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Halloween at Work
If you walked into my work today you would have never known it was Halloween, except for one thing. There were no decorations, no one dressed up. There was no scary music being played, and no one played any scary pranks on someone else. But there was a random Jell-O brain on the table in the kitchen… Hmm…
I owned up to the brain, cause I was proud of it! Everyone loved it, and it inspired conversations all day. We had to look up brain anatomy to make sure we knew what was what. But no one would eat it! I told everyone it was peach Jello-O, nothing bad! Around lunch time, my boss smeared strawberry jelly at the base – which made it even worse! Eventually I cut a piece off and ate it – that broke the ice and pretty quickly it was a half eaten brain with a fork stabbed into it (I may have done that….!) I am glad I could spread some Halloween cheer on my floor! =)
The picture makes the brain look black, but all I had was my camera phone – the colors aren’t always the best!
Working Mom
This is what my husband does to my poor dog while I am at work. No I don’t know why he buried her in pillows, but she let him take about 20 pictures. He said when she finally got out, she backed out. Weirdos – both of them are weirdos.
Water Dogs
Brittney and I took Eliza to the dog park yesterday – which she seemed to have a blast. It only took her about 5 tries to remember how to swim this time. She’s getting smarter! But Matt brought Natalie down and we promised the girls a trip to the ocean if Matt got down soon enough. He did, but Brittney and I had time to make jam! I tried mine and it is awesome – a mix of peach and raspberries! Yum!
Anyhow, Matt got down in time for a late lunch. Brittney ate with us, and then headed back to Dallas. With plenty of time left, we loaded the girls up and headed to the beach. Natalie slept most of the way there, while Eliza tried to crawl in the front seat every 2 minutes or so. She would wait until we had let down our guard then POUNCE!
We finally get to Galveston and the girls perk up instantly! We drive around for a bit, looking for the free way to the beach. We had to turn around several times because of flooded roads, and got mauled by mosquitoes if we stopped moving. Yuck! We finally make it, and the girls take off toward the water as soon as we let them off the leash.
They had a blast. They like the dog park, but they LOVE the ocean! If we throw the ball, they jump in the water and jump some crazy waves. If we don’t throw the ball – they do the same thing! There was hardly anyone there so the girls got close to free reign of the beach. The weather was great – we stayed until it started getting too dark.
Me taking a break from throwing the ball:
Eliza, tired of chasing Natalie in the water - decides to pounce on her instead! She even crouched down in the water one time. =)
When we decided to leave, we had to walk over a grassy hill to get back to the car. That’s when the mosquitoes hiding out decided to attack! We ran for our dear lives and tried to throw the dogs in the car and get out of there as soon as possible. Even so, I think I got bit at least 4 times. Know how many times Matt got bit? None! How is that fair?
Halloween Hijinks
Brittney came down to Houston so I didn’t have to go to the Halloween Party by myself – what a good friend! We had been racking our brains to think of a cool costume idea we could do together. I loved the Thing 1, Thing 2 costumes, but Brittney didn’t even know what they were! Unbelievable! Brittney’s only request was that the costume be cheap, because she was broke – this led to my idea to make the costumes. I really wanted to be something scary, which is when the perfect idea dawned on me: Spinach and E.Coli! It is an up-to-date, clever and totally cheap idea! I was so afraid Brittney wouldn’t like the idea, but she was up for it – a good thing since I didn’t want to be E. Coli! We made the costumes that day, and everyone at the party really liked them. There was some confusion at first because our labels were on the back of our shirts, so we turned them around.
It was a pot-luck party, so we decided to make scary desserts to take to the party. I found the ideas on the food network videos, and basically winged it on how to actually make them. Brittney did most of the cupcake decorating, as I kinda sucked at it. I tried to finish of the batch while she was getting ready but my creativity doesn’t extend to cupcakes, just costumes!
There were the NutterButter Ghosts – which were the cookies dipped into white almond bark (a first for me). Then I drew scary (mostly) faces on the ghosts. The black icing was a pain, but I preserved anyway!
Then there were the Spider Oreos! We scraped the filling out of the Oreos, then filled them with icing so they were more triangular shaped. Then red hots for eyes and chow mein for legs. This guy had the longest leg ever, it may not look that funny to you, but it had us laughing our butts off… we may have been on a sugar high at that point…
There were also the cupcakes, and the Jell-O brains. The brains were totally awesome – I bought a brain mold for absolutely no reason except it was cool a few months ago. I got to use it, and they were a total hit! They aren’t see through because you put evaporated milk in them, and the gray one has some extra food coloring in it.
