RANDOM MUSINGS

I must admit that I did not even realize there were any WWI Veterans alive. I am actually embarrassed that I did not know who this woman was. I guess I can call “sexism” on myself, right? Which is kind of sad considering that I took more military history classes than any other kind in grad school. WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Civil War…and I took more than one class about some of those. It got really confusing the summer I took the WWI class at 8:00 and then the WWII class at 10:00. After a while all the people and places and weapon types start to run together! Anyway…the point is, the last female U.S. veteran of WWI has died. Charlotte Winters had turned 109 this past November. The coolest part was that she served in WWI, and she was a Civil War “buff” and traveled around to battle sites. That’s awesome. Not enough people appreciate history! To read more about this, go here…

  

IMG_0638.JPGOriginally uploaded by Jilly2113.

Summer’s birthday was last Thursday, so we got to celebrate a couple of times. Pictures are up in the Photo section…
Thursday was a Houston Rockets game, followed by Flying Saucer. I could stay in Flying Saucer for hours. That place is great. I really like that they let you try the beer you are asking about before you have to commit to an entire glass. Saves you the pain of being stuck with something gross and having to get something different, and keeps them from wasting beer. Thank goodness Cristina got a sample of that chocolate truffle one! YUCK! They also had a Sam Adams that I had not tried yet. It was yummy….good for summertime. I am loving the Sam Adams. Except for the Black Lager and the Honey Porter. I really like the way the Honey Porter tastes, but about twenty seconds after you take a drink, the taste that is left in your mouth is horrible. Bleh.
Anyway…! Friday night we went to Buddha Lounge. I had never been there before, but it is close enough to my apartment that if I HAD to, I could even walk home. Not that any of the shoes I wear would allow that. That would freakin hurt. There is also the peril of trying to cross Westheimer. Buddha Lounge is a smaller place, but it has two levels and is pretty fun. Plays dance music, at least on Fridays. Not anymore expensive than any other place we go to, either, which is nice.
Oh yeah…I almost forgot to mention the cake. Daniel brought Summer the BEST birthday cake…chocolate tres leches. That thing was heavin on a plate. SOOOO RICH. I could not even finish an entire piece…and I did not even have that much!! It had these sugar-coated pecans on the outside…I could have happily scraped all those off and eaten them. So good job, Daniel!!
The rest of my weekend was super productive. I cleaned out my closet, reorganized it, did laundry for four hours and ran all sorts of errands. It was great. Next weekend my goal is new tires. Sears here I come!!
Hope everyone had a good weekend!

[Update] I completely forgot to mention that the best part about the Rockets game was seeing Shane Battier! Now, I don’t even keep up with college basketball that much, but for some reason, when Battier was at Duke, I was obsessed with watching. That may be the only college basketball player I could have ever named. Haha. So it was cool to actually get to see him play in Houston. I did not even know he had come to Houston to play, but I remember seeing the commercials before the season started and when he was shown I jumped up off my couch and yelled “That’s Shane Battier!!” Not that anybody else cared. Anyway…just thought I would mention it. That would be the reason there are so many pics of him, and not Yao or T-Mac. Ha.

Okay, Houston…most people have seen those H-E-B commercials that feature athletes from our teams. And most of you know that two of these athletes are not around anymore…one officially, one is still up in the air. Pettitte chased the money and signed with the Yankees’ organization, while Clemens is playing his usual Mr. Indecisive. Most bets are laying down on him joining the Yankees, though. And now the Texans have announced that since they acquired Matt Schaub, David Carr is on the trading block. I feel bad for David Carr. He never really had the support of a solid team on the field with him to have a real chance of showing what he could or could not do. Yeah…he may never be a great quarterback, but how are we to know that if he is not given the opportunity?? Oh well. I wish him the best!! He was definitely one of the “good guys.”

So…the point is that these are well-known athletes that Houston fans will miss watching play, but even more important than that is this…who is going to star in the H-E-B commercials?? Who is going to attempt to convince us to buy H-E-B burgers and steaks? Who is going to prove once and for all that just because athletes are in front of cameras all the time, they are definitely NOT actors??

 I vote for Roy Oswalt. With his tractor, of course.

This seems to be a reputable story, so I am disappointed. I always think of the Cardinals and La Russa as the other “Good Guys”…the Astros’ rivals, another team that is usually classy to play against. But it is being reported that La Russa was arrested for drunk driving in Florida this week. Apparently he was asleep in his car at  a redlight, with his foot just chillin on the brake. Nice! We shall see how the Cardinals deal with the situation. Don’t get me wrong, I am not aware of any history of previous arrests like this for him, and everyone makes mistakes, it just seems that if you are in the public eye like that you would be more careful about your actions. Even if it is just spring training time in Florida!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113.

I am SO glad I had Beyonce tickets this year. As you can see from the picture, it was the annual girl’s night at the rodeo. Oh yeah…and Mick. I have been doing this girl’s night thing for a few years, and it is always a blast. Beyonce was absolutely amazing. Made me want to pull out all of my Destiny’s Child cds. Haha. I am such a nerd. The funny thing about this is that it was the first “event” that Jenny has actually attended. The first time she has hung out with all of us since we moved in together. So we made sure to take plenty of pictures as evidence that she was actually present! I also saw Chris…actually, Summer saw Chris and then pointed him out to me. He was all cowboyed out, of course.

