Rollin' on the river

This goes down as one of those great weekends that's not so much great because you did something amazing, but because you got to relax and do something fun with people you love instead of running around doing errands and housework all weekend. It was a no-stress weekend. Lazy day of summer. All that.

Friday I went to my folks' house and first thing in the door my niece and nephew ran to me with hugs, excited to see me. That's the stuff. People have dogs so they can get that feeling every day.

Saturday morning we hit the river by 10:30. We tube the San Marcos River because the atmosphere in New Braunfels lost its appeal for me about 10 years ago, when it turned into a giant frat party. Much as I'm sure the 20-somethings enjoy watching naked drunks defecate on people's private riverfront property, I'm less entertained by that. And if I were, which again I am not, it's certainly not something I'd expose my brother's kids to. When I was in college, we used to tube the Guadalupe down there, and it was awesome. We had a cooler full of beer (and food), and we didn't generally have any beer left by the time we reached the pick-up area, but it was a relaxing, laid-back way to spend the day back then - not Spring Break, Central Texas style. MTV would've had no interest in us. Not so anymore. They could now make videos to sell on late-night television out there.

I had heard the Comal wasn't as bad as the Guadalupe, but from my friend Judy's comment on my last post, I guess it's getting bad out there, too. Hopefully the people who want that will keep to New Braunfels and leave San Marcos alone. The San Marcos River is still old school - it's the way New Braunfels used to be. And apparently, a lot of people like it that way, because it's more popular than ever now that they've done some renovations and created some chutes/rapids near Rio Vista Park. My nephew refers to them as the "rabbits" and he was very pleased with himself for shooting the third one, which is the most tame, despite the fact that he nearly had a panic attack. It's not the grace with which you accomplish the feat - it's the accomplishment. ;)

I didn't bring my camera since it's not waterproof, but here's a stock picture I found of people tubing and kayaking the San Marcos River (you can also rent canoes - we saw a lot of those this weekend):



The rest of the day was napping, reading, swimming in a neighbor's pool (the kids, not me - I'd had enough) and eating. We were all crashed by about 10:30 that night, and it was great.

Yesterday, Julia and I went to see "You, Me and Dupree." It was pretty funny. I like Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson. Matt Dillon is okay. Owen Wilson's hair is getting a bit out of hand, though.



He's done the shaggy thing for quite some time, and it works, but in this movie, it was a real mop. I kept wanting to reach up and push it out of his eyes and brush it out or something. He seems like he's smart, and clearly he's funny, which is enough to raise his attractiveness past the point where you fixate on his f-ed up nose, but the hair is starting to cause that to slip. Just puttin' that out there for ya, O.

Salsa - week three

Salsa class got a little more challenging this week. We learned some "cross body something-or-other" step that was kind of hard to get right, and we all spent most of the class screwing it up. It even humbled Hunkster. Not Rico, though. When I had to dance with Rico this week (and believe me - I tried to think of a way to somehow skip him), as soon as we took up our starting position, he proceeded to tell me what was wrong with my form. Thanks, Rico - because it is *you* that I strive to please. The instructor seemed to be perfectly satisfied with my form, so Rico can bite me.

This week, incidentally, he had on some kind of hand-painted-looking tropical shirt. Again it was long-sleeved, but at least the material appeared to be thin. I think it had swirls and maybe a bird or something. I don't really know. I tried not to look too carefully lest he mistake my curiosity for actual interest.

After class we went to a club to test out our skills. It was...humbling. This is where we went. The Web site claims Light Bar is a "must visit." I say it's a "visit if you've already visited all the places where there are people." It actually does have an interesting decor, but I have yet to be in there that it isn't just dead.

The exception was the part we were in last night, however. There's a rooftop area where the salsa band was set up, and that's where we went. There are a few problems with this area. One is that it was hot. I admit, I chose my outfit poorly. I wore jeans, and that's just stupid in Austin in July. I was hot. Also my shoes were too narrow and about a half-inch too high, so that became a problem. But my outfit notwithstanding, I'm not sure that an outside venue is what you're looking for to go dancing in Texas in the summer. That said, the place was packed. When we first got there, it wasn't bad, but it got wall-to-wall in short order. This was partly due to the fact that the rooftop area is small - like half the size of the club downstairs. But it was also due to the fact that there are apparently just a lot of people who salsa dance in this town.

Many of those people are very good. It was fun to watch them. It was embarrassing to dance next to them. Luckily a lot of people from our class showed, so we could dance with each other and be cheerleaders for one another. "You're doing great! You got it!" You need that when "So You Think You Can Dance?" is going on right next to you. It was fun to see all my classmates doing so well, though. And best of all, Rico wasn't there! There is no accounting for this, since I would think this is the moment he lives for - the chance to bust out his moves in public. But he wasn't there and no one was complaining. The Hunkster and his girlfriend came, but they stayed to themselves and only danced with each other. She was dressed to the nines in tight clothes, flowing hair and fuck-me pumps (those with sensitive ears, forgive me, but that's what they were). She actually wore that to class, which was an interesting choice. Like the guys weren't having enough trouble picking up the new step, and then they had to dance with the Playmate of the Year.

