Chicago with the girls

When I moved back to the Houston area after college, I didn't have a whole lot of friends in the area. I was posting on a message board for Aggies and eventually met quite a few people at happy hours set up through the message board. I've become good friends with several girls I've met through the message board. I call them girls but we're all grown women with jobs and whatnot.

It's been 6 or 7 years since I met most of them and now several of them are married (or divorced and re-married). They have beautiful kids and beginning to scatter all over the country.

Most of us spend a lot less time on that original Aggie message board. We talk about things that don't necessarily need to be so public (I mean, do 5,000 people need to know that my pap smear was abnormal AGAIN?) So, we have a little private board we chat on.

One of the girls is pregnant with her second child and wanted to do a girls weekend before she was 1. too pregnant to fly 2. the mother of two beautiful babies.

We planned it pretty quickly and the dates were hard to coordinate. It ended up being only three of us but we had a blast. We had pizza at Gino's, went to Willis Tower (aka Sears Tower), saw a pirate exhibit at the Field Museum and watched the Aggies get embarrassed on national TV at the ESPN Zone.

In August I was worried about getting myself on a plane to Atlanta and by October, I had been to Atlanta and Nashville and was going on a trip to Chicago. I even navigated the train and bus to the hotel from O'Hare National Airport. What a difference three months makes.

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip:

Every time I see this one of me and the giant globe at The Field Museum, I sing "she's got the whole world in her hands." Thanks Jami!


Standing out on The Ledge at Willis Tower



Looking down


View from the skydeck


It was a great trip even though it was short. We decided to do the same thing next year. Boston is the destination!

Oh Look!

I'm the worst blogger ever!

I have been keeping busy though so as soon as I feel like typing, I actually have some stories to share.

Maybe this weekend. It's finally going to feel like fall this weekend. Sounds like a good reason to make some Butter-Nut instant hot chocolate and type up some stories for all of my adoring fans (stop laughing!)

Sometimes I wonder if I have some brain damage

I hate buying gas. I hate having to stop. I hate having to pay for it. I hate everything about it. So it's pretty amazing I haven't run out of gas since getting a car with a working gas gauge. My first car, a 1989 two-door Buick Regal, didn't have a working gas gauge so it was a guessing game. At first I could guess based on the mileage driven but after a few years the odometer stopped working. Luckily I was living in College Station and didn't do much driving.

In my Honda, the gas light comes on when the tank is 1/8 full. So, it gives me a pretty early indicator that I need to go get gas. But instead of going when it comes on, I drive with it on until I decide I should probably get gas or end up on the side of the road in 100 degree heat.

It's kind of stupid really. I know I have to get gas. But I think to myself "oh, I'll get it in the morning" and then in the morning I'm running later than I should be, I sometimes consider chancing it. It's ridiculous! It's inevitable that I'm going to run out of gas at some point. You'd think I'd be smarter than that, but I'm really not.

Some people don't know what express means

I am a neglectful blogger. I have had a post to share in my head for about 4 days and it's just not being written. Oops!

I went to the grocery store last week to pick up two things: cat food and toilet paper. I try to avoid doing much shopping at the Kroger near me because it's always busy and I hate waiting in line for an hour. Plus it's not the most inexpensive store.

It's on the way home so I ran in to get my two items and decided that the express lane with two customers in it was a better choice than the Self checkout line with 10 people in it(4 registers). In general, people are too stupid to check themselves out.

So, the lady at the front of the line has more than 10 items. I personally think that should be a felony but grocery store managers and owners do not want to piss customers off so they never tell these inconsiderate assholes that they need to get in another line. Oh, and by the way, if you have 30 jars of baby food or 100 cans of dog food, they don't count as one item.

I've already committed to this lane and getting into another one always turns out to be a very bad decision, so I just wait. I read the covers of all the magazines and learn more than I wanted to know about Jon Gosselin (From Jon & Kate Plus 8). At this point, it's been like 4 minutes. Which is an eternity once you notice the Item Limit Felon is ahead of you.

The cashier finally gets all of her stuff rung up and the the lady pulls out a wad of cash. And counts it out. Slowly. And hands it to the cashier. The cashier counts it. And then the lady has a balance. Instead of getting her other form of payment ready, the lady watches the cashier count out the stack of bills and just stands there. She finally looks for a card in her wallet when the cashier tells her the remaining total. She uses a credit card to pay the rest. ARGH!!! So now we have to wait for the receipt to print out so she can sign it.

It's a really good thing I am afraid of confrontation because this lady was about to make me homicidal!

It's now time for a grocery shopping trip and I hope for everyone's sake, that no one makes me angry tonight!

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

I am addicted to Dexter. If you've never watched the show, it's about a serial killer. Dexter Morgan works for the police department forensics department as a blood splatter expert. And he's also a serial killer. But Dexter doesn't just randomly kill people, he researches them and kills bad people. Specially people that haven't been caught or got off on a technicality.

