Music of the Night

Random, but I've been thinking today about one of my favorite all-time moments on American Idol. David Cook was our fave that season (2008). He had made a name for himself at this point, taking songs and putting new spins on them. Most of all, he was a rock guy. When it was musical theater night, we were certain he was going to do something amazing and rock out a famous musical song.

Instead, he did this:



Dude. We were SO shocked and impressed!!

(Even wrote a little note about it on the old blog.)

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Four-Day Corpus Weekend

Back from Corpus Christi! Cathy and I decided to take off a couple of days to just hang out and relax. She hadn't been then since she was little. It was absolutely gorgeous weather!

Everyone there was so nice, from the "surfers" who looked more like the guys from Duck Dynasty, to the hotel bartender who searched the kitchen to hunt down two chocolate chip cookies for us. Sweet!

Here's the view of the Lexington from our room. We spent quite a lot of our time out on the balcony, people-watching and chatting.

I think everything comes into the Port of Corpus Christi on a barge. There were endless lines of them.

After the barges passed in the morning, sailboats aplenty dotted the horizon.

The marina is across the street. We walked around there early in the morning. These shrimpers came in with a flock of pelicans. I don't think in all the years I've lived near the ocean, I've ever seen this many pelicans together. It's scary when they are flying around your head, 'cuz those suckers are huge.

One of a few Voyage solar system displays in the U.S. is along the Corpus Christi seawall. (Washington DC has one as well.) I should have taken a photo of the one planet- I think it was Saturn- that says on the plaque something like it is so large in diameter at its equator, compared to the pole-to-pole diameter, that it takes like 1.5 times the amount of time to make one revolution at the equator as it does to make one revolution near the poles.

Um. Mmmmmmmkaaaay.

I spent the rest of the weekend, several beers and a pallet of cocktail napkins trying to figure out how all points on a planet, no matter the planet's shape or how distant the point from a pole, wouldn't revolve at the same exact rate. Not possible. I must make a trip back to see exactly what it says again.

Anyhoo... I've never taken the tour of the USS Lexington or any aircraft carrier. It is SUPERCOOL.

You have to be in shape to take this thing on. It's three football fields long and fifty-three decks tall. (OK, I'm sorta exaggerating there, but if you go, you'll agree it's a good estimate.) There are countless ladder-like stairwells that, strangely enough, are much harder to go down than up. Similar to the USS Cavalla submarine in Galveston, you are in tight quarters most of the time and you have to step over all the watertight doorways.

There is so much to see and touch at the Lexington. Very interesting site. They do a haunted ship tour, which I think would be fun and scary as all get-out. If you're going to do a touristy activity, this is it.

This is just a silly moment at a Halloween store in which we found ourselves. Cathy is displaying the costume she dubbed "Superwhore." Too risque for the company Halloween party? (We laughed way too long about that.)

At some point we figured out we were in a perfect spot at the hotel to throw Mardi Gras beads. If it were March. And Corpus had Mardi Gras. We wanted to find some and toss them anyway and pictured people looking up and being all "WTF?!" as they were pelted.

That giant tour bus? 99% sure it belongs to Foreigner, who were playing the American Bank Center three blocks down Shoreline Blvd. from the hotel. We were pretty psyched about seeing them pull in, but wouldn't know them by sight if we were standing in an elevator with them. I couldn't get "Cold as Ice" out of my head the rest of the night.

They checked in and immediately took off for the arena.

One last view of the Corpus Christi Marina! 'Twas a beautiful and fun weekend!

ETA: Corpus does have Mardi Gras! Barefoot Mardi Gras- March 1, 2014. Be there or be ellipsoid with a unique equatorial deviation resulting in a violation of the basic laws of physics!

Also ETA: WHOOP! Aggies beat Vandy!

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Sad Football Weekend

About the macaroni and cheese I served with dinner, Lauren just said, "It's better than Kraft macaroni and cheese. That stuff tastes bland... like my childhood." Ahahahaaa! "Wait. I mean... it tastes bland and it also tastes like my childhood."

No no. Don't dig a hole there. Hehe.

We were heartbroken about the loss to Auburn on Saturday. I did have a couple of ah-ha moments though:

1) Our defense is made up of tiny guys (relatively, of course). The Auburn offense either carried our players for several yards or simply flicked a defender out of the way on several occasions. Our defenders are mostly freshmen and also probably recruited at the tail end of the Big 12 days, where as a conference, the players are smaller. Our guys will be bigger and more experienced next year.  We'll also continue bringing in our newly recruited "corn-fed SEC boys" as Angel calls them, over time.