The party was awesome. The hosts have an empty garage apartment and they went all out and turned it into a scary haunted house! Tandis took us up there and showed us where everyone would be, but it was still scary. They had people in costume, with different themed rooms. There was one room where you walk in a there is a static-y TV in the corner. Then a girl dressed like the girl from the room crawls in behind you and grabs you. Brittney was trying to shove us through this room because she was in the back. Brittney got freaked out (as did I) and started laughing to keep the “scared” at bay. This made me start laughing, and we laughed and screamed our way through. I told her if we didn’t stop laughing I would throw up. Ooooh man it was rough. But it was the best Halloween party ever!
Bowling Gear
I came home today to see that my beloved dog destroyed another pair of shoes. She and I have both been really good about not leaving shoes out and not destroying the ones left out. But today I slipped - I made a last second outfit change and dropped the heels somewhere (I think by the door). I come home to find heels that have now been chewed. *sigh* I scare her without touching her again, and she cuddles by my feet in an apology for a long time. I finally tell her I love her anyway and give her my leftover spaghetti. It's a mystery as to who will learn sooner, me or the dog? (Miss Stinky also got a bath after I got home from bowling, the wet dog smell will go away when she dries, and I will have my nice smelling dog back!)
Bowling night was also tonight! In honor of that, I will show you my nice bowling gear. The ball is new and shiny, so it was a bit hard to get a picture of. It's an eleven pound Columbia ball with finger and thumb holes perfectly drilled for me. The first night with it wasn't great, but I think that has to do with me bowling last night as well. I still managed to bowl two games above average, so it wasn't horrible. I think it might take a little time to get used to the new ball.
I know you are all green with envy about my cool, glittery, purple, white and green ball! The "JEN" was whiter before I bowled with it... so hard to keep things nice these days!
State Fair Food!
We went to the fair this weekend - Matt, Brittney and I. We got there so early for us - 11 am. The place is virtually empty at that time - I have never seen so few people in the food court. Anyhow, we started early with my fair favorite - a roast turkey leg with tamales on the side. This was only the first of about 17 different foods. =)
There were really too many for the blog, so I made another page for all the food! State Fair 2006!
Other than the food, it was really cool. The weather was great and with three of us splitting everything, the guaranteed stomach ache took a long time to show up. We didn't ride any rides - we almost rode the ferris wheel, but it got too cold and we wussed out. I cannot wait for the fair next year! Who knows what fried goodness they will come up with in a year?
Stitching Fun!
I finally got into work around 11, after dropping everyone off at their cars and coming home to shower. My boss was surprised I actually made it in at all. I was so tired, that I decided mindless tasks would probably be the best for the day. I declined a lunch meeting because the odds of staying awake were worse than slim. My feet hurt, my back ached, I felt like an old woman just from sleeping on concrete for 5 hours!
I had planned on going to a knitting group tonight. But I was so tired. I finally left work at 4 with the intention of going home to take a nap, then maybe going out to knit. I napped reasonably well – probably because I tied a bandanna around my eyes to block all forms of light. I got up not feeling 100%, but decided to go knit anyways.
I got there right when it was supposed to start, but couldn’t find the other knitters. I went and sat outside until I spotted someone I knew was carrying a knitting bag. Good thing I peruse everything knitting at craft stores! There were about six of us at first and we all did introductions. There were three people that it was their second time, but I was the only first timer! I told them I came because I had found Staci’s website and she had invited me. Apparently we all have websites – which means I have more websites to go check out.
Needless to say it was a great time! I started stitching the wrong way (like I did before) at first because I wasn’t paying attention. I very carefully un-stitched it and started over. Then I did something that caused a giant hole to appear. That’s when I asked for help – I mean I was surrounded by experts. No one is exactly sure what I did, but someone managed to fix it. It was my first big ‘drop’ and they showed me how to fix it – thank goodness I wasn’t home alone. Eventually I had to call it quits because it is a bit of a drive away. But I really liked it and will probably be going back. Watch out world, I might have a social life after all! =)
Trip to Midland
Went on a work trip to Midland Tuesday and Wednesday to see how a seismic survey is conducted. The last month I spent learning how to plan one, and this was our chance to see one in action. I know Midland doesn’t sound like an exciting place (it isn’t) but it was cool to finally get back in the field after being away for so long! We arrived and the seismic company had people there to meet us and take us to dinner. The actual survey was in Pecos, so we drove to the motel after dinner and planned what time to meet in the morning.