St. Patrick’s day was a weird one. I usually completely avoid the whole day…things are just too crowded. Case in point…I waited in line for over 30 minutes and never did get into Pub Fiction. So I headed back to the Galleria area and went to The Concert Pub. I really like that place. It is as chilled and casual as Sam’s Boat, but not near as crowded. Even on St. Patrick’s Day it was just a nice sized crowd. Not annoyingly hyper or anything…and everyone had their shoes on…unlike the girls coming out of Pub Fiction. I saw at least three people with their shoes in their hands. GROSS.

I also got to see my parents and my brother this weekend, randomly. They called and said they were in Houston, so they got to come by and hang out and meet Caesar. He was completely shy.

Hope everyone has a good week!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113.

Finally!! We went camping this past weekend. And I actually got to go. I do believe everyone was taking bets on that. At least Mike and Jen were. We went to a park outside of Austin…in Smithville. It was a lot of fun. Just nice to be out of Houston and be around some trees!! Festive things about camping…

1. Dairy Queen on the way there AND on the way back
2. Hot dogs!!
3. Trees!
4. Not being able to see out of the back end of my car
5. Free pizza from a gas station
6. Elodie taking a bajillion pictures of Jen’s “children”
7. Smoke from our sad little fire following Daniel and Summer everywhere they tried to sit
8. Jen and the spiders on her hat
9. Elodie jumping out of her skin several times
10. Summer’s bucket-o-beer
11. Daniel and his 4 different kinds of creamer
12. Just getting to chill!!
13. Cool weather
14. The postponement of the rain until we were driving off
15. Daniel bringing his blender
16. Bathrooms that were pretty well taken care of
17. Having the $3 I gave Summer and Daniel be stretched enough to buy two bags of ice and a can of hot dog chili. Even if they did have to ride their bikes all over town to do it!
18. I-10 being closed and having to take detours
19. Representing SHSU in several ways. #1 being my bright as hell orange wind breaker. That is what happens when the book store has a clearance sale.
20. The wonderment of how much stuff 3 girls can fit into one car. We are good!
21. Daniel’s squid jerky
22. Elodie drinking coffee out of a bowl
23. Jen’s super nutritious breakfast…I have not seen nutty bars in years!!
24. Chips and chips and more chips…and guacamole!!
25. The best feeling…getting in my own shower at home after I unloaded my car!

I know more things happened. I am just too tired and am drawing a complete blank!! One thing I can say for sure is that it was a good weekend.

Oh yeah…and my new kitty has a name…Caesar…as in Julius. Mainly because he attacks swiftly and with no warning! He is awesome. Very sweet and very playful. Summer, a.k.a the Cat Whisperer, even came over to meet him. He enjoys guests. Even if he still does not enjoy Zoe!!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113.

Jenny and I got another roommate today…five months old, male…not sure what his name will be, but I am sure something related to the Astros. I have already been calling him Backe just to try it out. Ha. Of course, that could be awkward when I marry Brandon Backe. Oh well! He is still a bit skittish. Any loud noises cause him to run back underneath my bed. But while he is hanging out and playing he purrs like a motorboat. Hilarious.

Have a good week!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113.

Daniel’s birthday celebration was festive. Summer got the guys to organize a surprise paintball day. The girls even got to tag along. Summer and Elodie kicked butt. I had not played paintball in years, but I still remember how much that crap hurts. So I only played a couple of games at the very end. Only got hit a couple of times. Thank goodness. I hate that crap! Ha. Made for a long day, although it was all a lot of fun. The best part was the “observation area” that we set up right in the middle of everything. Since not everyone had a gun, about 3 or 4 people sat out each game. We were on top of a hill that both teams tried to take every damn time. So we were right in the middle of the action. Spent most of the afternoon laying flat on our stomachs trying to keep our heads down and away from the paintballs flying around! Made for some good photos, though. I also felt like I was in my backyard in Warren. Being in the woods and dirty and running around. Haha. Got to eat some GOOD food after, too. Then it was cake time. Cannot have a birthday without some sort of dessert! Daniel’s cake that Summer got was badass…great idea Summer!

Hope everyone had a good weekend! And hope you had a good birthday, Daniel!

Whoo-hoo. I love rodeo time. I went last night to see Reba. It was festive…the first time in a long time I have gotten to the rodeo early enough to walk around and see all the exhibits and animals and stuff. And the food…YUM…love the food at the rodeo. I always eat way too much. And Reba waved at me. Our seats are right by the entrance the performers use so I leaned over the rail and waved at her. I am a dork. But I got a fairly good picture of her!

Carlos Lee was at the rodeo, too. He was in the parade thing at the beginning and he was the starter for the calf scramble. At one point he was abut 10 feet away from me but I could not get out of my seat fast enough to get his attention to meet him! Sucks!! He is a BIG dude in person. He seemed really excited to be there, and I actually read an article about him this morning in the Chronicle…you can find that here.