2) Interceptions are an expected cost of the "big play" Aggie offense. Our offense (one of the best in the NCAA) makes HUGE plays. Johnny passes into six defenders and one of our exceptional receivers comes up with the amazing catch. They do it all afternoon and everyone friggin' loves it. Every now and then, one of those passes is going to be tipped or go into a defender's hands. Fabulous plays outnumber interceptions 25 to 1. It's a statistical expectation. All of Johnny's stats are better than last year, except for interceptions, so there ya' go.

Again I heard several AU fans (including my friend Stephanie) commenting about the ever gracious Aggie fans. So awesome!

In related news, we may actually get our season tickets for 2015 after all. We're not happy with the process or the possible fix, but we'll see what happens!

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Pictionary Gone Bad

Bum Phillips- coolest coach ever. RIP, Coach.


We did a wine and dessert game night last night. Bruce made homemade eclairs, people. Homemade. Eclairs.

I brought the wine. Just sayin'.

We were playing Pictionary on a giant Post-It pad (perfect for Pictionary!) and at some point, Susan was trying to draw "adopt" (WHAT? seriously...). She drew all these stick figures with stick figure children and a bunch of arrows and no one ever got it.

When we found out what it was, Scott said she should have drawn China. Susan said that would be too hard. He said then she could have drawn a Chinese child being adopted.

Um. And how exactly would one do that?

While we were groaning and laughing and hastily stopping all conversation before it went any further, Scott said, "Betcha didn't know it was... So hey! Why don't you guys come on over tonight for Racist Pictionary!" Ahaha.

The only funnier moment was Bruce drawing "wolf." I should have taken a PHOTO...duh. It was a mystery animal with a claw (big teeth) as a head and a tiny stick figure with a giant handbag (Little Red Riding Hood and her basket). We were all literally rolling around the living room laughing. Good times.


Saturday 9: Come to My Window
Melissa Etheridge is a breast cancer survivor and October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please spread the word about early detection.

1) This song is about a woman passionate about love and willing to pursue it, no matter what "they say." Are you fearless when it comes to public opinion? Or do you worry about what "they" think of you?
It totally depends on the situation. Most of the time, if the people in my life told me by overwhelming majority that something I'm doing isn't right/good for me/good for someone else/etc. I would listen to them. That's a natural part of life and living in social groups. When there is something they don't know or understand about the situation or I feel strongly enough about it, I've gone against public opinion at times.

2) Melissa's father was a high school teacher. Tell us about a teacher who had an impact on you.
Dr. Ayoub was a highly respected electrical engineering prof at A&M. The only time I've ever not been able to grasp an entire area of science, I earned a flat out F (not anywhere near a 59) in his Circuit Theory class. I went to his office near the end of the semester to ask him if he would consider giving me extra credit or letting me retake an exam or something... ANYTHING to avoid having an F on my transcript.

In the dramatic time I spent in his office (there were a couple of tears), I explained that I knew he didn't know me (it was a class of 250), but I had never gotten grades below B and I was on scholarship and this would ruin my college GPA and besmirch my transcript and I just had no idea how I wasn't picking this material up over an entire semester, especially with after-class study sessions and Jeff and his EE buddies tutoring me on the side.

He listened patiently to my rambling and then calmly said (he was Egyptian), "American students worry too much about grades. Have you learned anything in my class this semester?"

I said I had.

"Then you won't get an F in this class."

That was it.

And he gave me a D. I honestly didn't think he would remember our conversation when grades were posted, but he came through on his word and I learned to worry a little less about my grades.
 
3) Melissa won a Grammy for this song. If you won a major award, where would you display it?
I wouldn't want my award to be on a pedestal in the foyer or atop the living room mantel for everyone who enters the house to admire. I would keep it in my office.

4) Which TV game show do you think you'd do better on -- The Price Is Right or Wheel of Fortune?
Wheel of Fortune

5) Are you neat and organized?
In most areas of my life, yes.

6) When was the last time you went more than a day without washing your hair?
Up until about twenty years ago, when I had sixteen tons of hair, I could only wash it twice a week or it would get really dried out.

7) When you eat Chinese food, do you use chopsticks or a fork?
I use a fork for Chinese food and chopsticks for Japanese food and sushi. There's more peer pressure at a Japanese restaurant.

8) Are you a good cook?
Not really. I wish I were!

9) We're having a party in your honor! Would you prefer a costume party, a bowling party or a pool party? 
Costume party!!

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Wednesday

"Wednesday" because it is, and because I can't think of creative titles when I'm up too early.

