Surgery

Maya was bundled off to the vet this morning for her surgeries.  She has been spayed and partially declawed.  I called to check on her this afternoon and was told that everything went well but she had a hang over and was very "cranky".  She comes back home tomorrow.

Another travel day

And I was so focused on the possibilities of spending my afternoon alone in Vancouver that I skipped an obvious step.  I was due to land around 1:00 PM and figured I would head off towards the Greater Vancouver.  It is a little pricier than I'm used to but it is probably better too.  But then I thought I might go hike around in one of the area parks... there are so many to choose from.  Of course with the temperature 40 degrees cooler I was ready to be outside doing something, anything.

Dallas is expecting 103-105 degrees every day this week.  It was only 57 here in BC today but it was raining!  I didn't even bring a coat.  Instead of hiking I went shopping at least I was dry.  I picked up a warm-up jacket which I was pleased to put on immediately and I have yet to remove.  Cold and wet is different than cool and dry.

Now I'm drinking a fresh margarita, waiting on my huge, juicy steak and watching old hockey highlights.  I'll head back to the hotel early and read until I fall asleep.

Trapped

Did I say I loved Chicago?  It must be because I don't usually travel through the mass of humanity that we keep penned up in O'Hare.  I arrived nearly four hours prior to my flight.  I have books so that isn't a hardship.  I actually managed to kill two hours in line waiting for a table in a restaurant.  I spent another hour drinking margaritas, eating a really good burger and chatting with other travelers.  Then they cancelled my flight.  No warming, no delay, no fall back plan, no hotel.  Just a vague direction towards the Closed Customer Service desk.  I spent a full hour on hold waiting for our corporate travel agent's emergency service.  During that hour I managed to misplace my book (with only 5-6 chapters left to go) and find a self serve customer service kiosk.

I was able to find that my replacement flight doesn't leave for 24 hours but I can stand by for a 6 AM flight or a 5 PM flight.  I also found the number for the local emergency hotle hookup people.  It was while I was holding for them that Am Ex finally picked up.  It turns out that Am Ex got me the same room for a whole lot less.

I made a bunch of new friends while waiting for the poorly marked shuttle bus.  The were people on my bus that spent 6 hours sitting on the runway befoe being retuned to the terminal.  There flight out isn't until Friday.  There were people aiming for Calgary, San Diego, Denver, Philly, Atlanta, Toronto and Dallas all with canceled flights on just my bus.

In the morning I plan to catch the 5AM shuttle bus and hope to make the 6AM flight.  If that doesn't work I'll come back to the hotel for a shower and then take the train in to the city.  My next flight possibility isn't until early evening.

Heat

It takes on a whole new meaning when you have a young kitten, doesn't it?  Maya's surgery schedule has just been accelerated by about 6 weeks.

The price of rice and other minutiae

I had to pay a premium at lunch today for ordering a rice side dish.  It was only an extra 20 cents but it caught me off guard.  I've been paying the same price for my spicy three piece chicken strip basket for years.  At least they haven't taken the red beans and rice all the way off of the menu.  We've had to stop buying our rice from our local discount warehouse because there seems to be a shortage.  Now we have to pay a premium price for buying in small quantities and we have to buy it much more often.  They've imposed a limit on how much rice can be purchased at a time.

 

For dinner the other night we ordered a pizza and pasta combination and had it delivered.  It is rare for us to order pizza and when we do Daddy usually goes to pick it up to get the best price.  But this was a treat (and Daddy is still out of town).  They've added a delivery charge.  I don't think I've been charged for a pizza delivery (or a Chinese food delivery) since high school.  It almost makes me feel better about having to pay to take luggage on the plane.

Chi-town

I'm off to Chicago for the night.  This will be a pretty quick trip with no chance to catch up with old friends or to experience the city.  It's too bad, I love Chicago when it is not winter but I hardly ever get there anymore.  It will be 9 PM-ish before we get to the hotel.  Tomorrow is a full day audit at a vendor then straight back to the airport for the return flight.

 

Highlight

One of the highlights of any trip to TN is almost always the hiking. We hiked part of the way to Laurel Falls. We made it as far as Arch rock before turing back. We had to cut the day short in order to leave time for a boat outing in the evening. The hiking was particularly pleasant this year as the streams were running full, the temperature was cool enough to be pleasant and the rhododendron were still blooming (more white than pink) in canopies over the trail.

Community Church

The kids and I joined Mom, John and Cousin Wendy for church while we were in TN. Actually the kids and I sat up front while John and Mom were working as ushers and acolytes.

Par 3

Our local Par 3 golf course was our weekend destination with the kids. We'd promised Sunil that he could actually play a little bit of golf for change. He's already had us out at the driving range twice since he's been home. Unfortunately UTD is expanding their campus across what used to be the Par 3 course. They are moving the whole works about a mile North but the new course won't open until October. So we stuck to the driving range and a round of miniature golf.

Safety

Sunil found a new spot to sit for breakfast.  It is a challenge for him to eat without getting climbed by the cat.

Melting Pot

Sunil has opted to spend his "You are an only child celebration" at a fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot. I can't wait... I love fondue.

Autumn but not Fall happens in Texas

According to the calendar all four seasons happen here, much like everywhere else.  In actual practice every place has its own twist on the seasons.  The two most obvious regional differences here are that:

 

1)       Spring lasts about three days and those days are not sequential and

2)       The leaves don't fall off of the trees in the "Fall". 

