The Year That Was...

Well everyone, another year has come and gone. I can't believe it's almost 2007 already! Is it just me, or do all of the 'elders' know what they're talking about every time they say, "As you get older, time moves quicker." Either way, it was a year filled with ups and downs, but for the most part, it was a year that made us appreciate everything we have. Let's take a look at what we had:

-Lost a grandparent (Late December of '05, technically)
-Almost lost a dad
-Had a 60th birthday party for said dad
-Finalized MOST of the wedding plans
-New TV and sound system
-PS3 arrived (hint, hint, Laura)
-Laura went to her first NFL game (sorry it wasn't a real team)
-Had our Christmas package stolen
-Got a digital camera
-Won an iPod (still trying to get it to work)
-Laura became addicted to 24 (more addicted than Jack was to heroin in Season 3)
-Visited our beautiful capital city
-Wedding rings!

I'm sure there is more that I am forgetting, and that will be filled in when Laura reads this, but those were a few of the highlights (and some lows), from our year. All in all, it was successful, stressful, and satisfying all in one, and realistically, what more could you ask for? What's there to look forward to in 2007 you say...well, only the biggest party of the century coming in June, but I'm sure everyone will be kept up to date on that! My final prediction as we close out 2006...Packers over the Bears 24-10. In case you don't like my pick, try this one on for size:

Packers (+3) over BEARS
For all you college kids reading this, we implore you, do not play ANY form of the "Let's drink every time Brett Favre gets mentioned" game on Sunday night. You will die.

We're not very good "bloggers"!

No excuses...It's been a long time...no good reasons why! :(

Wedding planning is going great! I've said that before, but really we have very little left to do. We got a lot done the last time we were in town...taste testing, cake ordering, tuxedo fitting, meeting with the officiant and my maid of honor to figure out ceremony details, meeting with florist, trial make-up done, meeting with the dj, etc. etc. etc. Anyway, a lot was accomplished. Last night we figured out the dates of our vacation/honeymoon, so we can get our requests off to our supervisors! Looks like a total of about 2 and a half weeks off! I don't think I've had that much time off since I started working at the ripe age of 14! I can't explain how excited I am! Everyone says this is so stressful, but Dave and I have really done a good job at keeping stress to a minimum! We are thoroughly enjoying the planning process!

Dave's parents were just in town over Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful time! I think the more they visit, the more relaxing the vacation becomes. Of course Dave and I find new tourist spots to show them or new places to eat at, but for the most part, we just relax! No schedules or itineraries. We watched movies, ate out, got lots of ice cream, went shopping, grilled out and simply just spent time together! Dave and Ron went golfing twice (once with Ruben-who did a great job I hear) and Yvonne and I shopped til we dropped (literally)! We also went to a Texans game-my first official NFL game! It was too warm for football and there were no cheeseheads, but other than that it was a great time! We tailgated afterwards which was also a blast! One of the most interesting things we did while they were in town was going to the Holocaust Museum. It's probably not something that most people would think of doing on a vacation, but it was incredible. You learn a lot more about the hardship and the killing, but you also learn about the strength of the human heart, the people who stood up and fought and the people who put their lives at stake in order to save complete strangers. It is a part of our history that I can only pray doesn't repeat itself.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went to Martha and Ruben's house in Crosby. There were about 30 people there! There was great food and great company...we couldn't have asked for much more. Although I deeply missed my parents, Michael and Traci, I am very happy that they were able to spend the holiday together in Champaign this year!

Well, that brings us up to today. Not too much going on. I'm getting together with some of the girls from work tonight for a Christmas cookie decorating party. I think we'll also be watching some movies and ordering pizza! And it just so happens that tomorrow night a different group of girls from work are having a girls night too! More movies and possibly more pizza! It'll be a great weekend! Sorry honey, but I was specifically told that "no intact males are allowed". Spoken like a true veterinarian...good work Dr. Lauren!

I hope all of you had a nice Thanksgiving! We will try to blog more often, so you don't have to put aside a half a day to read it!

Floating Away

Well, many of you have been concerned that Dave and I are flooded and floating away into the streets of Houston...you can be assured that we are safe, however, the damage is incredible. The other day, when talking to my brother, I told him that the news makes it look worse than it is. This is true, however, I found out right after the phone call, that 4 people have died!!! And just this morning a mom and her child died when they tried driving through a flooded street. It turns out that the water was 10 feet deep! Thankfully, most of these streets are far away from our apartment and both of our commutes to work. Although, I did drive through several streets that had maybe 6 inches of water across the whole width of the street! All the animals in the zoo now have pools in their exhibit, and being their caretaker is a muddy mess. But, all in all the flooding has only been a minor inconvenience to Dave and I. Hopefully, for the sake of all the people affected by this it will be over now. The only positive thing that this "tropical depression" has brought us, is cooler weather. Through all of it we've had humidity worse than I have ever felt, along with heat in the upper 80's/low 90's. Today, much to our relief, the humidity is gone and we will be having highs in the 70's and lows tonight will be around 55 degrees!!!