Well the morning was cold! The cold front swept through Midland a day earlier than Houston. I checked the weather channel and after more than one person said 50 degrees, I threw my sweat jacket on. There was one other guy, Martin, who had the same issues with cold that I do, but he’s got the excuse of being from a warmer country. I still say being Texan exempts you from having to tolerate cold weather. This is me in my required PPE (personal protective equipment), the sweatshirt was my own version of PPE to keep from freezing.
The first part of the day was spent looking at their ‘camp’ and all the equipment they have. My favorite part was where they charged the batteries – the warmest place in camp! The worst? The computing center, were it was air conditioned to a balmy 50 degrees! The most striking thing was the amount of equipment that had been damaged. Apparently they are having a huge problem with rats chewing through the cables. The cables don’t shock the rats, so the rats keep tearing them apart! This is a pile of equipment damaged by animals. They usually have a four line spread, and were down to two lines because of the damage.
After lunch we went out to the active survey where we got to see the geophones in the ground and all of the associated cabling. We got to stop by the QC (quality control) truck and then the best part, we got to see the Vibroseis (vibrator trucks). They weren’t actively vibing, but they were moving across the survey, so they plotted the line to move past us. While they were passing by, two of them stopped to give a demonstration of the vibing. The weren’t quite in sync like they would usually be, but it was still quite impressive. Really loud, and a really great foot massage from the earth vibrating. Walk away 200 feet and you probably wouldn’t feel it, but we were 20 foot away. So cool!
Anyhow, we had to leave the field sooner than most of us would have liked, but we had a plane to catch. We made a quick stop for Dairy Queen on the way back – but made it to the airport with an hour left. Perfect!
Later that Day:
So apparently the foul weather in Houston delayed our flight. There was supposed to be a group flying in to replace us, but their plane hadn’t left yet. Our departure time was originally 5:30, but now said 7:30. Ok… Then 8:30. Then 9:30. I think it was at this point I bought a trashy celebrity gossip magazine and Popular Science (I think that describes me pretty well actually!) The gossip magazine got passed around quite a bit since, none of us were going anywhere fast!
The airline was not being very helpful – they wouldn’t tell us anything. We finally decided to get food at 7:55, which was fortunate since the food place shut down at 8:00. Around 8:30 they finally announce our flight is cancelled. GREAT! We rush downstairs to the Continental counter to get our tickets set for the morning. But since we made a group reservation the earliest they could get us out was Saturday morning. They wouldn’t even put us up for the night because it was a weather related delay. We basically told them to take their ticket and stuff it (not in those exact words). We went over to the Southwest counter and bought tickets there instead. (And they don’t use those crappy Embraier Jets anyway! Yay!)
It was at this point we realize that we are in serious trouble. There is an oil convention in town and hotels are pretty much jam packed. After some careful thought and a few phone calls, we had two options. Go to the Hilton for 6 hours at the low cost of $230 or sleep in the airport. Even though the company was paying for it, 7 of the 10 of us opted to stay in the airport. That price was just ridiculous!
Once the Southwest people realized we were staying, they got us a ton of pillows and blankets (the dinky ones you get onboard). That was nice enough, but then they dug out a treasure trove of drinks and snacks to sustain us through the night. They were the nicest people ever! The security guard told us the best place to sleep, and offered to drive us over to the truck stop nearby for a shower if we wanted to!
Well we all reclaimed our luggage and ‘beds’ for the night. I was actually kind of excited; I have never slept in the airport overnight before. Of course the chairs all had low armrests that made it impossible to sleep on, so we stuck to the floor. I think I finally tucked in around 11.
It was quite possibly the worst night of sleep ever! My frame is not meant to sleep on concrete. If I was on one side for more than 5 minutes, my bone would be yelling at me that it was touching concrete! Trying convincing your elbow that concrete is comfy, the kneecaps complained even more. Halfway through the night I got up and got more blankets because I was freezing. Needless to say, it was a rough night. We were up at 5 and checking in. We finally took off at 6:30, landed at 8:00. We had to take a shuttle back to the airport where our cars where – Southwest doesn’t fly into that airport.
