Congrats, Impractical Jokers!

But first... After saying yesterday that I only went out with someone significantly older than me one time, I have been reminded recalled that I did go out with a few 20+-year-old waiters when I was 16 and working as a hostess. They always called Kimberly and me "Jailbait" (if only we had a dime for every time...), but they still took us out.

Boys. So weird. :)

For those of you who aren't familiar with the TruTV show Impractical Jokers... here are a couple of great clips from the first season:





We first watched them on our cruise in April. It was always on TV late at night, when we were getting ready for bed. They've just been renewed! Season 2 starts at the end of the year. Congrats, guys!

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Yahoo Messenger Woes

Yahoo Messenger was being annoying yesterday. I couldn't log in through my desktop app, because supposedly I had no secure connectivity via IE. Why Messenger can't use Firefox, which has no issues, I have no idea. It turned out, upon further investigation, I did have https connectivity via IE. Just not to any Yahoo servers.

Then I logged into Messenger via Yahoo Mail in Firefox, which I've never done. (Intentionally anyway. For a while I was logged in there and didn't know. A whole other story.) Well, it turns out, you have to stay on the web page to remain logged in.

Um... no.

So I logged off and did something constructive instead. :)


Two weeks worth of Sunday Stealing... because I can...

61. Ocean or pool?
Pool

62. Fridays or Ruby Tuesdays?
Fridays

63. Did you want to go to college?
Yes. So I did.

64. What did you last time at a mall?
What did I.... what? I was last at Post Oak Mall in College Station with Lauren.

65. Which close friend have you known the longest?
Cathy, since 6th grade

66. Why do you like the music you do?
I especially enjoy music you can sing along with. Love other types as well, but that's my favorite. There is nothing in the world like listening to a song and singing along, by myself, with someone in the car, or with a stadium full of people (where I totally get goosebumps).

67. Do you read much?
Yes, but not many books. Magazines and online articles.

68. Favorite country?
USA! USA! USA! :)

69. What is something you wish you were better at?
piano

70. What’s your favorite album/CD?
Gah. Purple Rain? I have too many faves to list.

71. What's a good dinner order?
Salmon with capers, come sort of cheesy potatoes, Caesar salad

72. Planes or boats?
Boats

73. One rumor that’s been spread about you:
I don't remember that any have ever made it back to me.

74. Who is your newest friend?
KatieB

75. Have you ever sat on a rooftop?
Yep

76. Was your last text useful?
Yes, I told Jeff I'd picked up something for him at the grocery store.

77. Favorite soda?
Diet Dr. Pepper

78. Do you like yourself?
Yes

79. The worst weather: Hot or cold?
Cold

80. Do you play an instrument? 
Piano, but not well.

81. What’s your favorite action movie?
Iron Man

82. Have (or are) you ever been involved someone much older than you?
I went out one time with a guy who was 27 when I was 20. Other than that, I've never gone out with anyone more than about a year older.

83. Do you believe in lust at first sight?
Of course.

84. Favorite type of venomous snake?
Rattlesnake

85. Do you drink alcohol? 
Yep

86. If you wanted to talk to someone who'd lift your spirits, who'd you call?
Laura or Cathy

87. What do you wear to feel sexy?
A leather teddy and red patent stilettos

88. Do you like to learn?
Yes, as long as the subject matter is interesting.

89. Have you ever been hit on by someone who really overestimated their attractiveness?
Haven't we all.

90. Where did you last go on vacation?
Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. St. Thomas, Nassau and St. Maarten

91. Dallas (as in J.R. & Bobby) returns this week. What film or TV series would you love to be resurrected?
Other than FlashForward? My favorite show in the 80s was Thirtysomething, but it wouldn't much apply to me at this point. So I'll go with Miami Vice.

92. Explain your karma beliefs.
I don't believe in it in a religious sense, that God literally rewards or punishes people for their deeds, but I do feel that what goes around comes around. It's just the natural way of things.

93. When do you think that you have a hard life?
I don't think any of us can think we have a hard life, because there's always someone else who has had it harder.

94. Favorite comic strip?
The Far Side

95. Have you ever broken a heart?
Yes

96. Should pot be legalized?
In general, I don't think pot is much different from or worse than alcohol. The problem is that people would be smoking it, exposing us all to the health effects of smoke. If people wanted to legalize pills or another form of THC, I would be ok with that. Medical use should always be legal.

97. Have you ever gone skinny dipping with someone that you shouldn't have?
No

98. What do you do when you're down?
Turn up the tunes.

99. Last time you were really angry?
I don't know. I'm sort of numb these days.

100. What is your favorite flavor in general? 
Chocolate

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Prometheus 'n Stuff

The example event when you click to add something on Google Calendar is "Dinner at Pancho's." Random! Is Pancho's even around anymore? We used to go there for dinner every now and then, when I was little. I was the official flag raiser at our table. I don't know that I actually ate. Just sat there asking if anyone needed anything.