So. I was talking to Kathy and she mentioned that she had a meeting up my way last week. She knew I worked somewhere in that area, but she didn't have time to go out somewhere and meet for lunch.

Where was she?

In the building next to mine in our business park. ("Oh, you work in that building?! We could have easily met for lunch!") She described the very same conference room Pedro was in a few months ago, when he didn't pop over for a visit either.

I'm going to start eyeballing that oddly-popular little conference room on my way in every day, looking for people I know.


My boss gave his notice this week. (Booooo.) Guess who is taking his place. My boss from my old job in 1993. Too funny. In a study meeting yesterday, of the nine team members in the conference room, six of us worked together twenty years ago. Supercool, eh?!

Speaking of our former company, Doug worked there (in another division) right after I left, back in the day. Well, he just left his hospital job in Dallas and will be moving back to Austin in two weeks. He's interviewing for a job at the old company!

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Game Ball for Lambo

Awesome locker room video after the Ole Miss game. Whoop!

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Lambo!! Whoop!

In a drought, nothing is sweeter than the sound of rain on the roof. It's been raining solid for the last eleven hours. So nice!

Went to Master Pancake Theater at the Alamo Ritz on Sixth Street last night with Steph and Crystal. (Silence of the Lambs.... pretty funny!) Then we had drinks at Iron Cactus next door, where the Aggie game was on and I kept an eye on the score now and then.

That was the first A&M football game I've missed in years! Luckily, the game went long and I made it home in time to see most of the last quarter. Talk about a nail-biter. It was a day for Top Ten upsets and it looked like we might be another casualty, but Lambo-ghini pulled it out! 3 seconds left and he punched it through the uprights. YEAH BABY! No pressure or anything. Ha!


Sunday Stealing: My Random Randomness Meme, part 2

What was your first alcoholic drink? As a good German girl, I had sips of beer my entire childhood. My first whole alcoholic drink was straight tequila. *shudder*

What was your first job? telephone sales for the Houston Post newspaper

What was your first car? a used maroon Mazda GLC

What was your first mobile phone?  a Nokia something-or-other

What is your first proper memory? seeing a spider in our front windowsill when I was 3

Who was your first teacher? Miss Vodrey at Shawanoe Elementary in Kansas City. I was in preschool before that, and I remember it well, but sadly, I can't remember my preschool teacher's name.

Which fictional character do you wish was real? Superman. He could help out with natural disasters and petty criminals and everything in between.

Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? Frankfurt to Houston when I was a toddler. My Dad had gotten a job working at NASA.

Who was your first best friend? In elementary school, my BFF was my next-door neightbor, Lori. Back then, we all called her Dee. (Her middle name is Deanne.) It was always hilarious to me that teachers called her Lori. "LORI." Hee hee. She's totally a Dee.

What was your first detention for? I never had detention, you juvenile delinquents.

What's your strongest sense? touch

Who was your first kiss? Frank B

What was the first film you remember seeing at the cinema? Benji (1974)

What's the largest amount of money you've ever won? $100 at a pre-screening of a TV pilot

What's the largest amount of money you've spent in one spree? Hmm. Probably $600 on work clothing when I went back to work in January.

If you had a warning label, what would yours say? No patience for idiots.
(Because of work, I always type "patients" now, when I mean to type "patience." I just did it again. Incidentally, I always type SEX instead of SEC. Do y'all do that, too? Sorry... digressing...)

Have you ever got sweet revenge on anyone? I'm not at all a vengeful person. I can't remember a single time I've even considered revenge. I have, however, seen (and admittedly enjoyed) karma in action. When you treat people badly, it naturally comes back to you.

Have you ever been to a live concert? a bajillion times

Have you ever been to see stand up comedy?  several times

Have you ever needed stitches? Never for an injury.

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Haircut

I hacked literally seven inches of hair from my head. It's basically a bob now, about an inch above my shoulders.

At home, hubby says, "Did you do something with your hair?"

At the office, the boss says, "Who is this new college coed?! Your hair looks cute!"

I tell the boss about the hubby's comment. The boss says, "Well, I should get brownie points then."

Not sure for what purpose the boss is storing up brownie points with me, but he got 'em! Ha!


Saturday 9: Hopelessly Devoted to You

1) This is a sad song about unrequited love. What's your favorite love song, and is it happy or sad?
"Fireflies" by Ron Pope is my favorite sad love song. "Accidentally In Love" by Counting Crows is my favorite happy love song!

