This was taken while attempting to cross the Fraiser river. I was ahead of rush hour but still got caught behind an accident.
These was taken along the marsh at the edge of the Straights of Georgia it was a beautiful little walk on what turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon. You can see the marsh, the shipping lanes and the mountains. We don't have any of these in Dallas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I'm off to
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.
Sunil found a new spot to sit for breakfast. It is a challenge for him to eat without getting climbed by the cat.
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.
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.
One of the latest home cleaning phenomena in the
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Then walked through the Animals of the world exhibits. 
It's an eclectic place.
My favorite part is the gemstone window it is made entirely out of naturally occurring gemstones sandwiched between panes of clear glass.
that doesn't mean it was a mistake
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup."
"Unattended children will be given sugar and a free puppy".
"Beware of the Dog, the cat isn't trustworthy either"
The kids and I are having lunch at Chucks. The burgers are thick and fresh, the shakes are thick and creamy and the signs keep me entertained.
I'm in the surgery waiting room waiting on a friend. She is having a minor procedure but they will not do it if someone isn't in the building. Her folks are travelling and her sister couldn't find someone to watch her kids so she could fly in. I don't mind, this part of being a friend. I have M&Ms and a coke, two books and a few hours. The cafeteria will reopen in an hour and my world will be perfect.
We have a reservation for private pottery lessons on Saturday. We are taking Jaz and Farhana with us. It should be a lot of fun.
All in all I do love the weather here in
One thing I don't do much of anymore is attempt to stretch my comfort zone but today I'm going to give it a little tweak. I'm actually having lunch with a local headhunter that I've talked to off and on for awhile. She knows I'm not interested in leaving my position but she also knows that I tend to know who would entertain new possibilities. I've never actually met her but she invited me out to lunch today. My circle of lunch dates has gotten very small through attrition and illness over the last three years or so. It's time for a change. So I'm going to go. About the time I got comfortable with the idea of meeting her, she sprung another surprise on me. She is bringing her boss too. I don't know anything about him. I'm sure it won't hurt.
I haven't mentioned it lately but I love my stackable, energy efficient washer and dryer. I appreciate them every week but I've noticed that time doesn't work in the same straight forward fashion where they are concerned. I first noticed it with the washer. A typical wash cycle is 35 minutes. It even tells you this when you turn the cycle on plus there is a handy digital display so you can keep track of the time remaining. Theoretically then 36 minutes after starting a load it should be ready for the next load. But instead it will get down to two minutes remaining and stay there for 2-5 minutes. Which isn't too bad, when you get down to one minute remaining it can take as long as 10 minutes to stop. Actually at that stage of the game it stops frequently according to all outward appearance and sounds but after resting for a minute or two it will rotate one more time before returning to hibernation.
What I didn't notice until yesterday is that the dryer has a strange sense of time too. Again a typical drying cycle, according to the display, is 35 minuntes. But by throwing a dry towel in with a wet load you should be able to cut the srying time roughly in half. When I try this the timer cuts off about 15 minutes, this didn't seem strange. My understanding is that it calculates drying time by humidity levels in the drum. But after another five minutes or so it will add back ten minutes. In the end I'm always surprised to find that the machine is still running when I think it should be done or that it is done when I think it should have stopped.
On a vaugely related note it does appear that adding the dry towel really does cut the drying time.
In lieu of repairing the damage to Sid's car, the guy that hit him put in a sprinkler system for us which we wanted but weren't ready to pay for. Of course now have to fix the car... Of course Sid's got a guy....
Any how the new system took 15 guys less than four hours to set up from start to finish. It has 8 zones and a rain guage.
Daddy looks great today! He feels 100% better and looks even better than that.
Daddy dehydrated yesterday and then fainted. He ended up back in the ER for the night, once again there weren't any available rooms for the night. He's absorbed plenty of IV liquids and is much better this morning. He moved to a room was given his breakfast. He may stay another day or two but we expect him back home before much longer.