I tried to take some pictures to post, but I couldn't get any worth posting. It was too small a space and too crowded and you just couldn't get any nice action shots. So, I gave up. If you really must have a picture, here is one of me with my niece and nephew from Easter:



Last weekend I finally went through all the pictures that have been piling up in my office, and I found that one. Are those the cutest kids or what? Just for the record, my nephew is 6 years old, but he's almost as tall as I am when we're sitting. He did not get my midget gene, though it's hard to say if the issue here is his height or my lack of it. This goes back to what I said about martial arts the other day - I am not a big person. Incidentally, my niece also avoided the mini-person gene, though you can't tell in this picture. She's going to be tall and gorgeous. Strangely, I never feel particularly small. It only comes home to me when I see myself in pictures with other people. Luckily, for the moment, I'm still taller than my brother's kids, so I get to look a grown-up in this one!

My hair is a couple of inches longer now than in this picture, but those of you who have known me forever can attest that other than my hair, I pretty much never change. So, just add a couple of inches to my hair, flip up the ends, and there I am today - except not wearing that dress. Or imagine my hair up, and I'm wearing jeans and a sleeveless shirt, sweating and massaging my feet, and that's me last night. I promise to post more pictures of myself, too - not just ones to embarrass my friends. Of course, it's my blog, so I get to avoid posting any ugly ones of me. Author's perogative, you know.

Well, everyone have a great weekend! My brother is bringing his fam up this weekend and we're going tubing. Woo-hoo! So, I'll be on the river and not on Blogger. If you miss me, just gaze at the picture above. Or call me. Don't be afraid to just...phone moi. Call me and I'll be aroooound.

So rested

You can get all kinds of sleep when your alarm clock is broken, as mine appears to be. On Monday and Tuesday, I assumed it was operator error. I must've forgotten to turn it on or maybe the volume was turned down on the radio, etc. Gah!! Then Wednesday, I woke up early, before the alarm, so I never even noticed that it never went off. But this morning, when I woke up at 6:45, 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave the house, I was sure it wasn't my fault.

I checked the setting - yes, alarm on (which I was sure of since I made a point of checking that before I went to bed last night). Turned the radio on - yes, it's on a station and the volume is loud enough. Checked the alarm time - yes, it's set at 6 a.m., not p.m. The damn thing just didn't go off. Bugger!!

I called in that I'd be late, ran around like a crazy person to get ready, and managed to only get in about 15 minutes late. Not bad considering I was 45 minutes late getting up. Some people I know have "internal alarm clocks" - as in they don't need an alarm clock. They just *know* when to wake up and do it, even if it's a bizarre time - like 4 a.m. to get up for a flight or something. My dad is like that. It's amazing. I am NOT one of those people. So, now I have to buy a new alarm.

I'm practically blind without my contacts, so it has to be something with numbers that glow brightly so when I wake up at 3:34 a.m. for no apparent reason, I can see that I have another 2.5 hours of sleep yet, and I can sink happily back down into the pillow. I'm one of those people that has to know what time it is at all times, including the middle of the night.

And it has to be small. I have very small bedside tables, and the alarm has to share space with a lamp, a stack of books, a bottle of water, my glasses and miscellaneous items I stash there before drifting off. I suppose there's some sort of spacial dissonance to my bed/bedside table arrangement, because I have a large, queen-sized bed and then these tiny bedside tables. But I bought them when I had a full bed and lived in an apartment with a very small bedroom - not much room for side tables. They match my new bed and the other furniture in the room, though, so I keep them. Until I buy the new alarm, I'll use my cell phone alarm - one more thing to take up space on the bedside table, but at least it will wake me up on time.

Got any leftovers?

I have to start with a big hello to Vangie's parents, visiting from Alabama! It was great to see y'all last night, and if I didn't say a proper thank you for dinner, let me say it now. The ribs were supah!

It's actually cloudy here today. While cloudy skies make me want to lounge in bed, then after I can no longer resist the lure of the TV, move to the couch to lounge there, I was forced by employment to get out of bed and go to work. But it's all good, because we need rain, and I don't have any outdoor plans today. So, rain, do your thing!

I actually woke up about 20 minutes early this morning, so I went ahead and got up and was able to get ready for work at a more leisurely pace. I even paid attention to the morning news - or the commercials anyway. One, in particular, got my attention. It was for a lap dance seminar. Well, actually it was for a lap *band* seminar, but I swear to God it sounded like they were saying lap dance. And after the annnouncer said that Dr. Fat Begone was bringing his lap dance seminar to Austin, the first testimonial was, "It's the best thing I've ever done!" I admit I had to stop what I was doing and go take a closer look at the commercial. I mean, I might not have been surprised to see an ad for a lap dance seminar at 3 a.m. during "Blind Date" (right after the "Girls Gone Wild" commercial), but this was 6 a.m. during the news.

It made a lot more sense when I realized it was for laparoscopic obesity surgery. But this begs the question, do you really want to select your doctor by whoever is bringing their traveling sideshow to the Ramada this weekend? Perhaps you could consider talking to your real doctor and getting a referral. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Speaking of getting in shape, I'm back to working out this week. And it's crippling me. I did a lower-body workout on Sunday, and my thighs were possibly torn. There was a time my legs were like iron. I took gymnastics when I was a kid, and even in my 20s, I could do this thing where you sit down with your legs straight out. You bend one so that your ankle is up against your butt, and then you push up on that leg to a standing position while holding the other leg straight out the whole way. Try it. Really - I dare you.