I don’t think I have ever been so happy to be back in Houston.
When Daddy Comes to Town, The Rain Comes Down
Matt's in town for his weekend. We mostly bummed around on Sunday - I took him to the seafood restaurant that is shaped like a boat, went to the mall, and then made spaghetti and watched Battlestar Galactica. Then we went to bed way too late. This is Matt about 6 hours after he told me he would get up with me in the morning (those dogs are traitors!):
After meeting me for lunch, he decided to take the dogs to the dog park. It's been raining pretty much all day (and yesterday), the roads into work were a bit flooded - I had to drive in the suicide lane (turn lane) for quite a ways. Traffic going the other way had one lane open, so it was a bit scary. Needless to say the dog park was a little flooded. Keep in mind that this is the same dog park as the blog on Saturday...
That's the same fire hydrant as the picture from Saturday. Looks a little different than 2 days before, huh?
Natalie is in the pond swimming, while Eliza is not - hard to tell where the pond is.
As you might be able to tell by their faces, they both had so much fun! They are both passed out on the floor of the living room - though they both smell pretty bad. Those dogs need baths!
My Painting!
I finished it! It's a silhouette of Natalie - the easier dog to draw. =) Anyhow I forgot that oil paints don't really dry, so I have to go to Hobby Lobby and buy something to make it dry. That store is going to make me go broke!
New Boots!
I got new boots! I've been needing a new pair for awhile, the old ones have gone to the field a few too many times. These new ones have Vibram soles (important!) and full leather. They look long because my feet are huge! Since I need the boots for a trip next week, I think I get partially reimbursed for them - thus the requirement for Vibram soles. I can't wait to break them in! (They are Montrails since someone asked!)
I'm also working on an art project - which I have not done in forever. I can't believe I haven't painted anything in so long and I was considering being an art major. So I'm painting something simple. Plus there is a Law & Order SVU marathon on TV. This is an awesome Saturday night for bumming around the house!
Dog Park
I promised Eliza yesterday that I would take her to the dog park. She seemed so bored that I decided I should be a good mom and take her to go play. The dog park is a bit of a drive away, but it's not so bad on a Saturday. She let me sleep in until almost 10, though she did jump on me a few times before that. I calmed her down by mumbling dog park and fumbling around trying to pat her head. I ate breakfast and got dressed, then pretended to leave without her. We eventually got on the road to the dog park. It was actually nice enough to drive with the windows down!
Well we get there and she freaks out as usual. It seems like every time we go to the dog park she has forgotten she can swim. It takes at least a half hour before she finally remembers, Hey! I can swim for the ball instead of whining pathetically at it!
One of the coolest things about dog parks are all the different personalities of the dogs there. (The people are interesting too, but not the focal point.) There was a smaller version of Eliza that barks just as much as she does - so embarassing! There is a pit mix named Bella who keeps getting into fights - but is the best ball fetcher ever. Eliza would get it close to shore then drop it. Bella would go get it (I was sure there would be a fight) and then bring it back to shore and drop it right away. How sweet! The biggest instigator was this little bitty Corgi who was chasing and nipping at all the big dogs. See the arrow:
There were two dogs that had the desire only to chase each other around - for hours. This of course led to other dogs chasing them around. There were packs of wet, wild dogs running all over the place. These dogs were like Moses parting the red sea - people parted and let them through. Every now and then you would get bumped by a mangy mutt - part of the price of being at a dog park. Fortunately there is plenty of room for these dogs to run around - I'm betting that alot of these dogs (mine included) don't have a yard to run around in.
Anyhow, the dog park is really nice. There are large fields and two large, man-made ponds for the dogs to swim in. This was Eliza's 4th or 5th visit and she was worn out by the time we left. I can usually tell when she's ready to leave because she stands by me and doesn't chase after dogs running by. I try to make her stay out of the water as long as possible before we leave so my car won't smell like wet dog. I do carry along a blanket for the seat anyway. Here is Eliza about 5 minutes into the drive home:
I think she had fun!
Snakes under the sidewalk!!