I will be spending this cool night in a huge line (no doubt) waiting for a Haunted House and a Haunted Maze with many of my co-workers! I can't think of a better place to be on a cool October night!

Oh Crap

Alright, so there are times in my life that I am not sure where my 20's have gone. I feel like I come home from work and collapse on the couch and whine about work, money or some other thing that is completely frivolous...well, at least right now it feels frivolous! Yes, you are correct...I am hungover. I'm actually not sure how I am able to write this right now. All I can say is..."oh crap". I am back in my 20's...I have to work at 7am (in 1 hour from now)...my job requires me to pick up animal poop, and I am not quite sure how I am going to do that without throwing up! Last night it seemed like such a good idea to drink as much as I did, but now...not so much! How is it that one second I am fine, and as soon as the guests leave the house I feel like I am going to die. Does your body really know when everyone is gone? It secretly waits and says, "I am not going to let you know you are drunk until everyone has left and you drank so much that there will be nothing you can do about it"! And then a measly 4 hours later, you wake up for work and feel like you're going to die and say the classic phrase in your head..."I will never drink that much again"! Yeah, right, until next time! Anyway, I am off to McDonald's, because nothing solves a hangover like greasy food in the morning.
To my family, (or Dave's family), I hope I have not disappointed you! In fact, if you can help me think of ways that I can sober up before picking up that monkey poop, I would be forever grateful! OK, bye...have a better day than me.
Laura

No more perm!

So, I think I finally got the last inches of my perm cut out of my hair last night!!! I have been disguising it for months now and am very happy not to have to worry about it anymore! Almost 2 years later...no more frizz! All I can say is anyone thinking of getting a perm...DON'T! I've gotten 3 in my life and hated 2 (for my family-remember 5th grade?). You would think I would have learned by now! Oh well.
Short and sweet blog, but for me a 2 year war has ended! :)

Zuma Family Crap

So, last night my co-worker Vicki planned a little fun night out for all of us. My supervisor's sister was in town from New York, so she wanted us to get a chance to hang out with her. We all decided it would be fun to go play mini golf. Vicki found a place that not only had mini golf, but also batting cages, bumper boats, go-karts and more video games than you could ever play! It was called Zuma Family Fun. And so our story begins:
We waited outside for our whole party to get there. That is when we first noticed the smell of dirty diapers. Sara quickly told me that if I want to use the bathroom I should use "this bush, it's much cleaner than the restrooms". Well, ok then, luckily I went before I left the house. Once we all arrived, we went inside. The first thing I went to do is find an ATM or try to buy tokens, etc. with my check card. The guy at the cheesy prize counter told me that their only ATM was broken, so if I wanted to get money I could go to the concession stand. OK, so I ask if I can get money to play the games from this 14 year old girl behind the counter and she says "no". But, I was just told to come over here! She said sorry, and I said, "so you're telling me I can't do anything at your facility because I can't pay with a check card and you don't have a working ATM as an alternative!" She then told me that yes, I could buy the tokens that I needed, I just couldn't get cash from her. Well, alright, you should have said that in the first place. So, Vicki and I played for our mini golf and I got enough tokens for the batting cages to ensure very sore shoulders in the morning. The young girl walked away and came back with 1 golf ball. She told us that was all they had. What!?!?! How is it possible that you only have one golf ball!? So, I said, "you're telling me that you can't get any more balls, so anyone who wants to play tonight, can't?" She then asked me if I wanted my money back. I started to say, "well obviously", when Sara asked if we could talk to a manager. She went and got him and when we explained the loss of balls issue, he handed some keys to an employee and said "go to the course and get some more balls". Wow, rocket science! What does the girl do when the register runs out of singles? I can hear it now, "I'm sorry sir, I have no change for you. You cannot have your money." So, 15 minutes later, we get a handful of balls and the rest of the group pays for their round of mini-golf. Besides the fact that all the balls were wet and dirty, we were ready to go.
We had 3 different courses to choose from. We chose "Cactus Junction" and began our game. The course was extremely dirty and not taken care of. It had a huge waterfall (a staple at any mini golf course), but this one was gray and we had finally found the source of the earlier dirty diaper smell. At around hole 10 an announcement came over a horribly poor sound system saying that they were closing in 20 minutes. WHAT!? The internet says they are open til 10pm! It was only 8:40. So, we hurried up the rest of our game and ignored the announcement that said they were "now closed". Once finished we went back to the building and walked in. Sure enough, the video games were all off and the staff was cleaning up. No Skeeball. No batting cages. No Go-karts. We once again asked for the manager, complained, and got our money back for all our unused tokens. We also got few passes to come back and play golf again. Great maybe I can master the hardest hole which consisted of a wagon wheel in front of the hole! Yeah, I can't wait! He also told us that he has never been to their website and he'd check it out to make sure the closing time was correct. As soon as we left, we laughed it off knowing we would never go there again! We ended the night playing almost 3 hours of Catch Phrase, a high paced, fun guessing game! A rum and coke and some good friends and a game that was not dirty, wet or smelled like diapers...the night was redeemed.

