Gotta Vote!

I don't touch on politics much in this blog because I really don't consider myself much of a political person, but we are getting close to a very historic election. One can get dizzy trying to keep up with the polls, but it really doesn't matter much right now. Next Tuesday, we'll all be watching anxiously to see how everything will turn out. I voted for the Obama/Biden ticket. I consider myself a middle-ground Democrat who leans a bit to the left, but I couldn't with any kind of good conscience vote for McCain/Palin. Not after what we've gone through for the last eight years. Besides, I think I would be doing my gay sisters and brothers (and myself) a disservice by voting Republican. Why would I support a party who made gay marriage an election hot-button issue? It's not the case this time around, since the economy is in the toilet, but gay marriage is an issue in many state elections next week. Propositions to put same-sex marriage bans into state constitutions are on the ballot in California, Florida, and Arizona. So if you're in one of these key states, please, please, please be sure to vote against the amendment to put same-sex marriage bans into the state constitution. That wretched amendment passed here in Texas and I'm still sick about it.

So, be sure to get out the vote next week! :-)

Catching Up

I feel like it has been forever since I really sat down and wrote a blog post, but I don't have a lot of time. This is shaping up to be a very busy week. Both college classes are kicking a bit into overdrive with projects and assignments. In my Instructional Design class, we were just given our second project, which is due at the very end of the semester. My group is focusing on a dynamic website for the Learning and Technologies department. We have to do a full design document and we have to deliver a prototype. Our group will be meeting weekly to get this project completed, and I think I was elected one of the co-project leaders. In my other class (New Technologies), I have my first draft of my paper due on Sunday night for peer review. It's not ultimately due until the end of the semester, but we're doing it in stages so we can all collaborate on our final projects.

Work has been hectic too, so with the additional work of school, bringing work home isn't really much of an option. Today, I made final edits to some online work that one of our contractors is designing for us. I should be finished with those edits tomorrow afternoon. I also recorded some scratch audio to go with the courses to time the animations properly. I wanted a break from that, so I spent some time cleaning up the company's Wiki, which our group maintains. It's not being used much right now, but we hope it will grow into an information sharing vehicle for our stores. I cleared off some old pages that were outdated. Finally, I ran some reports at the request of one of our department managers and our director. I built one of the reports before leaving for the night and sent it to the department manager by email so she can review it tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, we're also seeing a demonstration by our vendor for an upgrade to our Learning Management System. I expect this demo to take most of the day. Hopefully it won't put me to sleep. If I'm in a meeting (especially a long one) where I just sit and watch or listen and I'm not actively contributing, I tend to get sleepy. :)

Mom called me last week to ask what Jeff wanted for Christmas. She's been doing gift cards the last several years because it's easier for us all to go get what we want. I had to keep at Jeff all weekend to see what he wanted, and I finally had to level the ultimate threat. If he didn't come up with something by Monday night, Mom was going to buy him underwear and socks. Tighty-whities and tube socks, no less. Needless to say, he came up with something. :-) I had no trouble telling her what I wanted. I can always think of something I'd like to have. I consider that a service to anyone who wants to buy me a gift. But I'm generally thrilled with whatever I get.

I've discovered something quite interesting: Second Life. It has gotten a lot of media attention and it's even being used for educational purposes. In Second Life, you can design your own character and build your own alternative life. If you are normally conservative in your everyday life, you can use your Second Life to be hedonistic and wild. You can dance all night in Second Life and never get tired or have sore feet. Second Life is a totally immersive multimedia experience with music, ambient sounds, and gorgeous imagery. One of my class assignments was to go to certain places in Second Life and record my impressions. The first place (or SLURL, as it is known in Second Life) was a gorgeous art sanctuary with cherry blossom trees, rustic bridges spanning bubbling streams, castles, and artwork everywhere. At first, Second Life is a sensory overload. You're exhausted after just a few minutes; it's just too much, especially with the 3-D perspective. Eventually, you get used to it. I've found Second Life fascinating and I find myself checking in every night. I've met some friends there and we hang out and talk. There are no strings attached and no games to play -- you can be completely yourself, because you're as anonymous as you want to be. You can have relationships with people in Second Life. I've spoken with people who were happily married in their real life, but carrying on with total heedlessness with anyone who has a sexy avatar in Second Life.