I get home after work, change out of work clothes, then walk Eliza. She will wait no longer than this before she tries to convince me to take her for a walk (convince = jumping with claws). Well today we do the usual loop. She goes pee right outside the apartment. We go get the mail, then a few minutes later she will stop and do #2.
Today we walked a big loop and went by the playground. There were a lot of kids playing on the playground and they all wanted to pet Eliza. I had stopped so she could pee again – when I turned around there were about 10 faces standing there staring at us. She was being more shy than usual, so there was not much petting involved – mostly her hiding from harmless kiddos.
Well we round the walkway to my apartment and there are three kids standing there staring at something. When I get close they start freaking out and telling me there are snakes under the sidewalk. Eliza doesn’t take this news well and starts barking at them – ok that might not have been the reason. Either way I take her upstairs then come back to check out the snakes.
The boys saw two snakes hiding in holes under the sidewalk so they covered them with the grates from the barbeque grills. Ok, I decide to call the apartment and ask if they have a snake policy. The girl who answers the phone freaks out about snakes. I ask if they usually do anything and she says she will send the maintenance guy over. I try to keep the boys from moving the grills, but they are boys. So the first snake that slithers out is an unusual kind of snake – it’s a frog.
This makes the declaration of snakes a little suspect. I try to see in the holes but it’s pretty dark. I finally move the grate and wait to see what pops out. Eventually we see the snake! I mean another frog. Yeah total false alarm and this frog has probably been jabbed with sticks for the past 5 minutes. Poor guy. I call the girl back and she actually says “Girl why would you scare me like that? Snakes!” I tell her it wasn’t really me, but we do have a good laugh over it. I think I feel sorrier for the poor frog (really a toad) than anyone. I bet he is still hiding under the sidewalk!
Fun New Web Toy!
I can see why I married Matt:
What I'm not sure of is why he married me...
Though Prince Harry is cute, and Eva Longoria is hot too... 2 out of 5 ain't too bad... =(
So Matt apparently did not like his orignal celebrities, so I was a nice wife and ran it again and again... Everyone tells him he looks like Mark Whalberg, but I couldn't ever get him to come up. But for some reason John Ritterer showed up almost every time. I had guys show up on mine everytime, so I just left the first one. I am not deleting anything that says I look like Eva Longoria. You guys should try it, it's quite addictive!
Recruiting For The XX
I got my job last year going through the AAPG EXPO in Houston. It’s a place for people to go if companies don’t recruit at their school. I went there last year and took Rachael and Sarah along to try and get them to find internships too. It was a really awesome event, and I ended up with a lot of interviews and eventually several offers. Don’t think it was a walk in the park – it was quite possibly the most stressful day in my life up to that point (MS defense was after!). I was walking around trying to convince these recruiters to give me an interview – try selling yourself to a complete stranger in a minute sometime!
The point is though, it worked. Ever since then I have encouraged everyone I know to go. Also since then I sat through on the other side of the interview process – albeit for Ambassadors, but still. I found out I was the Simon Cowell of the interview process. I demanded greatness in my candidates – so if I liked someone, it was a pretty sure thing that they were going to get it! =)
I managed to get to go to the EXPO this year as a XOM recruiter. I was on the other side of the booth and the experience was totally different. I found out that yes, people do avoid eye contact for a reason! I was hounded by people wanted an interview – which I understand, but man some people were persistent! We had filled all of our morning interview slots ahead of time, so we had to fill up the afternoon with the people who stopped by or people who had cool posters.
It is unreal. You can recommend a person for an interview and they pretty much will get it. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t picking anyone for a job, they had to convince the interviewers that they were worth a job at XOM. But these people come up and hand you their resume. Some people really impress you, you like them right away, you check their resume and then you say, “Hey! I think we should give them a slot!” Other people didn’t wow you. Mostly these were people who seemed like they could care less. At some point in the game, the people with the enthusiasm were the ones who got past us. We are like the bouncers at a club – we want happy people in the club, we don’t want people who aren’t going to have fun!
At the end we had a wrap up session and went through which ones of the candidates they thought we should go after. It ended up that their favorite people were students the booth people had recommended. One of my picks made it into the top list – which made me happy. Next step for these people are a site visit and potential offer. Listening to it made me think about when I interviewed. What did I do right that so many of these people did wrong? I really liked the person who interviewed me, and maybe that is a big part of it.