I could not do the leg thing right now. I can barely get up out of my chair without using the arm rests. But I'm determined to do it again. I hate when I get this wussy. It's not about how I look. I look fine. It's about how I feel. Vangie and Dave and I were talking last night about taking a martial arts class. They want to kick ass with Krav Maga. That's an Israeli-developed fighting/self-defense class. I'm fine with kicking someone else's butt, but not so hot on getting mine kicked (I'm averse to pain), so I'm thinking more along the lines of Judo. Judo is self-defense more geared toward using the other person's weight against them. I'm small, so that sounds like a good choice. I realize all martial arts (except Tai Chi) are going to involve getting bruised at some point, but I have to figure it happens more often with some forms than others, and I opt for the one where it happens less.

I've still got 3 more salsa classes to go, though, so I'll stay focused on that and consider Judo later. Or I'll forget the whole thing and just pull out my Tai Bo tape and convince myself that counts. Or maybe I'll get distracted by what to do with my hair...

It could've gone so wrong...

but it didn't! Katye Fogal is OUT and Air Force is still in on Treasure Hunters! Air Force, don't ever scare me like that again, by the way. I'm not sure I could've continued watching if it had gone the other way. But it's all good, and I'm sure Air Force will leap back into the lead on the next leg.

Not a whole lot of recap necessary this week. They went to Paris. The only good part of that would be the fact that you're in the catacombs, meaning the Frenchmen you'll encounter are dead. How typical that Air Force, the Fogals and the Geniuses got screwed over by locals on the train who said they'd take them to the catacombs, but had no idea where the catacombs were. What a surprise - screwed by the French.

Lafayette statue - break the mask. Not much to say on this one except that Kayte argued against breaking the mask. Of course.

Dover Castle. Good goin' Southie Boys! Good for them for figuring out the clue, especially after Ex-CIA's comment that they were one step above Neanderthals. Whatsa matter, Ex-CIA? You don't like a Boston boy accent? Go pahk the cah and shut up. Speaking of Ex-CIA, how about Todd taking credit for the Ben Franklin clue - Miss USA told him the answer, and he just confirmed on Ask.com, and next thing you know, he's claiming he researched it and found the answer. Not really, pal. Oh, and did you notice the cameras everywhere you go? Probably not wise to lie about how stuff goes down.

My favorite line of this week's show: Francis to Charles, "Don't throw a hissy fit." Ha! I laughed out loud. Boy, did that tick Charles off.

St. Bart's church. The Geniuses actually had the cajones to claim that Air Force is always trying to "use our brains." Well, gosh, Francis, you're exactly right. Air Force has spent this entire hunt at the front of the pack, looking back at you guys asking you to figure stuff out for them. It's just been week after week of them riding your coattails. Idiot.

That's kind of it for this week. One parting note is about the "audience participation" texting contest they do every week. They could lose that part of the show if they do another season. I don't think it draws in any viewers, and the DJ voice at the end announcing "Congratulations to Mary Smith from Duluth, Iowa!" with the mysterious music playing underneath is sort of annoying.

A good day in Austin

Tried to post this yesterday (Sunday), but had trouble uploading my pics. Probably it was my lame-ass dial-up connection. Here it is for a Monday read, though!

It's a good day in Austin. No particular reason, honestly. I'm just lovin' where I live today, running around doing errands and enjoying my existence.

I got up this morning about 7:45 and was out the door by 8:30 to go get my oil changed. I then got my car washed at Genie, which is a lot more expensive than doing it myself, but it's also a lot faster and easier. I felt bad about not tipping the guy who did the detail work until I discovered he'd missed some important spots. I never even knew that those guys get tips until a guy I used to know who worked there as a salesman told me. Truth of the matter is I still rarely do it, though. I tip generously to waitstaff since they're getting less than minimum wage, meaning their income really is their tips, and a tip is a reflection of the service they give you. But why am I expected to tip people for doing jobs they're already paid to do? Like the sandwich guys at Thundercloud. They have a tip jar. Um...dude...you're making my sandwich and handing it to me as I stand at the counter. Isn't that what your paycheck is for? No one tips me for writing a particularly compelling story or not going postal when yet another story in my issue gets killed. I'm not sure where we got to the point where ever person in a service industry thinks they're entitled to a tip on top of their salary/wage. When did that happen?

After leaving Genie, I saw that an Albertson's down the road is going out of business and they advertised "90% off everything" in the store. So, I pulled in. Why not? Maybe they have something I want. The advertisement was what we word professionals call a "lie." The savings were in fact 30% off groceries and 70% off general merchandise. Even I, the math-challenged, can calculate that's 20-60% less than the advertisement. I have no idea how they get away with just plain-out false advertising. But I found some great deals nonetheless, so okay.

I made a few more stops and finally headed home - had some cantaloupe, watched a taped episode of Black Books. All in all, it's a good weekend. Friday night was not as exciting as last week, but I did manage to get out among the folks. I met my friends for happy hour margaritas at Baby A's, which is always a good way to kick off the weekend. Laurie made a special effort to keep things spicy.



You work it, girl. Get down with your bad self. Her husband Tony was appreciative of her efforts.



Everyone say, "Awwwww!" Just for the record, love really is grand.