This weekend, Jeff and I will be hunkering down with papers. Next weekend, I should have more time to devote to Francie's website, since the early draft would have already been submitted for review. Last weekend, I didn't leave the house except to go do my early voting and run Pearlie May through the car wash.

On a final note (I have to get back to homework), I have outstanding news. Cristy and her family are coming home for Thanksgiving!!! It has been so long since I've seen Cristy, so it will be sheer delight to play catch-up and see her kids again. I haven't met Abigail yet, and Zach and Hannah were much younger when I last saw them. We may go out to Mary and Jesse's place in Sunset for fun and games. They will be leaving on 11/23. I am relieved of turkey duty this year and I don't have to cook nearly as much, so I'll have more time for fun when I'm off work that week.

I hope everyone has a great week! :-)

Cleaning to Stripper Music

About a year ago, I astounded Jeff and our friends by purchasing a CD of old stripper music. You know, the music from the 60s that sounds like it was played in the old burlesque houses? Lots of trombones, saxophones, and bass drums, with a beat that you can help but bump and grind to? I've discovered that you can have a heck of a lot of fun cleaning house to stripper music. You're not disrobing (well, I guess you can, but I typically don't) but you're just bumping and grinding as you dust and straighten. It even makes folding towels fun. Here's a link to the CD on Amazon. It's based on a novelty album of the 1960s called How to Strip for your Husband. I haven't checked yet to see if it's available on iTunes.

Bah-bah-BUMP-bah-bah-BUMP-bah-bah-BUMP-BUMP-BUMP! :-)

Something to think about

I had a classmate post a link to this YouTube video for a class discussion. It does give one something to think about. Enjoy!

More State Fair Pics

Pictures of our department at the State Fair! If the weather had been nicer, I probably would have captured more shots than I did.
Ana and I checking out the sand sculptures.

Group shot of our department. Clockwise from upper left: Ana, Kitna, Fran, Dawn, and Glenna. I took this as soon as I arrived at the State Fair. We met outside the Cotton Bowl.

Kitna and Glenna enjoying a fried chocolate strawberry waffle ball.

Scott shows his showgirl roots on the steps of the Hall of State. If I hadn't been so tired, I could have done a higher kick. Really, I can.

This is Glenna, our director. She was showing us where she got married.
The famous Texas Star ferris wheel. I haven't been talked into riding it yet.

The famous Cotton Bowl.
A happy sight indeed... Pearl waiting patiently to take me home. I was pooped!

Big Tex Speaks!

We happened to be near Big Tex when he started speaking, so I switched over to video mode and captured a short video clip. I missed his opening spiel, "Howdy, ya'll! This is Big Tex." But I did get his hints on being sanitary at the State Fair.

Scott in a Saab

Rainy Days and Wednesdays

On Wednesday, our department went to the State Fair of Texas. We hoped against hope that the rain would stay away, but it rained most of the day. That didn't stop us -- we had a good time anyway. Fortunately, we had nice cool weather all day, even if we were dashing in and out of the rain. I got to pet Elsie the cow, eat a fried Hostess Sno Ball, view sand sculptures, marvel at the auto show, and see Big Tex. When you get right down to it, Big Tex is a bit creepy. I captured him on video, but I'll upload it later. Most of the rides were closed, but I'm not much of a ride person anyway. The atmosphere was fun. I saw some terrific crafts (including some gorgeous needlepoint work) and a butter sculpture commemorating the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. I met our group at the fair around 10:00 and we left around 3:30 so we could beat rush hour traffic. I missed the bird show, but I did see an interesting exhibit by the Mexican Historical society about the history of Mexican culture in Dallas. Many of the old neighborhoods are disappearing, and a project is underway to gather information about these old neighborhoods and preserve them for posterity. Right now, so much of it is not written down -- the stories are passed down orally -- and there's a danger of it just disappearing. Jeff was relieved that I didn't come home all fired up about the new cars I saw at the fair. The only one that I was really excited about was a Saab 9-3 convertible. I could really see myself driving that car. Maybe if I find a spare $40K lying around and I don't have to pay off any debts, I'll get one for myself someday. My boss took a picture of me behind the wheel, so at least I can prove that I sat in one.

