Good things happen to those who wait (like I have a choice)

Oh, those crazy Japanese!  They're a fun-loving bunch.  This morning's news showed this office clown dressed up in a dinosaur costume terrorizing his cubicle-mates, especially this poor guy just arriving for work: 

Funny, but seems staged to me.  

Try that here in Texas and you'd probably get popped by a dozen concealed-carry Glocks.

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It's about this time every year that the optimist in me comes out.  I'm sure to the horror of all of you Yankees, I LOVE snow and hold out hope every late-summer that the upcoming winter will be at least a little white in Dallas.  

Why is this on my mind today?  Because today the weatherguessers predict we'll break the all-time record high temperature for this date....103.  UGH!

But before we get to winter we're blessed with about 6-weeks of the most perfect autumn weather you can imagine.  The perfect fall day for me?  After a Saturday doing fun stuff out and about, I retire to my den to watch a big rivalry college football game on TV.  

I'm sitting in my comfy chair with an ample supply of cold brew and football food (nachos works for me), the window beside me open, the evening temps in the 60's with a gentle rain shower in progress.  Clean-smelling fresh air...cool...football...it doesn't get any better!

God Bless America!

But before I can enjoy any of that I have to endure today.  Have I mentioned patience is NOT one of my virtues?

Stay cool everyone.

S

It's almost here....I can FEEL it....

While our days are still warm, and I'm sure we still have plenty of summer ahead of us, our evenings have been amazing all week.  And at 7 am this morning it was 64 degrees....imagine that!  With fall-like weather my mind automatically starts thinking about....

FOOTBALL SEASON!!

And this fall, as an added bonus....

....at the Lowandslow residence at least....English rugby, too.  :)

Later this morning K and I are going back downtown to the new "park on top of the freeway".  I'm ready for a little sunshine, cool temps, people watching, and maybe lunch off a gourmet food truck, too.  Looks like a spectacular weekend.  :)

S

Score!

Yesterday while K and I were out working off our Saturday "to do" list I realized we were just a block from REI and my car, as it's wont to do, went on auto-pilot straight into their parking lot.  Fortunately for me as I discovered they were having a store-wide "garage sale".  Some of it was returned items on sale for cents on the dollar, but they also had tons of new stuff marked down 50%, too.

I found this $180 Primaloft-insulated mid-weight REI jacket for $83.  Now I just have to fight Luke for it.  (He looks "ready to rumble."  Grrrrr!)

I don't understand clothes merchandising.  Here it is barely a week into winter, there is still snow on the ground from last Tuesday's storm, and already stores are clearing out their winter stuff and making room for....what....summer shorts and t-shirts?  It seems like they start earlier and earlier every year trying to sell us the upcoming season's styles.  I'm thinking someday they'll actually get ahead of themselves a full 12 months and put next winter's stuff on sale at the start of this winter.

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My banana pudding is in demand again....by ME!  I took a huge bowl of BP I made to the in-laws for (part of) our Christmas dinner dessert, and as we left K said, "Y'all just keep the rest and enjoy it."  DOH!  I got one modest-size bowl for all my effort.

This afternoon we're going to have Christmas with two of my daughters who live in the area and grandkids Parker and Blakely, plus grand-daughter Reese still "in the oven".  I made another banana pudding to share with the family, with the understanding I'm bringing back at least some of what's left over.  I mean, one serving is just a teaser!

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'Tis the best of times....it's college football bowl season....and the worst of times....after January 7th I won't have any more NCAA football for eight months.  Oh, the horror!

So far we've only had some of the minor bowl games like the Boudreaux's Butt Paste* Bowl (or something like that) where my Texas Tech Red Raiders lucked out and beat Minnesota as the clock ran out.   Hey, it's still a "W"....I'll take it.

Now I'm gonna go check the newspaper to see which NFL players added to their police rap sheets over the weekend.

Y'all have a nice Sunday.

S

*Yes, there really is such a product.  (I don't make this stuff up, folks.  Well, not most of it.)

OK, so geography isn't their forte....

BREAKING NEWS:  Apple Maps is projecting Hurricane Sandy will strike California around midnight tonight.  (Seriously, I hope all my friends in the path of that storm come through safely.)

Not much to talk about today.  Yesterday was my day for football....college football in my case.  I had the unpleasant experience of watching my Texas Tech Red Raiders have their head handed to them by Kansas State, 55-24.  Disappointed yes, but surprised, no.  KState is really good.  Solid all the way around, a true Heisman contender at QB, and expertly coached.  They should be #2 in the BCS poll after this weekend, which means they very well could be playing for the national championship in early January.

K and I went to Starbucks for our weekly coffee and read, then went to the mall near our home to just walk around and people watch.  I never tire of people watching.  Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung all had kiosks set up hawking their newest gadgets.  I asked the Samsung guy why my Galaxy Tab(let) 7.0 didn't come with an owners manual?  His response:  *deer in the headlights look*  It seems it's available online, but it's 100+ pages long....no way I'm gonna print it all out.

I want a simple little booklet like every other gadget in the world comes with.  While at the mall I stopped in to Barnes and Noble and found a "How-to" booklet which will answer my basic questions and is dumbed down to something I might understand.  (Wonder if it knows how technologically dumb I really am?)  Wish me luck.

That's enough drivel for now.  Have a nice Sunday evening everyone.