We saw Prometheus this weekend. Jeff liked it a lot. I thought it was slow. I also didn't like Dr. Shaw's character at all, because she is frail and emotionally weak for a strong female lead. She does manage to survive everything that's thrown at her for two hours though.

I loved the tie-in with Alien, one of my all-time fave movies. I recognized similarities, background/history, etc. Then Jeff told me they started out making it the prequel to Alien, but in the end it was not intended to be that at all. It's just a movie about finding the origin of the human species.

Oh. Disappointing.

Ridley Scott said of the space jockey in Alien, "The very simple question was 'Who the hell was in that ship? Who is sitting in that seat?' and 'Why that cargo?' and 'Where was he going?'" YES! And to me, this movie answers that question and more. They retained enough of the Alien prequel-ness to satisfy fans, and the origin of the species angle fits in just fine.

It was just... slow.  :)


Patrick's Saturday Six

1. Which word have you heard entirely too much this past week?
Urostomy

2. Which word have you not heard enough this week?
Happy

3. Which word do you wish everyone would learn how to spell correctly?
Lose (one "O" please, not two)

4. Which word do you wish everyone would learn how to pronounce correctly?
Nuclear

Also Chipotle.

And Pedernales.

Ok, I'm done.

5. Which word would you like to ban completely?
Chillax

6. Which words do you have more trouble saying: I’m sorry or Thank you?
"Thank you" is always easy. "I'm sorry" is typically more complicated.

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Dad

As my friends already know, my dad passed away on Friday. The first couple of days I was at the hospital last Sunday and Monday, and into Tuesday, he had moments where he was able to communicate well, and we had several very short but meaningful interactions. He was able to talk to Siegfried on the phone a few times. It was a particularly hard few days for him at the end, and we are all very relieved that he is at peace.

Dad was "a brilliant man who never met a stranger," my Grandpa (Mom's dad) said this weekend. I think that's a perfect description of him. He was the life of any party, the storyteller with a crowd gathered around at the pub, the first to laugh, the first to break into song. He was incredibly intelligent, a genius with numbers, and a scholar of philosophy as well, with a quotable and elegant answer for every life question I had.

I've said here many times that I get my appreciation of the simple joys in life from him. Whether singing with his German Club buddies or hanging out on the back porch in the evenings, watching the birds and feeling the breeze, or taking walks through the woods or enjoying a sunset... he was always in the moment, aware of the blessings surrounding him.

My favorite time with him will always be when I was 15 and Duran Duran was playing Wembley Arena for one last night in London, while I was visiting him in Brighton. I saw the story in the newspaper. I was pretty obsessed with them at the time. I imagined the concert was long sold out, but Dad didn't hesitate one second before saying, "Let's go!" We'd try to get tickets on the way in, and if we couldn't, we would just enjoy the train ride. We ended up in floor seats in the 11th row, where the girls next to me kept telling me how cool my dad was to come with me and dance along with all of us.

Best. Time. Ever.

So thanks, Dad, for all the love and fabulous times. You will be missed.

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Celebration!

Tonight is our family celebration in Dallas for Lauren's graduation! Yay!

Sadly, tomorrow I'm going to New York to visit my Dad. He's very sick in the hospital and they've just found out that his cancer has spread to the point where they are stopping treatment. :(( Weekend of ups and downs for us.


Friday Five: More Symbolism

1. Which circus act best describes you this past week?
Trapeze. So much has been going on. I cannot even describe the back and forth from this important activity/event to that one- unfortunately managed from what feels like 100 feet in the air without a net.

2. Which summer Olympic event best illustrates what your professional (or academic, if you’re still in school) life has been like lately?
Sailing. Not the strenuous Olympic version, but more a "Nantucket with friends," relaxing sort of sailing. I'm not working at all at the moment.

3. Which household chore is most symbolic lately of your romantic life?
There are so many clever answers here that my daughter would find completely unfunny.

4. What item on your current grocery-shopping list pretty much sums up your relationships with friends lately?
A six-pack of Shiner Bock. We are superfun and very close. And you could pick us up for $6. ;)

5. Which of Crayola’s standard colors has a name that would be a good title for the coming weekend?

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A&M New Student Conference

It's always great to be on the A&M campus. Every turn of a corner brings up some memory that you cannot help but blurt out to your child, who is very interested, until about the 10th story between the dorm and the MSC. Oh, and she's heard half of them before. 

I am so impressed with the brand new Memorial Student Center. It's beautiful!