Country-Fried Wisdom

Aren't you lucky, gentle readers? I've making a second blog post in the same night. This one has been rolling around in my wacky head all day.

How many of you grew up with parents, grandparents, or other relatives who uttered odd, almost nonsensical sayings that seem to only exist in the South? I've told someone that I would see them tomorrow, and they replied "Lord willing and the creek don't rise." Well, hopefully the Lord is willing and the creek doesn't rise, or it could be a mighty mess. My mom had a whole slew of them. "Why, I won't put up with that until the water gets hot" was a signal to us that we had better stop whatever it was we were doing, because it doesn't take water long to get hot. Hopefully that didn't mean she would throw it on us if we didn't stop. And if she was warning us about getting in big trouble, she would tell us that if we didn't stop whatever it was we were doing, it would be "too wet to plow." My reasoning was: why don't you just do the plowing tomorrow? Or another day when it's nice and sunny? And my personal favorite was, "Well, that did you about as much good as a fart in a whirlwind." I didn't say that country sayings were always elegant, did I?

Now, any Southern child knows that logic and country sayings like this can never coexist, and that you had to pick wise moments to question their meaning. If you questioned the saying at the wrong time, it was indeed too wet to plow. It was best to try and understand their meaning and hope you were doing the right thing.

My dear friend Mary (Cristy's mom) had a whole slew of them as well, but my favorite phrase to end all phrases is, "I'm happier than a dead hog in the sunshine." Inevitably, the follow-up comment to that phrase is "And it just doesn't get any happier than that." I have used that phrase at work and the person on the receiving end always gives the same quizzical -- but amused -- look, and they never ask me to explain it. Which is a good thing, because I really couldn't. Another good thing is that this phrase is absolutely guaranteed to bring a conversation to a stop.

Is it cold outside? Yes, it's colder than a "witch's teat in a brass brassiere." Now, that's cold.

Are you busy? Yes, you're busier than "a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest" or a "one-armed paper hanger."

Are you sweating a lot? Yes, you're sweating "more than a hooker in church."

Sometimes, the phrases are not only bizarre, but they wouldn't pass muster as being politically correct in today's parlance. For instance, my grandmother would avoid eating too much cheese or she would be "constipated as a Jew." I never understood that phrase and really didn't try to wrap my mind around it too much. Instead, I just wrote it off as part of Mamaw's eccentricity. I guess it's the old prejudice about Jewish people being tight with money or something like that, but I've known plenty of tight Baptists. In fact, they were so tight they could "squeeze a nickel until the buffalo pooped" or they could "squeeze a penny until Lincoln screamed."

And don't you just love the name Mamaw? She was Mamaw to everyone, including the kids at church. She was truly something. I'll devote a blog post to her later. Cristy also had a Mamaw, and I loved her too. Mamaws are usually on the feisty side. They can snap out a wisecrack just as easily as they can snap peas in a pan. But I'm digressing a bit here.

I think we have these phrases because of the southern love of language. In the South, talking is an art form. Anyone can say that a person is handsome or pretty, but in the South, you're as "pretty as a dewdrop on a morning glory." Actually, I just made that up, but surely you get my point.

What kind of country phrases did you hear growing up? Please, discuss amongst yourselves.

Exciting News

Following the instructions provided in my summons for jury duty, I logged into the website and saw these wonderful words:

Your jury duty reporting date has been cancelled. You are not required to report on Tuesday, October 14 and no longer need to check this message. You may be re-summoned to report on a new date.

So, I'm off the hook for this round of jury duty, although they could summon me later.

I Christen Thee... Pearl!

OK, I've never done this, but due to the influence of my dear friend Karen, I have named my new car. Because Mitsubishi's name for the car's color is Kalapana Black Pearl, I shall call her Pearl! And when she's feeling saucy, her name will be Pearlie May, after Pearl Bailey. Everyone, say hello to Pearl, and treat her with her due respect. Or she might just get slappy. The original Pearl car was Karen's Kia Optima, which was a lovely White Pearl color, and I hope my Pearl can live up to the name. She's a lovely car and I'm enjoying driving her back and forth to work.