S

Winding down the weekend...WITH UPDATE

I'm all "footballed out".  Yesterday I watched (most of) 3 college games.  It was nirvana!  My Texas Tech Red Raiders beat TCU in triple overtime, 56-53.  It was a "W", but it was a very ugly "W".  *holding nose*

Today I'm going with K and a friend of hers to "Commie Con".  I'm not into the National Felon League (NFL) pro football, so I figured why not go to this Commie thing.  Otherwise I've got nothing going on today.  Maybe I can get some interesting pictures of old statues of Lenin or something.

We're still on the cusp of summer here.  Yesterday it was absolutely perfect....a bit breezy, but temps were in the 70's.  Today it's expected to touch 90.  Enough already!

While walking the dog yesterday I did notice an oak tree dropping its acorns.  Check the size of these things:

Yikes!  I'm thinking this must be the site where Lance Armstrong cleaned out his steroid mixing bowl.

Enjoy your Sunday.

S

UPDATE:  Turns out it wasn't "Commie Con", but "Comic Con".  And not comics like Seinfeld or Leno, but comic books and science fiction movie characters and paraphernalia.  It was...ummm...interesting.  :0

Maxine's advice to all politicians...

Had enough politics yet?  The Republicans have been shoveling it deep and stinky this week, and next week it's the Democrats turn.  Oh joy.

I see that Citibank has agreed to pay $590M to investors they defrauded by selling them near-worthless sub-prime loans a few years back.  So they make a couple of billion gross profit, they give back $590M...pretty sweet, huh?  Nowadays banks just figure in fines and lawsuit settlements as part of the cost of doing business.  Just like the light bill and the phone bill.  I guess this is the new Business 101.

Just curious....Do politicians start out in banking to learn the art of sleaze, or do bankers learn how to defraud people with a straight face after doing a stint in Washington? 

All is not lost, though.  There is some good news out there:  It's football season!  And I mean REAL football....college football!  You know, the kind where your team finishes the season with the same players it started with.  Where players play for the love of the game.  And a new car and a couple of thousand dollars a month "laundry money".  *wink*

S

Industrious weekend....

I came home from work early Friday, cleaned up, and then K and I (she was off Friday, too) went to Target and Toys R Us and did our Christmas shopping for the grandsons.  We beat the rush and now we're through!!!  I absolutely hate to shop, especially Christmas shop, and especially Christmas shop when everybody else is doing their Christmas shopping, too.  I feel so relieved to get it over with.


That Friday spurt of energy pretty much meant Saturday was a free day.  We had a leisurely brunch at IHOP....K suddenly likes their waffles, and I'm always good for breakfast food.  I even had some biscuits and gravy.  Mmmmm, love 'em!  And despite all that, today I weighed in and saw I had somehow managed to lose weight for the week.  I'm now down an even 11 pounds.  Just 9 more to go....with the holidays coming, that might be a tough 9 pounds, ya think?


Football watching off and on for the rest of the day ended when we walked to Ginger Man for a beer, where we ran into K's boss.  Somehow I got stuck with the tab for us all, including his son, daughter, and her date.  All I can say, he'd better come through with a nice raise for K come evaluation time.  *wink*


Gotta work this afternoon.  Maybe my next million-dollar home sale will happen today.  You never know.  :)


S

I tried...I really did try

My hometown team is in the World Series, and (nearly) everyone here is excited about it.  I tried to be excited, too, but I just can't work up any enthusiasm.  I dutifully turned on the TV at 7 last night to watch the game.  After just a couple of innings K started yawning and wandered off to iron a couple of shirts while I sat there watching intently.  After another couple of innings I was reading a magazine between pitches, hoping somebody would do something soon as I was rapidly losing interest.  By the 7th inning I threw in the towel and turned it off.


I'm sorry, but I've failed as a baseball fan.  It must be an acquired taste.  I know many of you are avid baseball fans, and I'm happy for you.  It is, after all, advertised to be America's Pastime...."baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, Chevrolet" and all that, but Jeez...it is SO boring.  It's like watching grass grow.  This is a sport where a "no hitter" is considered to be an amazing feat.  If no one hits the ball, what's the point?  Do they eventually just agree to turn off the lights and go home?  (Kidding....I know the rules.  It just seems like the last thing MLB should want is a game with no hits.)


I'm thinking I might need to learn something about hockey.  It looks like a tough sport, one where you can get your nose broken playing it, which everyone knows is the deciding factor between whether something is a "sport" or a "game".  Then I could have two sports to keep up with.  (I know they call it a football game, but let's face it, you can get all kinds of body parts broken playing football.  It's a sport.  Checkers, chess, curling, croquet, golf, Monopoly....those are games.)


One thing I will say about baseball....they generally have excellent hot dogs there.  :)


S

The End Is Near!

No, not the end of the world.  I mean the end of this @#$%& triple-digit heat wave we've had parked right over Texas for the past several months.  A quick glance at our 7-day forecast shows a cool front coming through tomorrow and temps falling into the upper 90's, and staying below 100 after that .  Yep, I said "cool" and "upper 90's" in the same sentence.  Absurd, isn't it?


It looks like we'll have around 65+/- days over 100 degrees this year, making it the second-hottest summer since The Big Bang.  It's also come to my attention that the 2011 college football season kicks off tomorrow night, too.  


Is it possible....I mean....could it be that God is a college football fan like me, and He's turned down the thermostat a few degrees so we can all enjoy the game?    ;)


Dinner out tonight with my daughters and a couple of the grandkids (with another "in the oven").  They all wanted Mexican food, which is fine with me, except it isn't exactly conducive to losing weight.  I'll really have to watch myself.  (We're trying to lose a few pounds and ramp up the exercise, getting ready to enjoy some outdoor activities this fall after being cooped up all summer.)  


S