Rudder always smells the same as it did in 1990. It's not a good or bad smell, just one of those definite scents that takes you right back to school days. Reminds me of great dates, shows, panel discussions, working student organization tables at events, etc. I also like that no matter how hot and humid it is outside, you walk into Rudder and it's like a refrigerator. Soooooo nice.

I guess they're just leaving the store in G Rollie, even though there is now a Barnes & Noble A&M store at the C. The G Rollie store is great on game days. Seems like a small use for a big space, but the money that thing generates probably more than justifies it.

I thought most people were going to stay on campus for the conference. Turns out everyone in Lauren's major but Lauren and I stayed in a hotel. It was convenient to stay in the dorms, and of course the students running the accommodations were wonderful and so friendly! I do have some advice:

1) Bring your own fitted sheet. You get two flat sheets, which would be fine, but the mattresses are made of some sort of 25th-century nylon fabric with a zero coefficient of friction, so the bottom sheet slides all over the place through the night. I tried every sort of tucking there is, to no avail.

2) Bring a laptop. There aren't TVs in the dorms in summer. Netflix or Hulu is helpful when winding down for the night in a very quiet corner of campus. We had heard the wifi was slow, but that wasn't the case. We watched a couple of comedy shows on Netflix and the streaming was fine, as long as we turned off HD.

Students can log onto the net with their credentials. The network is tamu-wpa. You have to do some cartwheels to get the password for tamu-guest, so good luck with that. And never ever ask for your child's login info, because if the university finds anyone other than the student logging in with his credentials, they ban the student from online access to their account. I cannot imagine what a huge hassle that is for the student to deal with. Everything is online now.

3) They say to bring your own pillow, but the pillows they provided were actually fine. There was also a freshly-washed blanket provided, though they said to bring one.

4) Pack light. There are no elevators in the dorms.

Lunch is easy to find on campus. Breakfast and dinner, not so much. In summer most places are closed altogether. Most of the open ones close early. I think people were just eating at Sbisa.

Wear comfortable shoes. They tell you, but I just want to repeat it. You will walk for miles, especially if you stay on campus.

My favorite part of the whole three days was the Corps of Cadets presentation during the final event of Day 1 in Rudder Auditorium. (It was a student activities talk, with a mini- yell practice at the end.) During their time, two senior Corps members gave a brief history of each of their subgroups, and brought out representatives from each of them. They really moved the crowd. They got the most enthusiastic applause of the entire conference at the end of their presentation.

During the conference, I was surprised at how few of the students were familiar with A&M culture. I always assume a great majority of students who attend A&M have family members who attended, or at the very least have seen a football game or two on TV. It was not the case at all. It was great fun watching students completely new to the experience learn yells and sing the school song during the last program of the conference.

Lauren is now officially enrolled in classes. Her schedule is much like mine always were, with all my classes at times I liked... except one. There was always that single class stuck out in the middle of nothing else, so I had to make a special trip to campus. I preferred all my classes in the morning, so I could be done by lunch and have afternoons to play. (Except for the one day I inevitably had a 4pm class to go back to.) Lauren prefers to have all her classes after lunch so she can go to bed very late and sleep in. She doesn't start any day before noon, except on Tuesday when she'll have 8am Biology lab. Not bad!

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Off to Aggieland

I am heading to College Station to meet the kiddo for A&M New Student Conference. (She's been there over the weekend, visiting a friend.) She and I will be there until Wednesday.

We're going to the Student Rec Center after registration this afternoon to play badminton or something. I also can't wait to see the new MSC. There are a couple of official activities tonight, including letting the students try on a 2016 Aggie ring at the alumni center. How cool is that?!

Looking forward to meeting Lauren's friends' parents as well! It'll be a really fun few days.

Have a great day, all!

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Sunday Stealing

What is it with all this public breastfeeding discussion all-of-a-sudden. I think breastfeeding in public is fine, as long as you don't expose yourself while doing it. We live in the remnants of a Puritanical society that frowns upon women showing their breasts in public, or even showing too much cleavage for that matter. You don't get a free pass just because you're feeding a baby.

(After our discussion of this topic, I duly note here that Jeff does not frown upon women showing their breasts in public, or showing too much cleavage. He's very progressive.)

Gotta love the "it's natural" argument. Peeing is a natural thing, too. It's totally OK do it outside, as long as your private parts are sheltered from public view.

So breastfeed away, wherever and whenever you want to! Just get out a receiving blanket or whatever is in fashion these days- something much more chic I am certain- and cover up.

Guys thinking exposed breastfeeding moms are hot-- creepy.

Breastfeeding your preschool-age child-- also creepy. We had one mom in Gymboree when Lauren was 2 who was still breastfeeding her toddler's 4-year-old brother. At Gymboree. The moms were unanimously appalled.