I just ate a huge, and unnecessary, slice of lemon cake topped with 1" of buttercream icing and lemon gel. I wasn't hungry. I wasn't craving sweets. I was not being pressured by anyone in particular to fatten up. But I'm well known around here for always trying the cakes, pies, cookies, etc. As soon as someone spots a "food" celebration of any kind, but particularly the sweets I start getting phone calls. As I love being kept informed of everything large and small I make it appoint to never pass up the eats when the communication network kicks in. On the other hand when a get calls number 2-10 I tell them I've already had my piece…. Maybe I could tell that to caller number one as well.
Daddy came home from the hospital last night. I think that he is pleased to be back. He's not entirely back to normal but he is well on his way.
Daddy is still in the hospital but feeling a little bit better and being allowed to drink clear liquids. He will graduate to soft foods by the end of the day and may come home tomorrow. We bought him plain yogurt to start off, the hospital would gladly supply fruit flavored yogurt but they don't carry plain and he's always eaten it plain. In general my high opinion of the hospital is slipping a bit here and there. The waiting 22 hours to get out of the ER and in to a room seemed to be excessive, the cafeteria closing at 2:00PM so Mommy has to by dinner at lunch time and hold on to it was a stretch but apparently the cafeteria isn't open at all on Sundays. I didn't find this out until this afternoon. We've been taking turns bringing Mommy home every day for an hour or two to get cleaned up and eat at least one meal. She has been taking stuff back for in the evenings to supplement what she can get out of the cafeteria. I would have made more of an effort to go out there last night if I'd known she only had one portion of Ramen noodles.
We also hiked to the lake twice, once off trail and once along the jeep road as part of a scavenger hunt. 
The weather was nearly perfect. It was in the upper 60s at night and upper 80s during the day. Cool enough for a campfire but warm enough to be comfortable. We told the boys they could start the fire at anytime as long as they used only sticks, twigs and pine needles. But we'd light a fire with a match around dinner time. They rubbed those sticks together for over an hour.
Sunday we managed to surprise Sunil with a birthday party in our own backyard. I think there were 12 kids there, mostly from the neighborhood. We borrowed the nine foot tall inflatable waterfall, and gave all the kids serious squirt guns. The kids that lived close then ran home and came back with their super-serious water arsenals and it was a free for all followed by cake. A good time was had by all.Sunil and I have gone camping for the weekend with his cub scout pack. It is a two night event but we are the only ones here form his den. Some of the others will come for the day tomorrow and almost everyone will stay the night.
It was after 9PM and already dark when we arrived so we haven't really seen the place but it seems nice. Our tent is snug and comfortable. Sunil is sprawled out next to me on the air mattress sound asleep. I can't seem to fall asleep though I'm pretty relaxed. I think the problem is that I miss my pillow, I don't rough it as well as I used to.
My 40th birthday has come and gone. It was low key and perfect. I was taken to lunch by a huge group of friends from work and had a quiet dinner at home with the family. I've received two cakes, a ton of chocolate, a bouquet of flowers, a few gifts, many cards and emails. Life is good!
We jumped up into the upper 90s yesterday and it looks like summer is here to stay. Apparently I napped through the heat yesterday (I took the afternoon off from work) and was totally unprepared to sweat through today's t-ball game. Sunil and I have each finished a water bottle and they haven't even finished warming up yet. I'm off to the snack bar to blow our hot dog money on sport drinks. Have I mentioned how wonderful the shade structures are lately?
You are from somewhere else but have lived here too long if you see it and even for a minute think "hey, that's cool!" 
Sunil gets to avoid the locked down test atmosphere at school by going to the Dallas Arboretum (http://www.dallasarboretum.org/) with his class. They've just finished the Dallas Blooms Festival and are gearing up for their May Flowers event. I love the arboretum; it overlooks
Today is yet another round of TAKS testing here in
The birthday season is officially underway. "The girls" celebrated friend Brenda's birthday yesterday with a casual get together at her house. We let her cook for us (turkey paninis, jalapeno poppers and pasta salad) and watched a movie (Dan in Real Life). We chose a date for my birthday do (dinner and STOMP at the Music Hall). This will actually not happen until roughly a month after my actual birthday but we've had to get more and more flexible as everyone's kids have grown older and their lives more chaotic. And we've tentatively chosen a date for a surprise party for Sunil. Now we just have to keep him distracted enough that he doesn't notice a lack of party planning. This shouldn't be too hard to do as we usually end up rushing at the last minute anyway.