After happy hour, we split up. Some of the crew went to a movie, but Angela, Travis and I decided to do some karaoke. We picked a spot inside the Austin city limits, Common Interest, so there wouldn't be any smoking. Common Interest used to be a nice place with good singers and a big crowd, but it's...uh...not so much anymore. It could reasonably be called a dive now. The singers were awful (but as Ang says, give 'em a break - this is their moment on stage), and Ang and I only sang one song each because they had the songs set several keys too high and took forever to get too us. The other singers mostly favored 70s slow songs, too, like "Lady" by The Commodores. That puts kind of a hit on the party vibe - I almost nodded off once. The beer was cheap, though, and we know how to entertain ourselves. Or, at least, Travis knows how to entertain us:



An evening with a good belly laugh is an evening well spent. (And aren't all my friends SOOOO happy I have a digital camera now.)

Salsa! Week two.

Before I give the lowdown on salsa class last night and in honor of my post a couple of days ago, I gotta thank my friend Allison for sending me the following link to a song about cube life: http://www.mix969.com/timages/page/media/songcubicle.mp3. Funny thing is, I don't like the James Blunt song this is based on, but that makes this spoof all the better. Thanks Allison!

Oh, and as a shout out to the universe for last week, here's a little somethin'. Okay, one more. Okay, one more. Last one, I promise.

Allright, salsa class! First let me say that I'm doing much better than I expected! I think maybe my choir directors and aerobic instructors conspired over the years to squash my confidence in my ability to do organized dance. Because I'm kickin' it! Of course, this is only the second class, and I haven't actually danced with anyone who wasn't shouting out to me the next step...that could be part of my success. But I'm getting the steps! Next week, we're heading out to a club after class to test our skills in the "real world." I may have an entirely different take on my abilities after that.

Rico was back. You knew he would be. And he seemed giddy about being there. I think we all like a happy person - no one wants to be around someone who brings you down. And I admit - I'm a smiler. I'm a pretty happy person in general, and I smile a lot. But Rico was just this side of giggling. He was also wearing some odd cowboy shirt - bright blue with red piping. And long sleeves. Have you been outside, Rico? I don't know what that was about. In any case, he was back in form. At one point, we all stood still quietly listening as the instructor talked about...something...I couldn't tell you what because I was distracted - while he was talking Rico was doing dance steps. By himself. Again.

This time, Angela was standing right next to him, which meant she had to try not to laugh. This was made difficult by the fact that Julia and I were not standing next to him and could laugh without it being obvious why, and everytime we made eye contact with Ang, well...she had to try to stop looking at us.

This week, I had the glory of dancing with Rico. He informed me in an excited voice as we waited for the music to start that, "I'm going to work on my hips!!" That's great, Rico. Just keep them a safe distance from mine, kay?

I also got to dance with The Hunkster this week. I didn't mention The Hunkster last week because I actually never really noticed him. Angela and Julia told me about him later. They'd both danced with him and he made quite an impression. The Hunskter is a buff, model-type guy (I've already addressed my preference for guys who are muscular because they're...oh, I don't know...Scotsman soldiers...or firemen, or athletes or something like that, as opposed to guys who oil themselves up and watch themselves work out in the mirror - The Hunkster is the latter type). He's taking the class with his young, pretty girlfriend, and this would be all for the good if we didn't all switch partners throughout the class.

See, The Hunkster thinks he's the shit. Last week, Ang and Julia had to dance with him, and they said he tried to stare intensely into their eyes as they danced - like this was serious seduction time and they WOULD fall before his model feet in adoration! Salsa!!! Of course, we're all strangers, so staring intently into anyone's eyes mostly just makes the other person uncomfortable. But The Hunkster thinks he's giving you a thrill. I'm pretty sure that's what he thought when I danced with him this week and could barely keep a straight face and would only hold eye contact for a few seconds at most. I think he thought I was unnerved by his beauty. He doesn't know me. I wasn't.

First off, when I was paired up with him, I noticed there was something all over the front of his shirt - spray of some kind. A half-second later it hit me what it was: cologne. Hunkster had doused himself with a liberal shot of cologne before coming to class, and it had stained his shirt. Hard to imagine that he didn't check himself out in the mirror before leaving the house, but he didn't seem to know he was walking around with the shadow of a splash all over his shirt. That amused me, what with him thinking he was so hot.

Then the eye contact started, and I almost started laughing. I couldn't look at him. It was just too funny. And I tried to make light small talk and joke about missing a step, and of course, he had to instruct me on how I should, "Just follow my hand" and then demonstrated what he meant by pushing and pulling on my shoulder blade with his fingers. He stopped just before I shouted, "Got it! Stop violating my scapula!" Since I refused to stare at his face, that meant I stared at his shoulder. It was then that I realized he has no body hair. The man shaves his body. I think I actually did snicker then, and I didn't know where to look. I was so relieved when we could finally move on to another partner.

Luckily, the rest of the people in the class are normal, and I think we're all doing pretty well and having a good time. I wore flat, rubber-soled shoes again, and that was a mistake. We started learning some spins/turns this week, and I couldn't spin very well those shoes. Next week, it'll be time to bust out the heels. My feet might be tired before we ever make it to the club, but you know what Fernando says, "It's better to look good than to feel good." No, it's not.

43 days.

