I need a nap already.

So, it was a big weekend. It was actually a jam-packed week last week, all week, but I'll just cover the weekend, which really started for me on Thursday since I had a fun social evening with my girlz, even though I still had to work on Friday. Let's recap.

Thursday night: Martinis & Manicures at Cuba Libre with my girlfriends. There were martinis. There were manicures. There was much girl talk. After getting our nails all beauty-ized, we headed over to 219 West for dinner since they have kickin' happy hour specials, including half-price appetizers, and their appetizers make a meal. We all had various incarnations of mini-burgers and fries, and I believe Ang and Nikki also split some chips and dip of some kind. Again, much girl talk. I love my friends!

Friday night: First part of the evening was babysitting for my niece and nephew, who I love to pieces, then the second part of the evening J opened for a band that's on tour right now. He kicked ass, as he always does! He let me come up for a few songs at the end, which was awesome, and he was so great that the touring band asked him to join them for their next gig on Saturday night. Unfortunately, he didn't get the message until late on Saturday night, so that didn't happen, but it's a real testament to his talent and his show that they asked! Good job, baby!!

Saturday: UT football game. Perfect weather, and UT killed it 52-10! It was a real pleasure to watch UT mop up the floor with Arkansas. Last time Arkansas was here, it was a much different result, so we had some avenging to do. And it's especially fun to watch Colt McCoy this year. I think he's really toughened up this year, and he seems to be exuding more leadership and confidence than he did his first two years. It's really cool, and I'm very excited for the rest of the season, which will get really tough in about two weeks and not let up for the rest of the year! We had a little bit of a transportation snafu that led to us getting home rather late, but we still managed to catch the end of the Alabama/Georgia game. What a weekend of upsets!!

Sunday: ACL. Rock on, bruthah!! This was the first time for both J and I to attend to the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and we loved it! We rode our bikes, along with tons of other people (I've never seen so many bikes - parked *everywhere*!) and went late in the day. You get way more for your money if you go all day, but neither of us was out to test our stamina, and the 3+ hours we were there felt worth it to us. The weather was perfect, the bands were fantastic, and the setup was comfortable. Despite tens of thousands of people, it didn't feel crowded. We saw the Raconteurs and Foo Fighters (and a bit of one other band that I didn't get the name of), and browsed the "market" area with all kinds of hats, jewelry, art, soap, etc. for sale. The Foos were great, but J and I think we actually liked the Raconteurs better. I would definitely pay to see them again at some point.

So, now it's Monday, and I'm tired. Luckily, this week promises to be much slower than last week for me, so I may just survive. It was well worth it, though! I love my city, my boyfriend, my family, my friends and my life! Good times.

Oh, you crazy Beavers!

Standing ovation today for Oregon State! For those of you who haven't heard (I can't even address the possibility that you might not care), Oregon State knocked off #1 USC last night. Take that Trojans!

My, oh, my this is what I LOVE about college football! Every week there's a possibility for something really crazy to happen. I'm just bummed that I didn't see the game. I was out with friends, and when I called J at the end of the evening, he told me Oregon State was ahead, but it was half time, so I thought, "Well, USC will probably make some adjustment at the half and then steamroll in the second half."

But they didn't! Those good ole Beavers just kept on keepin' on, and they did it!

Reportedly, Pete Carroll said, "I'm beside myself." Heh, heh, heh.

Now, if someone will just do the same thing to Oklahoma and Stoops.

David Blaine

Does anyone else out there roll their eyes anytime you hear that David Blaine has some new illusion/stunt/trick to inflict on the world?

I don't deny the guy has talent. Or in some cases maybe just a lot of will power. His "magic" tricks are definitely cool, and I have no idea how he accomplishes the illusions.

But he's just so full of himself. And everything he does is always in some public space, so that the people who live in the city where the stunt is can't really avoid it. I expect him to say each time he announces some new spectacle, "I won't be ignored!"



