Category: General

Wow. I am speechless again, for what seems like the thousandth time since September 11th, after reading Rossi Rant and about her working at “Ground Zero” in New York City. The strength of every person there keeps amazing me.

As Kymberlie will tell you, I am known for bookmarking shortcuts on my desktop and just leaving them there. So I decided I would list all the shortcuts off of my desktop here & clean them off of the desktop. Nice for me to have them handy to come back to later. Enjoy!

one.point.zero – Blogging in Brussels, Belgium – Web design, Music, and more, sturtle.com, BluishOrange (She’s here in Houston!), Pixels in Time, Publius (Todd’s already over there “On my Monitor”), SendAmerica, Fine American Gifts, Assessing Your Life in the Face of Disaster, New Advent – all sorts of information on Catholicism, World New York, I Love Big Brother, Provider Search for Ameriplan – the vision & dental supplement insurance plan I have so I can buy cool glasses, RetroCrush Patriotic Pictures, SincerelyFun (Not sure where that one came from…), Time for Your Meds – another one that is already “On my Monitor” but I should point out that today is Tracy’s 13th anniversary of sobriety – WAY TO GO!, Flag Graphics by Kristine, a PHP Tutorial by Zalary, UltraSparky – one of the NY blogs, Caterina.net – a rockin’ good blog, I Bet You Like to Watch – another NY blog, PC World – Carnivore Dispatched to Sniff Out Terrorists – and our civil liberties take a step backwards, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, megan[dot]scatterbrain, Heart of the Dragon, Openwire, More Than This, MSNBC: Unimaginable Disaster, Next Door, MSNBC: Business Fire May be Hate Crime, Light of Freedom, Better Homes & Gardens Ribbon of Unity, Better Homes & Gardens: Download the Ribbon, A Photographer Stands by His Work – the photo of the face in the smoke at the WTC fire, JD’s Blog – entry titled “A College Friend Survives the Attack” – main page has great content too, Broadway Stars – another NY blog.

I think that’s enough desktop cleaning for tonight. Believe it or not, there are still more links there. I’ll deal with them later, right now I have Mom duties to tend to.

Don’t you just hate it when your post disappears for some reason? And wham, you have to rewrite it? I hate that.

I have been cleaning all day. We have lived here for almost a year, and there are still boxes. I can’t take it any more, and if that stuff has been in a box for a year and I haven’t missed it, I don’t need it anyways! I went to Wal-Mart and got a new shelf for my bedroom closet so I could organize my sweaters and other goodies. Decided I need a break though, so I don’t get burned out! I would like to go through a box a night when I am home, tossing almost everything. I have to go through them though, because in the past I have been notarious for putting things that I *need* to save in with junk. Ugh.

I forgot to mention yesterday – if you didn’t already, check out the cover of the Village Voice. It was such a touching photo – focused on the sadness, but still a beautiful photo. Last night I watched 28 Days (which I thought was pretty good, worth a watch, but nothing fabulous) and like Fat Seanny, I was breathless for a second or two when the scene came up where they are driving in to the city and you see the skyline with the prominent World Trade Center Towers – and to think, they are not there any more… It’s still so surreal.

I wish I knew how to sew, I would participate in the USA Quilt. Maybe I will see if my mom will make a square for our family.

I had better get back to work – I have a bunch of boxes to take out to the trash, and then I need to set up my “regular” computer. I brought it home last week, new hard drive, more RAM, all ready to go! I have to post more pictures from this weekend, and then have to finish up my Freshly Made design for Erika. Whew! Lots to do! But of course it feels good every time I get to check something off of my “To Do” list!

I love what the Village Voice has to say about What Falwell Really Meant. Classic… (Link thanks to Michele.)

I went to the Skybar last night to meet Sandra, her husband Henry, Jay and Tom. It was a blast. The club was jumping, the music rocked, the view is fabulous. We danced, we sang, and we took pictures. More of those to come later today… but for now I wanted to share my story!

As Tom & I were leaving the Skybar I asked him if he knew how to get up to our side of town from there or if he wanted to follow me. Except there was a hitch if he followed me – I wanted to stop in downtown and take a picture of one of the cows. I had seen a few as I drove past the park on the way to the club, so I wanted to go back and get a photo. I knew there were several outside of the Houston Chronicle Building so I figured I could stop, jump out of the car, shoot a photo, and head home. He decided to take a different route since he was pretty tired and wanted to get home. So we headed off in our separate directions.

I drove into downtown and spotted the cows at the Chronicle just like I expected. I pulled over in a no parking zone just long enough to open my door and take a photo. (I figure it isn’t parking if you are in the car and the car is running!) The female police officer – genuine HPD – that was working security there, directing traffic if a big truck needs to pull in, walked over & asked if I had taken pictures of all of the cows. I said that I had not and she told me I should. I asked to leave my car parked there for a minute and promised I would be fast. I went around the building and took pictures of all of them. (I will post those later too.)

I thanked her for letting me park there and headed off towards the highway to leave downtown. About 2 blocks away is Market Square and there is a small 1 block park there. I spotted another illegal parking spot and, feeling brave, decided to pull over just to go take a few more fast shots. I park, get the camera back out, and head up the sidewalk towards the cows. The very first one I walked up to was Sherry’s Cow of Lilies! I was so excited I almost screamed! I couldn’t remember where her cow was on display at, so I was happily surprised when it was right there in front of me! I took several pictures of it, along with a few of the nearby cows. I was so thrilled!

I called Tom when I got home to let him know I made it home ok and he asked me if I was worried being in downtown by myself. I told him no, I was on the end of town where the clubs, bars & restaurants are now, lots of people were walking around because there were so many cars parked right there, there were a lot of police cars going past, and in general I normally feel pretty safe in downtown. I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone having problems there. Houston is a strange city though, our downtown used to be silent at night – it is only in the past few years where they have really had a push for redevelopment when the Rice Hotel (where JFK stayed the night before he was shot and Former President Bush’s “residence” address through out his VP and President terms in office) became the renovated high-dollar “Rice Lofts”. You can see them sort of in the background of one of my cow pictures. So I had no fear regarding my safety, although like every smart girl I did keep my eyes open just in case.

So, all in all it was a GREAT night. Had a nice manicure & pedicure, got to wear my spunky new outfit with the fun black pants with sequins on the bottom, was able to visit with old friends, dance, listen to good music in a great atmosphere, AND visit Sherry’s cow! What an awesome way to kick off birthday week! More photos to come later today!