Crazy s&*^t that I see

I took on some projects at home this week - painting Luke's room and bathroom and painting some of Logan's furniture. I had to go to Home Depot. A lot.

On Friday about 10:30am, I made a wrong turn and had to go down a side street before turning into Home Depot parking lot. As soon as I turned into the parking lot, I saw a black Ford pickup sitting/parked there like they were exiting. I could see that it was a couple, and they were having a knock-down-drag-out fist fight. They immediately sat up and stopped when they saw me turn in. I drove by really slowly, and I could see the girl's face bleeding. I didn't want to stop right beside them (this *is* Texas, you know), so I drove on past. I nearly stopped, trying to get the license plate number. But I guess the guy realized it and he squealed off.

I turned around and drove down the side street to see if I could tell where they went, but they were long gone. I debated calling the sheriff (we live in the Austin city limits, but our jurisdiction is Travis county sheriff for some reason), but I didn't think I had any actionable information. So I didn't. Jerk.

Week in review

As I sit here eating a brownie with icing on top....

2/26 3.88 miles

3/2 6.56 (bike)

3/3 3.36

13.8 miles

On 2/28 and 3/1, I took the days off from exercise to paint Luke's room and bathroom. I was so sore after those 2 days that I'm sure there was some exercise value to the activity. :)

10 years

So this morning, as I was sitting around waiting on the kids to get ready for school, I was pondering lots of things in my imaginary mind. I realized that we have been in Texas for 10 years now. I have to word that carefully, because it wasn't 10 years ago that we moved here - it was 10 years 10 months ago. There was that 10 months that we spent in exile in North Carolina, but I don't like to talk about that.

Cass and I had been living in Huntsville, AL for about 18 months. As part of his job there, he went out to California to attend GDC (Game Developers Conference, which ironically he is at right now). While at GDC back in 2000, he met face-to-face some guys that he had been interacting with on OpenGL message boards. One of the guys, John S. was working at Nvidia and mentioned to Cass that they were opening an office in Austin, TX. Cass had wanted to interview with Nvidia for a while, but he wasn't interested in moving out to San Jose, CA to work for them. But as soon as he heard Austin, TX, he jumped at it.

Right after he got home from GDC, he started interviewing for a job in the Austin office. When he went for face-to-face interviews, it was at the California office. So essentially, he took the job with Nvidia without ever having visited Austin. He came out to start work on 5/10/2000. There were 6 employees in Austin.

So we're here 10 years 10 months later. There was a 16 month stint in Dallas, which is still Texas (but most definitely NOT Austin). And that 10 months mentioned above.

We are Texans now.

RNFs

- Soon we will have 2 children in braces. Joy. Logan got hers back in December. We were waiting on Cami's, because she had some adult teeth that needed root development. They x-rayed her yesterday, and she's ready. $$$

- It will be a miracle if we live through Luke's 2nd grade year. I have nearly had. it. I may not be able to wait until the end of the school year to march into the principal's office and give them an earful.

- Why do I always get stuck planning stuff? Somehow I've been put in charge of planning a reunion for my cousins this summer. (I sort of planned the last one in summer 2009.) This one is a little more complicated, since we're trying to do it in North Georgia.

- Austin's population is now 790,390. Travis county (including Austin) is 1,024,271 (I added 5, since we moved after the census), Williamson county is 422,679, Hays county is 157,107, Bastrop county is 74, 171, Burnet county is 42,750, Caldwell county is 38,066. Total Austin Metro Area is 1,759,044. That's an increase of almost 500,000 people since 2000.

Week in review

I'm back in the saddle WRT exercise. I usually start out jogging and change over to a brisk walk when I start having trouble breathing.

2/18 3.37 miles

2/20 3.61

2/21 2.51

2/22 3.40

2/24 2.97

Total 15.86 miles this week.

My chirrens

I've been playing around with my camera. The kids haven't gotten sick of me taking their pictures yet, thank goodness.

This was taken in a part of our subdivision that overlooks the Colorado River. In the background is Mansfield Dam, that creates Lake Travis - a huge recreational lake outside of Austin.

I could have taken a bunch more, but the kids were sitting in some ant beds. Oops.

Yes, I realize that Cami had her eyes closed. It's still my favorite one of the bunch. I need to see if I can't edit some open eyes on her.

I was an American Airlines snob

I signed up for an American Airlines AAdvantage account on 8/29/2001. To date, I have flown 78,009 miles on American. Not a lot compared to some people (like Cass), but not nothing either.

They used to serve their customers. I remember once, I had a flight snafu while trying to get back home to the kids - and American actually put me on a Delta flight, just to make sure I got home to my kids. They actually went above and beyond to serve a customer. That was years ago though. Now American only serves its bottom line.

They don't care. They simply don't care. Not even if you show them loyalty. Screw you.

I recently flew on Southwest for the first time in AGES. I have always marveled at the fact that they actually turn a profit. I flew Southwest years ago, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Apparently, Southwest decided to listen to and serve its customers. They do air travel like a well-oiled machine. And they do it without stupid charges tacked on.

I reactivated my Southwest Rapid Rewards account when I got back home. Bye, bye American.