I mean, if what he's doing really has value, rent some space and charge admission. If people really want to see you, they'll pay for the privilege. And all the people who live and work near the "event" who don't really care to be a part of it don't have to. He's bound to have sponsors who pay the bills for these stunts, and he clearly knows that if he had to rely on people actually paying to watch, it wouldn't pay for itself.

So get a Vegas gig. Get a tv show like that Criss Angel dude. Or just get a job. But stop acting like you're the most interesting man in the world because you're willing to lie in a box underground for 7 days or encase yourself in ice for a week. Because you're not. According to Dos Equis, this guy is:

Shocking news.

So, Clay Aiken is gay. We know because he said so.

Well, gee. ... Really?

Heroes is back.

Are you excited? Were you filled with nervous energy waiting to find out if the Heroes would save the world and how? Since the show hasn't had a new episode since January, did you spend the summer looking up the characters, then the actors, discovering that the guy who plays Sylar used to play Tori Spelling's best friend on Notorious, then you Netflixed the old episodes of Notorious, found out Tori Spelling is really pretty funny and you actually like her, so you started watching Tori & Dean, and then you forgot all about Heroes until you saw an ad for the premiere, but it's been 9 months, so you found you weren't sure you cared anymore? Me too.

Not the Notorious and Tori & Dean part, because I actually watched those shows when they were in first run, so I already knew that Zachary Quinto (Sylar) used to play Tori's best friend, and I've liked Tori Spelling ever since that show. She's a hoot. But the part about not being sure I cared anymore about Heroes. I'm with you there.

I know there was a writer's strike, yadda, yadda, but you can't just disappear for 9 months and expect your audience to still be there. I think the fact that they felt they had to an hour-long intro show to a 2-hour season premiere should tell you that they know the probably lost a lot of people simply because they, like me, just wandered away and on to other things.

I did give the show a chance to win me back. I watched the premiere, liked some of the twists, and will probably tune in again next week. But I gotta tell you that the real highlight of my TV viewing wasn't Heroes. It was Worst Week.

That show premiered last night as well, and I loved it! The lead character is just hysterical (such great timing and delivery by actor Kyle Bornheimer), and I always love Kurtwood Smith as the curmudgeonly dad. I don't know how long they'll be able to keep the premise fresh, but I'm definitely going to hang in there with it and see what happens.

What's on your plate for Mondays?

NOW you call.

So, I gave up on selling my house for now. It sat on the market for five months, with very few lookers and no offers, so I said "forget it" and took it off the market yesterday.

I don't know if you've ever sold a house, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. It has to be "show ready" at all times. You have to assume every day as you leave to go to work that someone might come and look at it that day, so you can't leave your dirty clothes around or leave the dishes soaking with the thought, "I'll clean that up when I get home tonight" or let sensitive financial or personal papers sitting out in your office to be filed at a more convenient time. All your personal photos and knicknacks have to be boxed and put away so buyers can picture themselves instead of you in the house and so things don't look cluttered.

The problem is that if you're actually living in the house, you might need some of the stuff you've had to box up, and maybe you WANT to look at pictures of your friends and family instead of some landscape portrait. Maybe you don't want to have to think about whether what you made for dinner last night will smell appealing to whoever looks at the house today. Maybe you don't want to hand out your alarm code to strangers but don't particularly want to leave your house un-alarmed all the time. I actually had one Realtor forget to lock the front door when they left after a showing this summer.

And all of this for less than one showing a week. I could probably count in single digits the number of showings that occurred for my house in the 5 months it was on the market. So, I had enough. If it's not going to sell, and clearly right now isn't the time, I wanted my house back. So, I had my Realtor remove it yesterday and the sign came out of the yard last night, and the lockbox should be off the door any day now. Peace and tranquility again, right?