It's 43 days to kickoff. Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. UT's first football game is Saturday, September 2. You knew that. It's on your calendar.

I'm only thinking about it because Julia and I went to Scholz's for lunch today. (They need someone to redesign their Web site by the way - it's kind of a mess.) I love Scholz's. You smell like meat when you leave, but the food is good and reasonably priced, and the place is just so Austin...UT football, politics, beer, BBQ, shorts on the patio, history, music. I never want to go back to work when I have lunch there. I want to grab a beer and go sit out back and hang the rest of the afternoon.

Anyway, I want to be excited about the first game. I want to be excited about the whole season. But last year was the best football season of my entire life. The Rose Bowl was the best game of my entire life. It was nirvana. It was perfection. I'm not ready to let go of it. I don't think it can be repeated this year, so the season can't help but be a letdown. No more Vince Young. No more David Thomas. No more magic. The 2005 season is gone. It's almost painful. National Champions...for 43 more days I can hold on to January 4, 2006. The best night ever.



And then it's a new season. A new season kicked off with a game against UNT at 11 a.m. on September 2. Do you have any idea what the temperature will be like during that game??? We're going to be dropping like flies - crispy, red, blistered, shriveled flies with no moisture left in our roasted bodies. There won't be any shade - there's no relief from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The sun will sit over us like a mocking ball of sizzling death. Relief doesn't start until the sun starts to set behind the West side upper deck, and we'll have been home for hours (with Gatorade IV drips) by the time that happens.

Now, I could be wrong. Maybe it won't be like the Iraqi desert. Last year, according to weatherunderground.com, the high was a balmy 93 on Sept. 2. That's doable (with constant application of sunscreen - I'm telling you the sun is RIGHT ON YOU for three hours). But check out the record temperature - 107 in 2000. We've already had a bunch of 100+ days this summer, so I can't help it - I'm concerned. Someone recently said to me, "It could be worse. It could be a 2 p.m. game, then you'd be sitting up there in the heat of the day. 5 p.m. is the hottest part of the day." True. But at a certain point, a few more degrees just doesn't make much difference - too freakin' hot is too freakin' hot. Maybe we'll catch a break and have some freakish cool front and match the historic low weatherunderground shows for 1915 - 58 degrees. I'd probably just complain that I was cold, wouldn't I?

And for what is all this weather angst? UNT?? Are you kidding me? Between that and Sam Houston on Sept. 30, I'm just disgusted. Our schedule is a travesty. And I don't even want to *discuss* what they're charging for tickets to those games. Now, Ohio State on Sept. 9 is a bright spot. That's a real game, and that's at 7 p.m. Of course, that's also a little scary without Vince. We may find out how far the mighty have fallen on Sept. 9. We shall see, though. Ya nevah know.

But for now, I guess I'll just enjoy the last 43 days of the 2005 season. We're still National Champs. Hook 'em.

Say "Cheese" or "Suzanne, you are GLAM!!"

I have taken the leap and bought a digital camera. Yes, that's right, I'm like Future Woman! "Look at her and you shall see what TomorrowLand looks like!!"

I actually picked out this camera (a Canon PowerShot SD450) months ago, but it was pricey, and I couldn't pull the trigger. My mom wanted to buy it for me for my birthday, but I couldn't let her. It was too much money. And my budget was a little tight at the time. So, I waited. I can be patient when it's called for. Well, Canon has come out with a new version with more pixels, so guess what that means? Mine dropped in price!

So, yesterday, I zipped over to Circuit City and picked it up. I even got a deal on some 528 mb memory cards. I can take like a gagillion pictures now!! And post them! Except, I'm not entirely sure how many photos you really want of my cat and my cube at work. But hey man - you come here voluntarily. Clearly you WANT to know the minutiae of my life. So, here's the first one of my cube:



It's like I'm a rock star, right? Don't be jealous of my cube, though. Don't be a hater. It takes years of education and hard work to achieve this kind of work environment. Pay your dues, man. Pay your dues. And if you really live right, you, too, can someday own a digital camera. Make your dreams come true.

The real treasure would be Kayte shutting up.

Picture me standing behind a table, my hands on the table. I'm hunched over, my head down, barely able to support my body weight, my face a mask of pain. This is what Kayte on Treasure Hunters does to me - she's a lifeforce sucking, screeching, bird alien that needs to be silenced. Ex-CIA guys - you do that sort of thing, right?

This week on Treasure Hunters, we had to endure some replays of Kayte's scritching and screaming from last week as she trounced around the swamp. As if watching it the first time last week wasn't agony enough. But then we got to see her whining through the theater task, distracting Brad to the point that he couldn't even think to get the mirror clue. In fact, she actively hassled him AWAY from the clue. She is just frigging brutal.

Of course, Air Force figured out the mirror clue in seconds. They R.O.C.K. I loved Ex-CIA's Jacob's comment: "Those guys are robots. It's man versus machine at this point." Brooke was especially cool to me this week when she reminded Husband Matt to keep the flag off the ground. "A little respect," she said, patting him on the side. Sidenote: I noticed Husband Matt has one of those tattoos that circles the bicep like a vine or strap or something, and I couldn't help but feel vindication of my earlier thought from yesterday. While I'm not a proponent of tattoos, they do look pretty sexy on some guys. Just be sparing. There's no excuse for this kind of thing:



Oh, and to give Bitchy Genius Charles his due, he also gave the flag some love. When Francis got a little cavalier with our nation's symbol, he said, "That's not happening. The flag's not on the floor." Or something like that. In any case, I give him props. I'm libertarian in many ways, and I don't really like laws for things like flag-burning. I don't think you should do it, but I'm not sure I like laws about such things. If you want to be an a-hole, I guess it's your right. I see it as freedom of expression. You're free to express that you hate this country with that kind of act, but I'm free to tell you there's a flight every minute or so out of this country from any major city. Find a country you like better. But I digress.