The Flu Sucks

So, my off days this week (Mon and Tues) were ripped away from me...the culprit? The flu! I'm not sure how it all went down, but to the best of my knowledge, this is how it happened:
It started with a sore throat and massive headaches and quickly led to me feeling like a 90 year old women going through menopause! Now, I am fully aware that this is not possible, but if it was, I know exactly how it would feel! I sit now on the computer chair with a pillow behind my "bad back". The fan is on high and my sleeves are rolled up as far as they can go, but I have no doubt that in a few minutes I'll be back in my sweatshirt and jogging pants under the down comforter. Believe it or not that was the scene about an hour ago despite our 90 degree weather outside and the 78 degrees inside! It is a highly confusing illness...am I hot, am I cold, am I young, am I old? Who knows! Yesterday I reluctantly called into work, leaving them short handed beyond belief! We just lost one of our employees to San Francisco, another one to college, and a third to a different department within the zoo! I felt very guilty, but in my field, it is much more important not to go to work, not only to not get any fellow co-workers sick, but the animals too! Primates can catch everything we can (obviously, since we too are primates), so we take that very seriously. I would not have been able to work in my normal area, nor would I have been able to touch ANY animal's diet, so what does that leave...not much! Feeling guilty of course, I tried to go to work today and they promptly sent me home. I was told I look like "poop" (I beg to differ, although it really isn't pretty) and I think the fact that I was sweating profusely was the other kicker. So, a half hour after I got there, I was on my home. More episodes of The View, Montell, and of course The Price is Right!!! Yipppeee! So, I had to break from those award winning shows (sarcasm) to type one of the most boring blog entries to date! So, be thankful you are not a 90 year old women going through menopause!

On a happier note, thanks to my Dave for taking such good care of me and for not getting too annoyed with my complaints and requests of the application of Icy Hot to my back! Thanks sweetie!

MUST READ!!!

Now, I don't usually endorse other people's writings, but this article you HAVE to read. For anyone that's been to Wisconsin and enjoyed anything the state has to offer, you are required by law to read the entire thing. It's an article from ESPN.com's Bill Simmons. Now, I love Bill because he, like I, is a die-hard Red Sox fan. Once I started to read this, I could not stop laughing, and remembering everything that made Wisconsin great. The beer, the brats, the weather...it's all there. So please, enjoy and take a look into what it's like in the Great North!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060825&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1

What Could Have Been?

I always love watching golf on Sunday afternoon for many reasons. One, to me it is completely relaxing. Two, if you ever watch a golf match, there are some amazing commercials to catch. If you watched any of the PGA Championship, there were a number of commercials with kids playing golf and not exactly loving it. One girl says she hates the game, while an older man walking with her tells her to be calm and swing easy. The moral, hate never works on the golf course! It's a life lesson. Golf is a life lesson. It teaches people that no matter what happens on the previous shot, there is always another one to make up for a mistake. For others, it teaches them how to relax and enjoy the talent that they have. In my case, every round, every shot and every winner reminds me of what I could have done. Many people have said that I am extremely talented when it comes to golf, and maybe they're right. But for me, it was never about the competition. I never liked competing when I was on the golf course. For me, in later years, it was a chance to get away from the world. You see on the golf course, if you're good enough, you can make any shot go anywhere at any time. In life, you'd be lucky to have one thing go your way in any given day. But not golf. Golf turns men into children. Don't believe me? Go play golf with your friends, and watch as one of the chips in for an eagle or drains a 45-foot birdie putt that dipped left and right. Watch them jump up and down and shout until everyone else is done. Listen as they taunt you for the rest of the afternoon with every chip or every putt. Feel their emotions come pouring out for at least 10 minutes. The beauty of it all; it can all change with one swing. That friend of yours that just made the miraculous shot, well, he's also the one that just: lost a ball, hit a duck, missed a 2-foot putt...TWICE, broke his 9-iron on a sprinkler head and drove the golf cart into a sand trap. You see, it's not about winning or losing, it's about who comes away with the most balls after 18 holes. Bragging rights only go to a certain few on the golf course, and if you're one of those lucky few, than my friend, you deserve a drink. So if you haven't tried it yet, go play. Play all day and night, and who cares if you lose a few balls? Who cares if you shank a few shots here and there? Most of all, who cares if you've never even been out there? If people don't want to wait, let 'em play through. Enjoy every round, every shot and ever minute of the beautiful game. Trust me, what you learn on the golf course will stay with you for the rest of your life if you're lucky. If it doesn't, let the others play through.