Well, would you believe that I've already had two calls this morning from other Realtors who want me re-list with them? Where were these people when I needed a buyer? Do you have a buyer for my house? Are you calling to make an offer? No? Well, then don't bother me! The first one makes his canned pitch about why I should re-list with him and all they'll do for me, and when I say no, thank you, he starts quizzing me about why. Um...do I owe you an explanation? No, I do not. For the time being, I'm OUT of the house-selling business! I'm going to relax for a change and actually LIVE in my house for the first time in 5 months!

Now, if you want to call me with a generous offer, then great. Make me a deal! But for the rest of the day, I'm not answering the phone if I don't recognize the number, because I'm not going to be harrassed all day by vultures who couldn't be bothered to bring a buyer around when I was on the market. Ugh.

Maybe they should just be put down.

Anyone who follows the celebrity mags as I do (sure, sure - pretend you don't browse them in the grocery line) knows that Tatum O'Neal has been a drugged out disaster-area for years. And Ryan O'Neal has had his share of ink for his own personal problems, probably the least of which includes fighting like a 4-year-old with Farrah Fawcett and just generally being an ass.

Well, you can now add son Redmond to the list of losers in that clan. Seems Ryan and Redmond have been arrested for meth possession. I guess growing up seeing your father and sister embarrass themselves and end up complete washouts due to drug use wasn't enough to convince Redmond that he should, perhaps, stay away from substances.

Has no one but me seen that show "Intervention" on A&E? Seriously, if you watched that show, and you saw what the subjects of that show looked like when they're in throes of addiction, you'd actually consider turning Amish just to avoid any brush with substance abuse, much less ever start on that path yourself. I really think maybe the O'Neals should just all be put down. Let the gene pool be drained, scrubbed with bleach and then John McEnroe can refill it with clean DNA. Who would've ever guessed McEnroe would end up being the responsible, reasonable adult in that family?

You reap what you sow.

I'm probably going to get flamed for being hard-hearted, but I have to chime in about what's happening on the financial front. So here goes.

Financial markets are a damn mess. Why? For months we've been hearing words like, "sub prime mortgage crisis" and "credit crunch" and "government bail out," etc. But most people who just work everyday, direct deposit their checks and pay their bills really don't understand exactly what's happened. I'll make it as simple as possible. Several years ago, some genius decided that one of this country's goals should be for every single person, citizen or not, solvent or not, should own a home.

Many, many, many people were in NO financial position to do that. They couldn't afford it, plain and simple. But the mortgage lenders figured they could make a quick buck by giving them mortgages anyway - in other words, they gave loans to people they knew would never be able to pay those loans off. People who KNEW they had no hope of paying those loans off took the loans anyway. The mortgage companies made a quick buck from closing costs, fees, etc. associated with making the transaction and figured they could collect a few payments before it all collapsed, and the homeowners got to live in houses that were way beyond their means for a while.

Then the inevitable happened. Interest rates rose. As they do. It's called an economy. All those people who "bought" homes they couldn't afford, with no money down, sometimes even borrowing in excess of the cost of the home to cover the transaction costs, etc., because they had no savings or cash of any kind (THIS is who you loan six figures to?) with adjustable rates, suddenly couldn't pay their mortgage. Shocker. They lost their homes, and the financial institutions who held those loans - the greedy morons who made the loans in the first place or the ones who bought the loans, hoping to get cash in - got left holding the bag. They figured the government (meaning the taxpayers) would bail them out, and at first, that was happening. But the bag got way too heavy, and now they're going under, one after another.

Well, of course they are. You make a bad deal, you lose money. You make enough bad deals, and lose enough money, you go out of business. Any half-wit could've predicted it. I live in a starter-home neighborhood. When all of this was going on, when I saw person after person in my neighborhood buying homes I knew they could *never* afford, I remember telling anyone who would listen that most of my neighbors would be gone in 2 years when their adjustable rates did just that and increased. I was right. And I'm not finance whiz. I can barely figure out the tip when I go out to eat, but even I could see that a disaster was in the making.