More on the Geniuses. How sweet was it that Sam saved the day on the mirror clue after Charles wanted to boot him? Go Sam. It's your birthday.

The digging task was hienous. Air Force, of course, knocked it out in minutes, but truly, it was luck that they happened to start at just the right spot. The Amazing Race does stuff like that all the time, and it can make you scream when the wrong team lucks out. Luckily, Air Force is the right team, so it's all good. ;) Oh, and of course, Kayte wouldn't shut the hell up again, and if Brad had listened to her, she would have again blown it for them. Muzzle her.

WOW, did that 6-hour penalty kill the Browns! I'm not sure that was completely necessary either. Since all they had to do was finish the task they were on and they could've dropped Keith out anyway, why not just put them back in the swamp and say, "Go"? They're already serving a penalty from the time they lost with the EMTs getting Keith out. So, just let them pick it back up there. Having them hang out for 6 hours was tantamount to just taking them out of the game. That's a bummer. I liked the Browns.

1, 2, 3, (hold), 1, 2, 3, (hold)...

Salsa class rocked (or salsa'ed)! We learned two steps last night, and I think I've got them down. I practiced when I got home, and even a little this morning. I'm going to practice each day until next week's class, so it'll just be muscle memory by the time we're ready to learn the next step.

I had a little trouble with the second step we learned. I kept wanting to do what my friend Julia quickly identified as an aerobic step - she had the same problem, so we worked together to try and do it right. With a bunch of practice, hopefully I can break the tendency to do it the Denise Austin way instead of the salsa way! If I yell, "Feel the burn!" in class, hopefully Julia will snap me out of it.

The other people in the class are very nice. It's a big class - about 30 people. Most of the people came coupled, but seven or so of us are in there solo. Naturally, there are more women than men, so about 5 of us chicks are without a partner on any given round of dancing. The group switches partners a lot, so you're not solo all the time (thangod), and if you came there with your husband thinking you'd be dancing with him the whole time, you're wrong. Sometimes he's dancing with me and my hotness. Deal with that, married lady! Truly, nobody seemed to mind all the constant partner shifting. The instructor rightfully explained that it makes you a better dancer to dance with so many different people because everyone moves just a little differently, and jumping around helps you learn how to adjust to different people's steps.

One guy doesn't really need a partner. He loves himself enough for all of us. When we first started class, we split into two lines, facing each other, just to practice some rhythms and learn a little about the class and what we'd be doing and such. We're in a dance studio, so there are mirrors at one end of the room. The way our lines were situated, the mirrors were to the side, not behind or in front of us. I noticed the guy in question, let's call him Rico Suave, or just Rico for short, kept glancing into the mirror, which was to his left. No, glancing is not the right word. His glance lingered. He was gazing.

At first, I thought maybe he was self-conscious, and he was checking his hair, or his posture or making sure his underwear wasn't showing or something. Fair enough. Who wants toilet paper hanging out of their shorts in the sexy, Latin dance class? But after about the seventh lingering glance, I began to wonder. Maybe he's looking at one of us women in the mirror. Maybe he doesn't want to look at us directly, so he thinks we won't notice his rapt attention on the mirror. But soon I was diabused of this notion. Our lines were reorganized so that the women were in a line on one side, and the men were in a line on the other side facing us. Rico had to go to the other side of the room, whereupon he continued to lovingly look into the mirror on that side, clearly at himself.

It gets better. He began to do dance steps. On his own. Alone. The rest of us were clapping rhythms, listening to the instructor, learning what beats we should listen for, and Rico was shakin' his groove thang. I guess the class was moving too slow for Rico. He's got the music in him, ya know. He can't be expected to just stand there when he could be steppin' it out. And so he did.

I suppose it was important to Rico that we all know he was way ahead of us. He already pretty much knows how to do this...which is why he paid for the class...because he already knows how to do it. Oh, but he did have a question about leading your partner at one point. So, maybe that's why he paid for the class. He's confused about leading. I'll tell you what I'm not confused about: Rico is a tool.

Maybe I'll find out over the next 4 classes that Rico is really a sweet guy - he was just eager...and somewhat fascinated with his reflection. But probably I'll just find out that Rico is, in fact, a tool. Perhaps I should call him HammerTime instead of Rico.

Salsa...with chips?

Tonight I embark on a new activity. I'm taking a salsa class. I don't mean that I'm going to learn how to make picante sauce. I mean that I'm going to (in theory) learn how to dance a sexy, Latin dance.