Turns out the guy in charge was handing out the interview “scorecards” from the year before as a guideline for this year’s interview. He said he ran across my paper and thought it might be a bad idea to include that one. So he’s seen it, and I really want to. I want to know what my interviewer said about me! Maybe 20 years from now they will show it to me and we can all have a good laugh. Apparently a VP at our company found his sheet when the person who hired them retired. What did this jewel of a person have on their sheet?
“Might be worth taking a chance on”
Surprise Party
Needless to say we pulled the party off without a hitch and Brittney was soooo surprised! I won’t say much about the party, but it was fun. If you are ever celebrating someone’s 21st birthday, watch them try to hit piñata blindfolded – it is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Us at the party – we look so dolled up because the lie we told Brittney was that it was a girl’s night out and we were going out – her idea! Want more details? Check her blog, she might write about the more sordid details… =)
$16 Car Wash
My car looks super nice when it is clean. It is a night and day difference between the two. It’s almost like getting a new car every time it is cleaned! But I have a pretty bad habit of going way too long between car washes. These days I blame it on the drive to Dallas – why would you wash your car when it is going to get filthy again as soon as you want to see your husband? So I procrastinate.
But this weekend I knew I was going to be the DD for a surprise party for someone, and I didn’t want anybody riding in the car when it had that funky smell and filth all over. I am fervently against paying someone else to wash my car (unless it comes with the oil change!), so I would do it myself. I went to the store and bought Armor All and some stuff for the seats so they wouldn’t smell like dog. I had to use the debit card to get cash to get quarters… this also required a trip to Sonic to break the 20 into manageable bills.
Well the coin changer refused to change the 10, so I had to change the 5 and 2 ones. Part of the fun of washing the car at a coin wash is trying to see how fast you can get it done! I rinsed, spray soaped, tire sprayed, brush soaped, rinsed, and spot free rinse in record time! I finished in $3.25! So I decided to splurge and buy $2 worth of cheap towels to dry the car off. I head over to the vacuum cleaner. I get all the trash out and see that it costs 75 cents. Then I remember I left 3 quarters sitting by the car wash where I had stacked them by the coin slot. I run back, almost killing myself on wet pavement in the process (note to self – don’t wash car in flip-flops).
I vacuum the car at amazing speeds, finishing with just those three quarters. I am getting back in the car to drive back and I realize my 10 is missing. I look everywhere, check my wallet and my pockets – it is gone! I look over at the vacuum with a sinking feeling… My wonderfully amazing $6 car wash has just jumped to $16. I am totally bummed, but realize that above all, it is pretty funny. I head back to the apartment, where Eliza helps me to wash the windows and use the Armor All on the dash. I am convinced I will find the 10, but I never do.
The next day at work I tell my friends about my car wash. I tell the story entertainingly enough that people laugh at the loss of my 10. The poor 10, stuck in the vacuum – headed for the dump where it will rot away and never buy things at Ann Taylor.
As I am headed home to Dallas today, I go to put my new book CD I rented in the CD player. I start sticking the old CD’s in the CD book when I run across something unexpected… $10!!!!! I am so much smarter than I give myself credit for. I put it in a safe place, I just forgot where! Thanks for the genetics! Now Ann Taylor will get her $10 after all!
Ed Note: Rained! My car is filthy again. Though the rain did NOT remove the smear of bird doo doo going down the side of my car!
Baubles!
I didn't really say much about my trip to Lafayette yet, I quietly posted the photos of the trip, but that's all. Well it was an awesome trip! I ended up calf deep in mud, mud under every perfectly painted toenail and the most bizarre sunburn ever. Makes it a good trip in my book! We got to visit a modern delta and core through a delta bar. OUr boat driver jumped in near the bar to pull the boat up and got stuck knee deep in mud. The rest of us tried jumping off elsewhere but went in barefoot just in case. I was not brave enough to take pictures, so I don't have any of the Virba-core.
But the best part was the people I met. I didn't know anybody when I showed up, but managed to barely know enough people to get by the first day. I ran into a fellow Dallas Geological Society member at the airport. He arrived on a much earlier flight, but they lost his luggage, so he was still there when I arrived. We shared a taxi with another guy - a professor in Alabama - to register for the convention SUnday night. There we met a guy, Steve who saved us from having to take the "World's Scariest Cab" back to the hotel. He also offered to give me a ride in the morning to the field trip.