The goal should never have been an ever-increasing homeownership rate. The goal should have been an ever-increasing number of people living in a fiscally responsible way, with low debt, savings and spending habits within their means. When everyone is doing that, then homeownership rates will increase without putting the country's entire financial sector at risk. When all you're looking for is easy money, a free lunch, and immediate gratification without the work and sacrifice of legitimate gain, this is what you end up with - a financial sector in ruins and people in default.

All sides are at fault - the people who wanted what they hadn't earned, the politicians who wanted to tout inflated and unnatural and unsustainable statistics as evidence of their economic success, and greedy financiers who wanted a quick buck with no regard for the consequences either to the people they made the deals with, their companies' financial health or the country.

I'm disgusted with everyone involved.

Ike aftermath

I'm afraid the news is not good for my Houston fam. Reports from people in their neighborhood who did not evacuate are that their house was flooded with 5-6 feet of water. So, pretty much everything that wasn't in the attic or the top of a closet has been destroyed. Emotions are running high.

Their neighborhood is still not safe to enter. Water is still standing, power lines are still down, and debris has made the streets impassable. So, they can't go home yet and see the damage for themselves. They'll be going home as soon as the city says they can return, and they'll assess what, if anything, is salvagable. Their home is still standing, so that's good, and they have already registered with FEMA, so they'll hopefully have an estimate in the next week or so as to how much their flood insurance will pay and what exactly must be repaired or replaced.

No question they have a lot of work ahead of them, cleaning up and rebuilding their home. But both sides of the family are already pitching in to help, and everyone in our brood got out safely, and that is the most important thing. Things can be replaced. Structures can be repaired. But lives lost - that would've been an irreparable tragedy.

One word I must say. Houstonians are awesome and amazing. What you saw in Katrina, you will NOT see with Ike. You will not see people waiting for the government to do what needs to be done and screaming about whose fault it is and expecting someone else, anyone else, to take care of the people, the city, the present or the future. By Saturday, the people who hadn't left were already beginning cleanup and clearing the streets themselves, not even waiting for city crews, much less FEMA or the federal government to start fixing things. Private entities set up relief stations, and when one of them needed help passing out free ice to stranded citizens, they put a call out for volunteers, and within hours, they had a full parking lot of volunteers, passing out ice and helping their neighbors.

The private sector stepping up and helping. Private citizens stepping up and helping. No waiting. No whining. Just doing. That's my city. I love Austin with all my heart and will most likely be here for the rest of my life. But Houston is where I was born and where I grew up, and I'm so proud of it. It's a can-do city. The people there are strong and compassionate and quality. When they've won national titles in sports, there's no rioting, no looting. Just celebrating together as a community. And when they're hit with disaster, there's no fighting, no falling part, no crying about who is to blame and who is going to come in from elsewhere to fix it. There's pulling on their boots and getting to work - pulling together as a community and doing what needs to be done.

Because that's what they do. That's what Houston is. I'm proud of you, Houston.

An interesting weekend ahead.

Family has evacuated. Now we wait and see what Ike does.

Funniest line heard on 30 Rock last night: "Never go with a hippie to a second location."

Hurricane Ike - on the way

Well, kids, Hurricane Ike is going to hit us. I was fairly certain that the track they were predicting the last few days wouldn't hold - hurricanes tend to veer in the last couple of days before they hit. I just wasn't sure which direction it would veer - toward Mexico or toward Houston. Unfortunately, it's taken a more northly path, bringing it more toward Galveston and Houston.

I think the direct hit will be a little south of there, but the east side of the hurricane is the more destructive side, so that's bad news for my beloved hometown. My relatives there are evacuating. They'll be coming up this direction to stay with us, and we'll just have to see how bad the weather gets up here in Central Texas. I'm just glad they have us to run to when something like this happens. We can provide them a safe and familiar place to wait it out.

I have to go now and get my fix from The Weather Channel. I'll probably be glued to it for the next couple of days!

In my email...