It's a great show. I normally don't subscribe to the "all the good girls love the bad boys*" theory (hey, stop laughing. I can be a good girl. I mean, I'm definitely not a serial killer!) but for some reason I have a crush on Dexter. He fakes his way through a regular life, has a job, a girlfriend and some semi-friends. I've read the books the show is based on and they are good, but the plot lines have been changed to make it better for TV.

Anyway, I live a in a no-cable world, but even if I didn't, I wouldn't pay extra for Showtime. Especially now in the wonderful world of TV on DVD! Season 3 came out on DVD last Tuesday and I pretty much stayed up too late watching Dexter every night. The next season is starting soon, but it'll be month before it is released on DVD. It's very tempting to go online and watch them. But it's also probably a bad idea to watch one episode and have to wait a week to start the next one ... in contrast to my Dexter DVD marathons. On the other hand, I might actually go to bed before 2 a.m.

----

*On a side note, that quote makes me think of the song Bath Water by No Doubt. I like the song, it's very catchy and I like the melody. But if I sit and think about it, it makes me want to throw up. If you are curious, the lyrics are below:

You and your museum of lovers
The precious collection you've housed in your covers
My simpleness threatened by my own admission

And the bags are much too heavy
In my insecure condition
My pregnant mind is fat full with envy again

But I still love to wash in your old bathwater
Love to think that you couldn't love another
I can't help it...you're my kind of man

Wanted and adored by attractive women
Bountiful selection at your discretion
I know I'm diving into my own destruction

So why do we choose the boys that are naughty?
I don't fit in so why do you want me?
And I know I can't tame you...but I just keep trying

'Cause I love to wash in your old bathwater
Love to think that you couldn't love another
I'm on your list with all your other women
But I still love to wash in your old bathwater
You make me feel like I couldn't love another
I can't help it...you're my kind of man

Why do the good girls always want the bad boys?

So I pacify problems with kisses and cuddles
Diligently doubtful through all kinds of trouble
Then I find myself choking on all my contradictions

'Cause I still love to wash in your old bathwater
Love to think that you couldn't love another
Share a toothbrush...you're my kind of man
I still love to wash in your old bathwater
Make me feel like I couldn't love another
I can't help it...you're my kind of man

No I can't help myself
I can't help myself
I still love to wash in your old bathwater

Talkie, Talkie

My mom and I went to watch the Texans play the Saints in an exhibition game. Thank goodness it was exhibition because the Texans defense looked like crap.

But anyway, two guys who looked to be about in their forties sat next to us. And I think during the whole game, they said maybe 10 words to each other. They didn't talk about the weather, their kids or even the game. They've done studies that show women talk three times more a day than men. These guys were doing their best to bring that number down even lower.

I talk a lot. A whole lot. But even if I didn't I can't imagine spending three hours with someone and not talking. It's not like talking would interfere with watching the game. TV timeouts are long. I kind of wonder if those guys rode to the stadium together and sat in silence the whole way to Reliant.

Those are the kinds of things I think about alte at night when I'm trying to sleep.

Ramblings

I have already mentally checked out for the weekend. Next week will be a little crazy around the office. So instead of pretending to work for another two hours, I thought I'd type up some thoughts for you all to read.

I've been in a little bit of a funk lately. I don't feel bad or anything, I'm just not motivated to do much. I really need to start making a to-do list. I have several things that need to be taken care of, at home and at work, and I have just been pushing them further and further back.

My schedule is about to get a little more hectic. It's finally time for football season. The first home pre-season Texans game is tomorrow and then in two weeks, it'll be time for some trips to College Station. Hopefully the Aggies will make it a little more fun this year. If not, I'll be in the parking lot drinking excessively with some of my favorite drunks.

I'm going to Nashville next month with some friends to visit and to see the Texans play the Titans. I've never been and I'm really looking forward to it.

Another set of friends and I are talking about going on a long weekend trip somewhere. Everyone is spread out across the states so we're trying to pick a destination. Their first choice was Nashville and they want to go the weekend following my Nashville trip. Oops! So now we're tossing around some other places.

I printed out some calendars earlier this week and wrote down all the football games and trips and whatnot I have coming up. I have a blackberry with a calendar on it but there were things saved on it, some on my work outlook calendar and others I just had scribbled on a post it note. (I freaking love Post Its by the way) I am a huge fan of computers and technology but sometimes I just need to see it all out in black and white. If I get industrious (unlikely) I might put them all in the blackberry calendar. Someone informed me I can sync my BB with a google calendar. That might be a better idea. But again, that involves me actually doing it instead of talking about it.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have something funny to share. I'm meeting a friend for drinks and dinner tonight so maybe that'll improve my mood!