It's been a quiet weekend. Mom and Dad were more on the go than I was. They went to a concert in Shreveport, LA on Friday (I think it was a Bill Gaither concert, but I'm not sure) and then to a family reunion on Saturday. I'm always a bit undecided about going to the family reunion. Sometimes I think I can go, but then I find a reason not to go, and then I regret not going. So, I think that next year, I'm just going to go unless something like an actual exam or a paper keeps me from doing it. Mom said they had a great time. From Lewisville, it's not a long drive at all to New Boston -- just about 2.5 hours -- and Saturday traffic is generally manageable in Dallas.

Our department is going to the State Fair on Wednesday. I'm going to meet them there instead of driving all over the Metroplex. Several of us are doing the same thing. The State Fair is still a new experience for me. Jeff went often when he was growing up, so it doesn't offer the same thrill for him as it does for me. We never went as kids -- it was just too far to drive -- and I like the atmosphere there. I'll ride the little fair standbys such as the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler, but I do not like heights, so I won't get on the huge Ferris Wheel. If I take three cans of food, I can get into the fair for $1.

Yikes! It's time for bed. But I'll share some interesting sites that I've just come across. Both of them are great for strolling down memory lane.

• Wishbook Web - lets you look at Christmas Wish Books from years past
• Pleasant Family Shopping - this blog looks at retail shopping from the past
  

Take care!

Sleepy Weather and Halloween

We're in that wonderful time of year when the air is just a bit cooler. Fall is in the air and I've been incredibly sleepy. Maybe there's something else in the air that we just don't know about yet. I've been nodding off at work and at home, so I'm not exactly sure what the problem is. We were watching The Simpsons tonight and I conked out for nearly half an hour. It is starting to get dark earlier, so maybe it's just a natural reaction. That's the story I'm going with, anyway.

Jeff's mom is coming out next weekend to spend some time with us. Jeff's stepdad did some minor renovations in her bathroom and she's not entirely pleased with the result, so Jeff's going to go out there and help assess the situation. They have put their heads together and come up with a plan that is complex and full of twists and turns (including a trip out to IKEA) but Jeff is trying to find the simplest and shortest distance between the two points. It will be good to see Shirley and I'm glad she's going to spend some time with us. I've been very fortunate with my mother-in-law. Jeff likes to tease her and say that I'm her favorite daughter-in-law. She used to get mildly offended by that, but now she just giggles. She's still not thrilled that Jeff and I are gay, but she's getting more used to it as time goes by. We'll be together nine years next March. Jeff has actually put up with me that long. :-)

We've been invited to a Halloween party, and this one is a costume party. We used to dress up for Halloween at work. For some reason, I liked going as a nun. There are a few pictures of me dressed up as "Sister Mary Scott" but we don't dress up at work anymore. I'm thinking something with fangs and a big wig could be fun. I think costumes should be fun, yet simple. I'll probably leave work a bit early, come home and pick up Jeff, and then drive back over to Fort Worth for the party. It should be fun. Maybe we can go out to my parents' house first for trick-or-treating and surprise them.

Late night and crazy musings

OK, it's almost 3:00 AM and I'm still up posting homework. Now, this is completely all my fault. I waited until the last minute and underestimated the amount of work to be done. I'm essentially through for the night, since I need to get some sleep for work, but I'm having difficulty uploading my materials. We were supposed to share the materials via our blogs, but Blogger doesn't support attachments. So, I'm waiting for WordPress to generate a confirmation email (and for that email to arrive at Gmail) so I can set up a third blog for handling attachments.

Jeff went to the grocery store today and apparently, today was the Day of the Snoots at Super Target. He witnessed an interesting altercation between two shoppers. One of them was moving down an aisle towards the main aisle, and the other shopper was moving down the main aisle. I should add that the shopper on the main aisle was engrossed in a cellphone conversation. She then blocked the aisle so the other shopper couldn't get out. When the shopper said, "Excuse me. Could you move your cart?" The shopper on the phone stuck up a hand and stepped away, still engrossed in her phone call. The other shopper, taken aback by this rudeness, stepped back and then slammed her cart into the other shopper's cart. She didn't just move the other woman's cart; she slammed it. The other shopper on the phone didn't respond, since she was still engrossed in her animated cellphone conversation, but Jeff was highly amused.