Financial solutions wants to offer me, "Bankruptcy: Fast and friendly help"

While I appreciate that they'll be both fast and friendly, I think I'll decline the offer of bankruptcy. But thanks anyway! It's always nice to be asked.

That's just sad.

Got to reference a little "News of the Weird" this morning - mostly because all I can think about right now are my sinuses and Hurricane Ike, and I don't feel like blogging about either of those. So, thank heaven for Don Gorske.

Don's got obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he says that it's driven him to eat 23,000 Big Macs in 36 years. He's even kept every receipt in a box.

"The correctional-institution employee says he doesn't care when people call his Big Mac obsession crazy. He says he's in love with the burgers, which are the highlights of his days."

Yes, Don. You are in love with the burgers, which is why I'm going to guess that you do not have a girlfriend. I could be wrong. But I don't think so, what with the burger being the highlight of your day.

I'm also going to guess that 23,000 Big Macs has made you a whole lotta man - another possible reason why the Big Macs are your girlfriend. A Big Mac doesn't care how much you weigh, does it, Don? A Big Mac never says to you, "Maybe you should have a salad, hon - with some grilled chicken maybe?"

This is one of those moments where I thank God (and I mean that literally) that I am who I am, with my mental health intact, and a really great life that I actually enjoy - where the highlight of my day does not involve 2 all-beef patties or special sauce. Okay, sometimes there's special sauce, but it doesn't taste like Thousand Island dressing.

I'm a weiner!

My friend Judy gave me a blog award! I'm not sure what I win exactly, except for the right to put this logo on my blog:

But I'm all about accepting glory, so thanks Judy for the praise!

Unfortunately, after I came down from my "big winner" high, I realized there was responsibility associated with this award. According to Judy, there are steps attached to accepting this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog. (YAY!)

2. Link the person you received your award from. (Done!)

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. (What? You mean I have to share the adulation?)

4. Put links of those blogs on yours. (What am I - a machine?)

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated. (Oh sure. I've got nothing to do all day but comment on people's blogs. No, seriously. I've got nothing to do all day but comment on people's blogs.)

Okay, then. I've already added the logo to my blog, so I'd better get on with the nomination thing.

1. I'm going to cheat and put Judy's blog on my list of nominations, even though she's already gotten this award: Where One Day Runs Into Another.
2. Next is Busy Mom. Not that she needs me to send people to her, because she's pretty big time already, but I do love her blog, so there ya go.
3. I can't get enough of Banterist. Please to enjoy.
4. The Daily Kitten is awesome, because every day you should have a little kitten time.
5. The Bleat is not to be missed. Jim Lileks is my blogging inspiration and hero.
6. Tasty Type is my friend Lauren's food blog. Everything Lauren touches looks fabulous, and every time I go to her blog and see what really good food is, I feel a little sad looking at the Lean Cuisine sitting on my desk.
7. I went to London a few years ago, and I really loved the city. So, I like to visit London Daily Photo and pretend I could actually walk down the street and see whatever is posted on any given day.

If I have time, I'll try to post a message on all of these sites, but if I don't get to it, at least I've fulfilled most of my obligation! But let's put the focus back where it belongs: on me. Comment on my blog and tell me you love me, too!!! Pleeeease!

The news in pictures. Who needs words?

I've been a little busy lately, but I've finally come up for air and gotten caught up on the news. I haven't really been able to read all the many news stories out there, but I've found that I can get the gist of things just by looking at the photos that accompany the stories.

For instance, there are currently three potential hurricanes churning their way through the Atlantic toward the U.S. right now - Hanna, Ike and Josephine:



Also, a really creepy couple in Michigan got married at funeral home:



But I think the news that suprises me most is that Tina Fey has apparently been chosen as John McCain's running mate:



I wonder if she'll still have time to write for 30 Rock. I love that show.

Ugh.

Throat hurts. Head hurts. Maybe just allergies, but could be coming down with a cold. Oy.