I'd like to think I can learn how to do this dance and look good doing it. I'm paying someone to spend 5 weeks teaching me. But I'm not really gifted in the dance arena. I can country dance, though I've been maybe twice in the last 10 years, so I'm a tad rusty, but that's kind of the extent of my structured dancing prowess. I don't think I "move well" (that's the term I've heard from performing types). When I was in high school and college choirs, and we had shows, there would inevitably be dancing numbers. They put me well back from the front of stage on those, despite my somewhat stunted height of 5'3". If there was a spot where you didn't have to move at all, that was where you'd find me. Look for the statue. Oh look, it's not a piece of scenery - it's singing.

But I'm no Elaine Bennis. I don't embarrass myself in clubs or anything. So, there's hope. And that's why you take a dance class, right? To learn how to dance? I mean, I've learned a few basic steps from Denise Austin workout shows. I refuse to take a public, organized aerobic class of any kind, since I generally look like I'm broken when I try to do the steps, and I can't keep up. But I do her televised workout show at home sometimes, and my cat says I do just fine. So, I'm going to stand up straight, pretend to be confident, and give it a shot!

I'm taking the class with two of my friends, so not only should it be educational, but it should be social and hopefully fun. None of us has a partner for the class, so we could potentially end up dancing with each other. I promise to try not step on your toes, girls!

A bit of bragging

I've been enjoying watching the latest shuttle mission for the last week. Thanks to an Internet feed of NASA TV, I've watched a lot of the activity in real-time. I'm particularly interested in the space walks, called EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activities), because my brother is on the EVA safety team. That's right, my brother is a rocket scientist [she said with pride, though she had nothing to do with it].

My bro is one of the people who tries to make sure that the astronauts are safe when they go on EVAs. It's a huge responsibility, and I have to tell you, my brother is one of the people you want doing that job. He works very well under pressure, is meticulous, is incredibly smart, and tells it like it is. If something isn't right or isn't ready, my brother would say so. He wouldn't worry that someone wouldn't want to hear it. And if he does something, it's done right. He's had a greater role of responsibility this mission, and he was very excited when the launch finally happened and it was his turn to go to work. My family has been equally excited for him, and we've followed everything closely.

Of course, we're all holding our breath until the astronauts return safely. There's no such thing as safe space travel, and in any human endeavor, there is the risk of error or accident. My brother wasn't with NASA when Columbia broke up, but he keeps a photo of the Columbia crew by his desk in his home office - always a reminder of the importance of what he does. And to those who think that space travel is some kind of vanity project that doesn't affect your life, consider the following items that are a direct result of NASA-originated technology:

cell phones
PDAs
CAT scanners
MRIs
kidney dialysis machines
freeze-dried food
water purification technology (including waste water and pool water)
scratch-resistant lenses
portable coolers/warmers
athletic shoes
Dustbusters
smoke detectors
flat-panel TVs
home security systems
Doppler radar

There's a whole lot more. This page will get you started if you're interested in knowing how NASA's research benefits the wider world. So, go put on your Nikes, grab a glass of Tang and go watch the latest Doppler radar weather report on your flat-panel TV. If you can't see, put on your glasses with the scratch-resistant lenses. Then thank NASA and the brave astronauts who risk their lives doing something dangerous, difficult and amazing.

Two hours, better than one.

Well, even though I read the online summary and did a recap of last week's "Treasure Hunters," I still watched last week's episode before this week's aired. And it was even more fun watching the Hanlons get their karmic comeuppance than it was reading about it!

I won't recap it again, but a few thoughts after watching the episode:

- I love Boston. Really, it's one of my favorite cities. If I had a lot of money, I'd like to live there for a while.
- Katie Fogal is annoying as hell. If she's not seasick, she's carsick, she's scared, or she's tired. I'm so sick of her crying, whining, etc.
- Old Newgate Prison - I've been there! My ex-boyfriend lives in CT, and on one of my visits to see him, he took me there. It was closed when we went due to some kind of funding problem they were having, but we poked around the outside anyway, and I recognized it when I saw the footage last night! Cool.
- When Air Force busted the Southies on their little collaboration with 5 other teams to oust AF, the Southies weren't man enough to admit it and actually tried to say that working as a group to oust a team is no different than AF helping the Fogals at times. Pathetic.
- LOVED Tony Brown's comment about the Hanlons: "There have never been three collective minds on the face of hte Earth more devoid of intelligence than those three men." I am glad the son apologized for his dad's repellent behavior, though - he's the only one with any brain and any integrity.

Now, on to this week's show. I was kind of tired last night, so I mostly have comments rather than a recap. Here we go:

- Charlie, the bitchy Genius, to be slapped down. Slapped. Down. He's been a yippy, little a-hole dog since the first leg and I want him to shut up.
- $30,000 mid-hunt prize. Yeah, baby!
- I think I would've napped on the drive from NY to SC.
- How hot are the AF guys when they're tramping through the swamp, and nothing slows them down? Up to their chests in muck? No problem.
- 101 degrees and 98% humidity? That is hell on earth, man.
- Hey, Katie's having a meltdown. Imagine that. What a treat it would've been for the viewers if her folks had dropped her from the team, but I knew they wouldn't. My mom certainly wouldn't have. It was a crushing blow for us viewers, though, when sniveling Katie looked up to see that her mother had come back.
- I was happy to see how many teams never even considered leaving a team member behind, knowing they were probably forfeiting the $30,000. It says alot about Charles that he wants to leave Sam. And Sam knows it. That's why he volunteered to stay behind. He wants to see what Charles will do. Or maybe he's hoping they will so he doesn't have to listen to Charles anymore. The Browns never would have left Keith behind, but I'm hoping that now that Keith is out with an injury, their team will be stronger. I like them. And Keith is a nice guy, but he wasn't physically up to it. He held them back.
- CIA wins the money. Darn. I wanted AF to win, especially after the other teams ganged up on them. That would've been sweet revenge.