At the field trip I ran into an old co-worker, John, who had moved to Oklahoma to work for an oil company (Chesapeake) there. This led to meeting his co-workers who where more than willing to let me bum around with them. There were even a few of my own co-workers there. I ended up hanging out with the Chesapeake guys and Steve the most. It was really awesome having someone to go sit with or bum rides from in a city where I didn't know anyone! One of the Chesapeake guys was Sherman.
Sherman, apart from his talent at grabbing all the free goodies as possible, was one of the nicest guys I have met (sorry John!). Sherman has two sons - both close to my age. One son, Daniel, is a glass artist. I of course jumped on this, because as some of you may know - I was almost an art major. He tells me about his son's art and tells me he'll send me some. Awesome! Of course, I figure he will probably forget, it was late and people sometime say stuff they don't mean. I understand.
But he didn't forget. He emailed me and got my address, and then today I got a package in the mail. I was so excited to see what it looked like, and I was impressed! There were two necklaces, one small and one larger. They are some of the nicest glasswork I have seen. It was even better because my "buy pendants at geology conventions" rule had been broken by the slim offerings at GCAGS. Anyways, I am so happy with my necklaces and as soon as Daniel gets a website, I will be posting a link because everyone should have one!
The front of the necklaces, coke tabe for scale (such a good geologist!). It was a bit hard to get a picture of them without any reflection, but this shows their beauty off pretty well I think:
The back of the necklaces - just as cool as the front!
Thanks again, Sherman & Daniel! I will wear them and show them off to everyone!
Weekend in Dallas
Exciting weekend back home! Mom had to drive me back home a day early because we had potential renters for the house and we needed to empty it out quick! The drive back was not too bad, it gave mom and I the time to chat. It was pretty late when we got back to Dallas and Matt texted me that he was at the Waffle House. This was great - mom was staying with Heather - so she could save herself a good 40 minutes of driving. When we're pulling in to the WH, I express my hope that he isn't in the Corvette because my laundry and luggage might not fit. Yeah spoke too soon - he had the motorcycle! Nice...
Well mom drives me all the way home now. My dog is so happy to see me that she is jumping, barking, and generally throwing a fit. Yay she missed me! We actually didn't get much cleaning done that night because I have a bad habit of falling asleep when I lay down - even if it is the air mattress that goes flat in 30 minutes.
The next day we get to work! The renters were coming by to sign the lease, so we were trying to get rid of as much as we could. We sent a truckload of stuff to Matt's brothers, and vaccuumed as much as we could. The guy finally showed up, showed his father-in-law the house and then signed the lease. Sweet! I'm not sure if he was smiling because of the new rent house or because his wife had a baby the night before - your guess is as good as mine... Anyhow, after he left Matt and I took the memorable step of removing the For Rent sign
That night we plans to go to the Live concert at the Lakewood Theater, a 50's theater that has been redone in an awesome retro theme. It was a pretty small venue for such an awesome band.
The line was absolutely ridiculous and we were afraid that there would be too many people. Turns out they were checking everyone's ID to put the proper wrist band on those of age. We finally got to the doors about 15 minutes after we got in line - seriously the thing was around the next block!
This was my second live concert and I was amazed at how long the lead singer managed to keep his shirt buttoned, then actually on. He only took the shirt off near the very end. I tell you I have never seen a guy love taking his shirt off as much as Ed! The concert was really good, they didn't play much of their new stuff - which according to Matt isn't any good - but they did play some old good favorites. As ironic as it may sound, Live is an awesome live band!
I know the pictures aren't great, but the camera phone doesn't work too well in low light...
After less than 4 hours sleep we managed to empty out and clean the house before the renter picked up his keys. It was so hectic, but we had everything done at 9, right when he said he would be there. We left when we got the check and then went to our new Dallas home - Oscar's house. I think we managed to stay up for another 30 minutes before we went back to bed for a nap! After a late lunch, we put all of Matt's stuff in his room and then loaded up the truck and trailer to go to Houston. We ended up detouring to the in-laws for a bit longer than scheduled, so I didn't get much sleep. Surprising, I know! But safely back in Houston now, with a Washer and Dryer!!!! FINALLY!!!
And a photo of my nephew - it's a bit hard to see, but he's got one of his toenails on his tongue - photo taken at the restaurant... Hilariously disgusting!
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