2) This song is from the Grease soundtrack. When that movie came out in 1978, the price of a postage stamp was just 15¢. When's the last time you visited the post office?
OMG. At least five years ago.

3) Not many people know that Olivia's maternal grandfather, Max Born, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954. Share something about yourself that we might not have known before this morning.
I am a member of the Texas Beta Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. Also a member of Tau Beta Pi-- Linus Pauling, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. Ha!

4) Olivia's father was an officer in MI5, the UK's secret service. Sam's most recent run-in with the authorities had less intrigue or glamor, as it included a policeman pointing out the stop sign she'd somehow missed. Tell us about your most recent encounter with law enforcement.
My most recent encounter with law enforcement was when Lauren was 3 (17 years ago). I unknowingly parked in a handicapped spot in a strip center parking lot.

5) Olivia is part owner of an exclusive, luxury retreat called Gaia. If you had a day of free access to a heated pool, golf course, tennis court, gym, and day spa, but could only use one, which one would you choose?
Day spa!

6) Are you flirtatious?
Sometimes.

7) Do you more often wear silver, gold, or platinum?
silver

8) When you're on the phone, do you usually make the first move toward ending the call? Or do you find it hard to say goodbye?
I am less likely to say goodbye first.

9) Would you rather be smarter, richer, or more attractive than you are right now?
richer

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Candy Crush Saga Beginner Tips

In an odd trip of the finger across my phone screen the other day in Facebook, I accidentally *liked* a high school boyfriend's son's cub scout troop, just after his wife did. And I didn't discover it until two days later when I happened to notice it in my Activity Log. Uhh... awkward!


Wanna know how to develop an aversion to chocolate? Play Candy Crush. Good grief. Stupid chocolate. I am going to give you all a few tips I learned over the past several weeks since I started playing:

1) Earned boosters are not available to you on the mobile app. You click the booster in the mobile app and it says you can buy them. Go to Facebook to play and you will be able to access the free ones you earned. Save them for later levels though. Don't waste them on the easy ones.

2) Sending lives/extra moves/help to your friends? They aren't getting all of them. I don't know how Candy Crush communicates with Facebook, but it does a super-crappy job. I don't receive about 50% of the things I know people sent me. Yeesh. What is the point? It's either a social game or not. If not, just charge me $14.95 and give me all the stuff I need to play to the end and let me earn free stuff along the way.

3) We've developed a strange mode of game-playing in the world, where we pay a dollar for a game and then it bugs us to death to buy things the entire time we play. And we think that's ok. Gone are the days of paying for a game and then playing it until it's done without endless nagging. Sad day. Just sad. Even my Paint Shop Pro software bugs me to upgrade. Gah. (This isn't a Candy Crush Saga tip, but announcement of my awareness of the manipulation by the software industry of the gaming public, convincing them to accept their nickel and dime philosophy. Booooo.)

4) You can get 15 lives at a time by logging in on various devices. Start on your phone. Move to the tablet, then to your computer. None syncs lives with the others (they seem to sync everything else), so you can keep on playing. What. That's obsessive? Have you PLAYED Candy Crush?  Oh, there is one glitch. If your mobile app is on a board you conquered on your PC, you may have to exit and restart the game on your phone.

5) Remember, you can control who sees what on your Facebook. Tweak your groups and such to allow whomever you want (or don't want) to see your App activity. While you're there, please omit me from your app activity. :)

6) A tidbit of strategy (suggested--- I'm only at level 90)
   a) Most levels you just want to try to get as many special candies as possible and everything will work out great in the end. (Incidentally, that is also my life philosophy.) The sparkly chocolate ball (its official name- Color Bomb- totally lame) is the best, then the stripes, then the wrapped. Mix the chocolate ball with the stripes for a wipeout move that usually clears the board.
   b) The key, especially in the higher levels, is to look at the entire board after every single move. The WHOLE board. Every time. Don't miss a chocolate ball opportunity up top because you're busy trying to clear a corner. It's hard, but really look at all your moves. Then I typically go in the following order of possible moves: chocolate ball/stripe combo, striped/wrapped combo, five in a row (chocolate ball), four in a row (stripe), L-shape (wrapped). If I have more than one choice, I look for the one that clears the most jellies or whatever I'm trying to accomplish.
   c) Some levels have corners or sticky-outy single candies or some other funky junk you need to clear. Try to pay attention to those throughout the game, because they are the most difficult. If you can clear one, do it before making a special candy.
   d) Chocolate levels (bar chocolate, not to be confused with the fabulous chocolate ball) can mess with your head, sap your spirit and drain your very will to live, but don't be afraid of it. If you let it go a bit, it can be cleared with one swoop of a stripe before you know it. If you get obsessed with trying to keep it at bay every turn, you will miss opportunities to clear the board. (At the same time, if you see an opportunity to get rid of it in the first few moves, do it.) Remember the chocolate doesn't have to be cleared to win, just the jellies or whatever the challenge is for that board.
  e) Before you hurt your brain trying to figure how the direction of the stripes is determined, it is set by the direction you swiped to complete the four-in-a-row. Swipe left-right and the resulting stripes are horizontal. Swipe it up or down and the stripes are vertical.