Slow down with your fancy horseless carriage!

In my ongoing attempt to stay somewhat engaged with the ever-changing world around me, I've started using Netflix. I've already admitted I'm not an early adopter - it takes me a while to buy new gadgets and upgrade the ones I have. I still haven't bought a digital camera (as you well know from the lack of photos on my blog). I only got a DVD player when some friends of mine got one free with some purchase from Best Buy and they gave it to me because they already had a better model. My cell phone is just a cell phone. It doesn't take pictures or play music or send email. And I should point out that this is my upgraded phone - the one I just got a couple of months ago because my old one would no longer hold a charge and you couldn't even buy new parts for it. Or maybe you could. I don't really know because one of my co-workers just gave me her leftover spare batteries from when she used to own the same phone, so I didn't try to buy a new battery (Are you seeing a trend? Other people buy better stuff and give me their cast-offs because I'm so behind the curve that it's actually new and/or useful to me!). My 60-something mother upgraded her phone before I upgraded mine. I'm pathetic.

But my cousin gave me a one-month trial membership to Netflix for Christmas, and I finally used it this month, and I decided to keep it. I get charged starting today, so I downgraded it to the one-at-a-time unlimited subscription, which is $9.99 instead of $14.99 (I'm not cheap - I'm just on a budget! If I were cheap, I would've gone with the only-two-a-month subscription for $5.99), and we'll see how it goes. I can always upgrade back to the two-at-a-time or drop it all together depending on my usage. But so far, I'm really liking it. I'm getting caught up on tv shows that I either didn't watch when they were on or I didn't have access to (like HBO series).

The show I've been watching, courtesy of Netflix, this past month, and that I totally love, is "Arrested Development." What a hilarious show! It only ran 3 seasons, and I guess some people would say that people like me are why it died - I didn't watch it when it was on. But I do that a lot. I tend to tape shows and watch them when it's convenient for me, rather than when it airs, or catch it on DVD later - again, when it's convenient for me. Someday, I hope to have TiVo. And then life will be super wonderful great. But that's an expense I can't justify at the moment (see my previous paragraph about living on a budget), so for now it's my VCR and a Netflix subscription. It's possible the Netflix and TiVo expenses might balance out, but with TiVo, I'd have to wait for something to air and save it to the TiVo. With Netflix, I can order what I want when I want it and watch an entire season of something at a time. Plus, Netflix is DVDs, so I can watch them on my laptop as well as on my DVD player at home. This feature comes in handy. So, I'll go with this arrangement for now.

If you haven't seen "Arrested Development," rent it. It's a scream! The whole cast is great. Or at least rent the first DVD of the first season. If it doesn't hook you, it's not your thing. But if you love it from the first episode, it just keeps delivering! I also plan to watch the entire run of "The 4400," "The Sopranos," and "Six Feet Under." I actually have the first season of "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under," so I'll see those shows from the second season on. And I may even order a movie or two in there!

This world of the future we live in sure is great. Maybe my friends can tell me what wonderful technology awaits me in a few years, since they're all using it already I'm sure!

Happy Birthday, America!

What a busy week it's been since my last post! Friday night I went to my folks' house, and my brother came down with his family. We spent most of Saturday watching to see what would happen with the shuttle and swimming, then celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday early on Saturday (today is her real birthday - Happy Birthday, Lisa!). Sunday my brother and sister-in-law headed back to Houston, and my folks and I took the kids to church and then to their first circus. They had a blast!

Monday included a picnic and a trip to play in the river, and Tuesday we watched the shuttle launch, visited family and had more bathing suit time. It's been non-stop action! I don't know how you full-time parents do it. I was exhausted by the time I got home last night.

I somehow managed to miss "Treasure Hunters," which I didn't even realize until last night! It kept feeling like last night was Sunday. Anyway, I had to read the recap to find out what happened, and apparently I missed some interesting action. The recap wasn't very good, though. I saw that the Grad Students had to drop out because of the one girls' injured ankle. No surprise there. But then I saw that the Browns are back in, but the recap didn't say why. Only later did I find out it was because the Grads had to drop out.

It looks like the Geniuses gave the Fogals a little of what they needed - some good old-fashioned deception. Good. The Fogals have nerve asking anyone for anything. It bites that Air Force got stuck with the Fogals by default after screwing up the schoolroom clue. The recap said the other teams ganged up on Air Force during the bullet-clue portion of the game, but again, the recap didn't say why. Can anyone 'splain why the other teams did that? Air Force hasn't been nasty to anyone, have they?

The recap also said the Hanlons didn't want to play nice with their partners the Browns b/c they thought it was bogus the Browns got back in on the heels of the Grads misfortune. Whatever Hanlons. The Hanlons were hardly in a position to be looking down their noses at anyone else. They barely figured anything out from Day One. And they got exactly what they deserved when the Browns beat them out for the last clue. Stupid AND rude is not a good combination. Have a nice ride back home.