It was also the Day of the Nitwits, since he saw a woman going hell bent for leather towards the exit doors, not realizing that she wasn't going towards the automatic doors. She collided with the doors, much to the amusement of a teenager who happened to be watching. The woman turned and glared at the teenager, who responded, "I'm not laughing at you; I'm laughing with you." The woman retorted coldly, "I'm not laughing." The teenager replied, "Well, then, I guess I'm laughing at you!"

How come these things never happen when I'm at the store? I'll have to start going with Jeff so I can witness these frivolities first-hand.

The Weekend is Almost Gone

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready for a vacation. I would love to take a week off from work and just veg around the house. Maybe it's the change in weather that is getting to me. The weather is starting to turn more fall-like here in Texas, with temperatures getting up into the mid to upper 80s. Today, it was nice and breezy. I love it when the weather is like this and I'd love to enjoy more of it. Unfortunately, I don't have that much vacation time left for the year. I have a few days scheduled at Thanksgiving and a few days at Christmas.

I got my iPod adapter today. It was, of course, installed for me free at the dealership. The cord comes out of the glove box and plugs into the iPod. It took about an hour and a half to install it, and they even washed the car for me. Which I greatly appreciated, since I was dive bombed on Friday by what must have been a gigantic bird (it left one hell of a mess), and had planned on running through a car wash after leaving the dealership. After leaving the dealership, I went to Costco to fill up with gas and stopped by Chipotle to pick up some lunch for Jeff and me. I'm really enjoying the audio system in this car, and the iPod adapter makes it even more enjoyable. The work commute is much less tedious.

I'm sorry to make this post so short, but I'm quite tired and I think I'm retiring for the night. I have tons of homework to finish tomorrow, so I need all of my mental powers. The turkey muffaletta I had for dinner isn't helping matters either. :-)

It's Wednesday

Well, I've had the car for two days. I must admit, it looks very sharp and stylish. I've never had a black car before. I'll have to take a picture soon and post it online. I have finally been able to stop going to the dealer for one thing or another, but I'm going back on Saturday to get my free iPod adapter. I had to stop by the shop yesterday because the tire pressure monitor was illuminated. It turns out all four tires were low because the car has been sitting for a while. I've discovered some neat things about the audio system and I've been trying out the Sirius programming. I figured out how to tune into the handy traffic and weather updates every 4 minutes for Dallas/Fort Worth and the Out Q gay channel. The car does seem to have better low-end acceleration than the last car, but I don't know if it's because of the reported improvements made to the engine in 2008 or if it's just because it's a new car. 

I received a summons for jury duty today. But not just any jury duty summons, my gentle readers; this is for District Court. If I need to report for jury duty, I have to drive to Sherman -- which is almost 60 miles from Lewisville -- and show up in full business attire. Fortunately, I have a suit to wear, and it's also fortunate that the summons is for mid-October. We'll have to do some shuffling around here to make sure that Jeff still makes it to the bus stop, and I'll have to leave the house early.

I briefly dated someone years ago (in the pre-Jeff years) who volunteered to serve on a grand jury. I couldn't understand why he did this. He was usually in court for at least a week at a time and had to look at the most godawful crime scene photos. To me, jury duty is something vaguely unpleasant that we all have to do occasionally, but I don't want to raise my hand and volunteer for it. It knocks your schedule out of whack and if you have kids or other obligations, you have to make all kinds of special arrangements. Jurors in Fort Worth miss the old Tandy Subway parking lot, because it used to be a free way for them to get downtown. They could get off the subway and walk across the street to the courthouse. Now, they either have to find parking downtown -- which is not a cheap prospect -- or park for free at LaGrange Field (home of Fort Worth's minor league baseball team - the Fort Worth Cats) and catch a shuttle into downtown. 

OK - that's my latest yawn. I'm about to make my lunch and crawl into bed. Good night, all! Enjoy the rest of your week.