the madness continues, I am breathing so much easier.

First, although my heart knows that I am never alone in what I am going through, my mind sometimes doesn't believe it. Today, after so much encouragement from others, I am "getting" it. Others have gone through times like this, others have survived stresses like mine, and finally, when I step back and look at the REALLY BIG PICTURE, the truth is, I am doing fine.

I'm home (apartment) alone this morning, sitting in class. (We are on break now.) I've gotten back several grades that let me know I am doing fine. I got all my assignments in this week, and all on time. And best of all, I got a good night's sleep last night.

Leo, on the other hand, is at home today. Although he may be putting primer on my newly sheetrocked office, I'm guessing that he and Jess are working on things "around the house" today like tractor tire fixes, vehicle tweaks, and more. I hope they get some fishing in as well. I don't mind him being gone so much as I have a weekend plan that will keep me really busy. It's only when things slow down for a few minutes that I REALLY miss him. He should be back on Monday.

I've been able to touch base (briefly) with a few of my online friends this week. I had a blog comment from Heather in South Africa (thanks Heather!), had comments and short chat with my friend Azzy in Pakistan (always kind and supportive), touched base with my young friend in Nigeria, Alison, that I haven't talked to in a long time, and a short chat with my newest young friend Paul, from Nantong, China. Add to that all my chats with my MSSTC [school] friends and my ever supportive husband, and you can see why I'm recovering from my funk.

Anyway, class is about to start again, so I gotta go, but don't worry about me, folks. I'm doing just fine now.