 

Instead they are pushed off of their limbs by the new growth leaves that appear on those three Spring days or they fall off when the temperatures push up past 100.  Our backyard is carpeted under a thick layer of leaves at present.  Even after 14 years it still seems wrong.

Swiffers, Etc

One of the latest home cleaning phenomena in the US is the "Swiffer".  The original Swiffer is a flat plate attached to an extendable rod.  Disposable dust clothes are attached to the bottom of the plate and used to sweep/dust floors.  It was such a raving success (or their business models so good) that there are now a half dozen different types of Swiffer.  There are wet clothes and dry clothes, self wetting Swiffers, vacuum assisted Swiffers and extra large Swiffers.  Sunil's favorite is a less like a Swiffer (with disposable clothes) and more like a carpet sweeper, but it is rechargeable, lightweight and purchased from the cleaning aisle of the grocery store (apparently everywhere except Texas).  Grammylyn got Sunil hooked on it and I hoped to horn in on his enthusiasm to get some free cleaning out of him here too.  But alas, I can't find this version and once you've tried this one the others are definitely second or third rate.

Underwoods

A motley crew...

Tubing

Today was tubing on the lake with the Underwoods (pictures to come later). This was Sunil's first time out.  It is a double tube so I went with him.  He was almost too small to lay across the well and I was almost too big.  If I relaxed my abs my feet would fall down and I would I drag us all the way over even at slow speeds.  If Sunil relaxed his abs he'd fall in to the hole and wasn't able to pull back out.  It was wonderful.

Unto These Hills

We watched a drama about the history of the Cherokee Indians.  I've seen the show before but it was 30 years ago or more.  It was an excellent show but we still have a two hour plus drive home.

Dragon's Tail

We drove the Dragon's Tail on the way to NC tonight.  It is best experienced on a motorcycle but we used the minivan.  The tail boasts 318 curves in eleven miles.

Hazards of the game

This is the end of hole seven.

Tournament

It's tournament day.  Wish them well.

Spirit Award

Grammylyn says that both kids earned spirit awards for their enthusiasm this afternoon.  We went to the driving range for a bit of practice and a chance for them to impress me with their skills (since I'm such an ace golfer myself).  The rain started about the time we got the balls and was falling in earnest before they started.  But they worked their way through nearly two buckets of balls each and had a blast doing it.  We had to drag them away before the cameras and cell phones were destroyed.

Charmed

I live a charmed life.  I screwed up my flight info today and arrived at the counter just as the plane left.  No biggie, I have all day.  Hook me up with an alternate route. I managed a direct flight arriving 3 hours earlier than planned.  I didn't even need the M&Ms.

Travel Day

I'm at the airport and ready for a full day of short hop fights.  I have three books, half a pound of peanuts, a big bag of M&Ms and a lid back attitude.  The only drawback to my casual mood is that I'm within 20 minutes of finishing my book on tape.  I'm right in the middle of the big gun battle between the good cop, the crooked cop and the unstable, Mob hitman.  It isn't worth packing the walkman through security for 20 minutes so I'll have to wait until I get back for good to triumph over evil.

Last Day

Today is my last workday before vacation.  I find this to be both relaxing and stressful at the same time… or more accurately it is stressful but I don't care.  I'm trying to tie up a lot of loose ends but no one else is feeling the same sense of urgency.  That's okay in nine more hours I'll be able to let it all go.  One of the benefits of getting older is that I really can let it go and not worry about it while I'm gone.  I used to feel way too important to all of my projects like they would languish and die if I took some time for me.  I've seen enough key, critical people leave when the world continued to spin for me to still think that it spins around me.

Return to DINK-dom

We are of course enjoying our weekend sans-children but it isn't as different from a weekend with children as one might imagine. We watched a ton of TV (the movies were better than when the kids are here but they were all old movies we've seen a million times). I've read two books, cover to cover, but nothing that I'd recommend. We performed our quarterly maintenance on the spa, replaced the microwave and repaired the island cabinetry. I went all the way to the store just buy chips. I even managed a haircut.

The only thing different from a weekend with the kids is that the cat slept with me all night.

Actually Sid's best friend from forever stopped by with his family for a few hours yesterday afternoon. The last time I saw them their oldest boy was three months old (he's Sunils's age). It was nice to visit for awhile but the boys would have enjoyed meeting our kids... and I'm sure Sunil would have loved to have two more playmates.

Cheeze

In honor of Sheela's second favorite word (Cheeze) she selected the recently opened, long awaited Cheesecake Factory for our "you are an only child celebration" night after Sunil left. This restaurant is really wonderful but the portions are enormous. We skipped the appetizers and ate only a 1/3 of our meals. Sid had the Jambalaya, I had pecan crusted catfish with succotash and whipped new potatoes, Sheela had an 18" x 9" x 1/4" piece of chicken breast "breaded" with Parmesan and Romano cheeses and angle hair pasta. Even with taking most of it home we were unable to finish one slice of Cheesecake between the three of us. In our defense, the selected cake was a chocolate cookie crust, chocolate cheesecake topped with a layer of Belgian chocolate mousse, chocolate shavings and whipped cream. Then because Sid had was planning to order the hot fudge sundae cheesecake we had them bring us a pot of hot fudge to drizzle on top. Delicious but perhaps too decadent.

Alone

My littlest baby flew to TN alone today.  This is his first solo trip.  The early accounts are that it went well.  Sid dropped him off, the flight attendant actually sat next to him for part of the trip and Mom and John were on-hand to collect him on the other end.  Sheela flies out on Saturday.