Sunday Stealing: The Imaginary Meme, Part Three

41. Growing up, who was the easier mark: Mom or Dad? 
Most definitely my dad.

42. What is the stupidest pet that you ever saw?
Well, that would have to be Dad's leftover bait minnows (I choose to think of them as my little "rescued minnows") that I kept in a fish bowl for about a week. When I got home from a sleepover the next weekend, Mom had flushed them told me they "got sick and died." :)

43. Tell us about a band whose every CD is a “must have”. 
I have a lot of favorite artists and bands, and I can't really say for any of them that EVERY CD is a must-have. Second albums almost universally suck. Well, I'll go with The Beatles.

44. Where you surprised when Jim Parsons came out?
As surprised as I was when Ellen came out.

45. Have you ever shoplifted? 
When I was a kid, Lori and I each stuck a 2-cent green apple bubblegum from the candy aisle in our pockets, just to do it. We felt SO incredibly guilty for the next week that we went back and put a bunch of pennies in the change dish there.

46. We currently have a person who plays both this meme and Saturday 9 who signs in to Mr. Linky every week. Yet, if you click on that link, you are told that only “members” can read the blog. Why do you think that person even bothers to sign in or for that matter, do the meme? (Don't misunderstand, we have no rules and we aren't angry. But it is damn peculiar, no?)
I can see why they do the meme, because whether or not any of us can see it, their visitors can see it and copy it to their own blogs. Maybe they sign in, because they are looking for people to apply for membership to see their blog.

47. Have you ever driven a Ferrari? 
Nope. I'd rather drive a Beemer Z series, if I ever get the chance.

48. What do you call those little plastic things on the ends of shoelaces?
I believe the technical term for them is "plastic thingies."

49. Have you ever walked more than a mile?
I walk about a mile and a half in my neighborhood almost every day.

50. Do you believe in magic?
In a young girl's heart? How the music can free her whenever it starts? Yes.

51. Have you ever been arrested? 
Um, no. The closest I've come to being arrested was at A&M Bonfire in 1987 (I was 20), when a TABC agent caught me with a beer. He just made me pour it out. Jeff would add here that I had two beers in my jacket pockets that I voluntarily pulled and poured out as well. Bad boys, bad boys, what'cha gonna do...

52. Have you ever skinny dipped?
I've swum topless in the ocean, and skinny dipped in a hot tub. So technically, not really. It's on the bucket list.

53. Explain what you think about hippies.
They seem to be positive people, who appreciate the simple joys of life. Sometimes they need a bath, and to lay off the MJ.

54. New York or California?
California, whose clear edge is the weather.

55. Have you ever been dumped?
Yes

56. What are you wearing right now?
athletic shorts and a black, lacy tank top

57. John Edwards had a mistrial. How do you think he conducted himself after the verdict? 
Like the fake, smarmy liar he's always been.

58. Did you watch the series finale of House? 
No. We haven't watched the last few seasons. I LOVED that show for years though. Sad to see it go.

59. You may need to go back a long way if you are old like Harriet. Who was the last person who asked you out?
Other than Jeff? I don't specifically remember the names of any of the random guys who asked me out after Charlie, but the last one may have been Tiffany's bodybuilding friend- number 5 on my worst dates list.

60. Do you have any collections? 
Every year I get a Christmas ornament related to something from that year, so I have a 22-ornament collection and Lauren has a 18-ornament collection that I have begun for her.

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Congratulations, Class of 2012!

Many of my favorite kiddos are graduating, including my very own, and I just want to say how excited I am for them! I'm especially proud of my daughter. Her accomplishments are impressive and her SAT scores and GPA are out of this world, but it's the funny, inquisitive, nurturing and compassionate person she is that really blows me away. She's headed towards a nursing degree, and I think that suits her very well!

I have enjoyed watching these kids grow up- many since preschool... a few since they were babies. I'm thinking of Julie and Laura and I walking Sean and Kelsey and Lauren in their strollers around the neighborhood when the kids were toddlers. Sean and Lauren were snacking on carrots in baggies, and Kelsey was in the middle, with Cheetos.

The first-borns had never even seen a Cheeto, but all it took was one little orange-fingered hand reaching over to each side to share, and Sean and Lauren ditched those carrots.

There's my advice for all of you graduating this week... Try the Cheetos.

It can mean whatever you want it to. That is the beauty of enigmatic graduation sentiments.

CONGRATS Class of 2012! You did it!!

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TGIF

I don't know what is more disconcerting- finding out that someone I was sure was a regular reader of my blog doesn't read it at all, or finding out that someone I had no idea even knew about it IS reading it. The net is a funny space, folks.

Sean Percival's guess at the appearance of the new Facebook Phone...

Heh.

We're off to Joshua's wedding tonight! Very exciting! Have a wonderful Friday, friends... and people who are waiting to tell me ten years from now that you read this thing every day. xoxo

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