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Two Reflections Into One

...I don't wanna lose you now
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin' back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along.

F'in Timberlake - "Mirrors"

That is all.  :)

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Movies/TV Meme

Sunday Stealing: Movies/Television Meme

Name your favorite movie actor: George Clooney

Name your favorite movie actress: Jennifer Lawrence

Name your favorite tv actor: James Spader

Name your favorite tv actress: Julie Bowen

Name your favorite television show right now: The Voice (to be knocked out of first place this week by American Horror Story: Coven)

Name a few really cool movies you’ve recently seen: World War Z (watched for the second time last night), This is the End (if you're an Apatow fan). Other than that, this summer sort of sucked for movies. :(

Your favorite canceled television show: FlashForward

Name one movie you wish you hadn’t wasted time/money on recently: The Heat

You would never watch a movie with: I would watch pretty much any movie with anybody, as long as at least one of us thought it would be entertaining.

Favorite candy/food to watch movies with: popcorn

Three favorite tv channels: HGTV, TLC, Food Network

Favorite reality or competition show: Real Housewives of Orange County

Cable or satellite? cable

Do you watch more movies at home or at the theater? about half and half

Is there a time of year that you watch more tv? probably fall

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Blogger Sidebar Text Widget Won't Save- WORKAROUND

For several days now, we have not been able to save changes to our Blogger sidebar text widgets. Thank you GwapoTiger on the Blogger Google Group for this workaround! I had to do it a few times, but it finally worked for me.

1- Make the changes you want (to your sidebar widget) and instead of clicking on save, go up to the Title of the item and click: Enter
2- A New tab will appear, just click: View Blog
3- Your changes will now show on your Blog – close the Edit window

It will say your changes were saved. Go ahead and say Leave Page if it prompts you.

Waiting for a fix.

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Did that Kid Just Fall Into a Piano?

The other day, I talked about watching a bunch of movies, but I forgot to mention we also did finally watch Insidious. The thing that was most entertaining about it to me was the concept of ghosts or undead spirits appearing as solid-bodied people. Usually in horror films, ghosts are very ethereal and if you can see them at all, they are translucent or shadowy. Every time an entity just simply walked through a scene or was suddenly sitting on the couch or something, I jumped out of my seat.

The music wasn't great though. At one point early in the movie, the young son was in the attic and he screamed. It sounded- not even kidding- like he fell into the back of a piano. I'm thinking he literally fell into a piano. But no. It was just "scary music."

Then last weekend, Lauren and I saw Insidious: Chapter 2, which was really good! They tied in the two movies in a VERY clever way. I was quite impressed. And it turns out Lauren was right. If you haven't seen the first one, you were probably confused in a couple of places where the rest of us were like "OMG- WOW!!"

Lauren and I (mouthing to each other, in shock): OMG-WOW!!
Lady behind us: Are those all the people that guy has killed?
Guy behind us: No. I'll tell you later.


In other news, I am again tiring of sifting through pissy political posts on Facebook. Not the rare posts on specific issues about which someone has strong feelings, but rather the constant flow of Republican or Democrat rubbish. People who are into arguing politics are always entrenched on one side or the other. Their posts are entirely predictable and almost invariably originate from sources that lean towards (or declare outright) their chosen side. After seeing the same party line posts from some friends for years, I sometimes want to add a sarcastic reply like, "So wait. Let me get this straight. You're against *gun control/prayer in schools/other political item*?" *snort*

Those of us who want to see compromise in government and a stop to interminable and fruitless bickering don't post polarizing political items. If you take the time to look, Washington, you'll find that's the overwhelming majority of us.

Just saying.

There's an app that replaces all political posts with photos of kittens. Lisa said it works really well (and that she's seen a heaping crapload of kittens lately). I'm still looking for one that replaces them with naked Adam Levine photos.

And I can already hear my political posting friends saying they tire of sifting through my Aggie football posts. Well that is... TOTALLY DIFFERENT.  ;)

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