I've misplaced my camera. I'm not ready to call it lost. I'm sure it will turn up but it has probably been more than a week since I've seen it. I don't remember the last time I had it. I've filled in with pics from my PDA (most of the
I'm not going to dive in to my personal feelings about organized religions beyond saying that they serve a purpose in the world and some people need them more than others. The level of passion present when people feel that their personal choice is being "dissed" can seriously interfere with logical thought and productive communication. These sorts of issues have played an exceedingly small role in our multicultural household but are taking a huge toll on the extended family these days. I'm hoping that they all just get over it.
What a wonderful improvement, the bleachers are now protected by shade awnings making the T-ball games much more pleasant. It's in the upper 80s and not a cloud in the sky.
Well the roof damage is minor. Only one square yard of shingles came down and the underfelt is in great shape. We haven't had any water damage (and probably won't). The roof is 16 years old with not even a hint of hail damage. Around here that is pretty rare. Well that is both the good and the bad news. It won't take much to get the repair done but we won't be getting a whole new roof either.
Yesterday we tried to drop the kids at their normal time (20 minutes after being told that school was on) and were sent back home until at least the emergency lighting could recover. Sid took them back around an hour later and was allowed to leave them even though they were a few minutes shy of total recovery. They never did see full power up at the kids' school. Some rooms had lights some had functioning wall outlets. The A/C never did come on. When I went back to pick Sheela up for her dental appointment they didn't ask me to sign her out as they had no idea who was there or who'd been there earlier. Without their computer tabulation systems they just couldn't keep track. Half of Sheela's class showed up some in the morning, some in the afternoon almost none of them stayed all day. Sunil had two thirds of his class show and they almost all stayed once they arrived.
A similar experience was had at the gym this morning. The free weight room was closed (no lights and no A/C). The machine weights were available under the unshaded bulbs of temporary garage lights. The pools were filtering, pumping and well lit. The aerobics room managed emergency lights and no A/C. Most of the exterior lights are still out.
It was another exciting night of strong thunderstorms last night. The sirens woke Sid up around 3 AM. I was awake but still didn't notice them. We had 70 MPH winds and tornados. My co-worker watched the tornado go past his house and right towards ours. We lost some fence, a bunch of shingles and both trees and light poles in the neighborhood (but not ours). The power we out for four or five hours -- long enough to delay school for the kids.
The real chaos for me is really at work. I was planning on taking the day off. I have a dental appointment this morning and then Sheela has hers this afternoon. We usually schedule together but had to give that up for our vacation. Instead of staying home I had to go in. We lost power to the freezers around 6am but we don't know how long it was out. I have to find out and then evaluate the condition of the frozen products. The cleanroom also needs to be evaluated. That power was out for 20 minutes. And we lost the only server in the building old enough to run the label programs. I will have to in and work through lunch to get around that.
I've been dismissed without being selected to serve. It took less than two hours out of my morning and the court is very near the office. I'll grab an early lunch and head in to work for the afternoon. The best part is this gets me another 24 months without having to serve.
A month after the seaon opened Sunil's team finally played a game. Every other game has been rained out, even the make up games. We couldn'd have asked for a better day today. It is beautiful. Sunil had a few good hits off the tee and managed to catch a pitch. That is pretty good for t-ball.
This week was supposed to be spring cleaning week at work but I didn't get much cleaned out. Half the time I was wearing skirts and high heels which are not my idea of cleaning attire and the other half of the time I was kipping work to attend the golf tournament or playing catch up from vacation. It has been a terribly productive week with should be read as "my desk is messier than ever". I hate a messy desk but we are pulled so tight these days I never seem to get anything finished enough that I can put it away.
The golf tournament worked out to be perfect this year. We did not have tornados, electrical storms or baseball sized hail all of which were predicted. True the wind gusts were extreme, but the temperature was in the mid 70's and the overcast sky meant we didn't have to squint. My foursome tied for last instead of losing outright and we more than made up for it by laughing ourselves sick. Even better our highly competitive President did win, so he should be in a good mood for the next six months.
Now I have to decide if I want to clean my desk, or do real work. The nice thing is that either way I'll feel better when I'm done.