-Dave

P.S. When you're ready, come talk to me and we'll see just how good you think you are. I mean, people think I'm talented for a reason!

Off to Cheese Land

Well, my bag is packed and I'm ready to go back to Milwaukee for the weekend! I am leaving poor Dave at home while I do some wedding planning and hang out with the family. I will miss him terribly! It's a short and busy weekend, so I have very little time to hang out with anyone, so if you are one of the people who have not heard about me coming into town, I'm sorry, but don't be offended. I am dedicating this weekend mainly to my parents. I miss them like crazy and can't wait to spend some quality time together. Michael and Traci are coming into town too, so I'll get to spend some time with them as well! It's a much needed little break from work, which has been very hectic lately.
Anyway, I'm off and will talk to you all soon! And for those of you in Houston...yes, I will try to bring some authentic Wisconsin Cheese Curds home! Hopefully they will let them on the plane. I don't think they will cause an explosion! :)

Random Acts of Mindlessness

Ok, I know it's been a while since you have heard from either one of us, but there is good reason for this. You see, there has been a serious blockage of interesting tales from H-Town. Really, nothing has been going on lately. Sure, sure, things have been happening with both of our jobs (most notably me staying at Citibank instead of jumping ship for more money and Laura just kicking butt with everything at work and getting no praise), but other than that we are living boring lives. No Buckcherry concerts, no birthday parties, no going to movies or TiVoing our favorite shows. Nope, nothing. Nada. Zip. ZILCH. Unless...

Unless you consider that a pack of blood thirsty wolves tried to attack me the other day. Little did I know that I had the uncanny power to morph into objects that would not only scare the wolves, but would ensure my survival. My weapon of choice...Velociraptor.

Or, maybe you would like to hear about how I carried Laura home from work in 50 feet of water. A massive typhoon swept through the city and Laura was trapped. Like mothers who have lifted enormously heavy objects off of their children, I summoned the strength of fifty men to walk 20 miles to get to Laura, and then 20 miles to get home...UP HILL...BOTH WAYS!!!

Or maybe you saw me on TV the other night playing in the WSOP. Yes, I was in the tournament. Taking on heavyweights like Norm MacDonald, Toby Maguire, Jennifer Tilly (still thinking about those scenes from Bound) and my all-time arch nemesis...DEAN CAIN. He wants to look like me, not the other way around. I will destroy him if one more person says that I look like him. Yes, I spent a very hot and sweaty night with Terri Hatcher, but that story is for another day.

Or when I made a very delectable apple struessel one night for myself to have for breakfast for a week. The golden goodness was unparalleled and the warm and soft core absolutely melted my insides. Yummy! It was to die for. Next time I'll make some for you...ok, pumpkin!?

Other than all of that, nothing has been going on. Really, I lead a normal life with my best friend and fiance down here. Hope all of you can enjoy your weekend. I'll be at work on Saturday for a little while, but after that, it's all about Dave. Good to hear from everyone, and in case I don't make it, DO IT FOR JOHNNY!!!!!!!

-D-train

Will it ever end?

So, after the death of the Pygmy Marmoset Mom, "Mia", the injury of my African Pygmy Falcon, "Zuri", and all the other horrible injuries and deaths that my area has suffered over the last year, you would think it should be over for a while, right? No...not so much! On Friday the Cotton Top Tamarins and the White Faced Sakis were on exhibit together and had a pretty bad fight. The Cotton Tops being the smaller of the two monkeys, received all the injuries. Both the male and the female had several bite wounds all over them. The male, "Mikey", had the most bites on his tail, which x-rays told us, was broken! The female, "Minnie", had the most around her ankle, but luckily it wasn't broken, probably just badly sprained. Needless to say this will be the last time those two species share an exhibit together, especially since this is the second fight. About 10 months ago there was a fight between them where "Mikey" suffered a broken arm from a bite wound! On the bright side, at least they are not in the wild where they would die from these injuries by way of an infection, starvation or as an easy snack for a predator. Here they get pain meds, antibiotics and the best possible care from our vet staff.

Alright, well I am off to work to take care of my injured sweeties! Have a good day everyone!

My Way!

Yes, yes, I know it's been a while since I have posted anything to our blog, but there has been WAY too much stuff going on for me to even get on this thing and write.

Let's recap:

1. Audit at the bank
2. Test for Life and Health Exam
3. Dinner with co-workers
4. Appreciation Station at the Galleria
5. Afternoon meetings with our Area Manager
6. Boss leaving
7. Starting vacation!
8. GETTING A NEW JOB!!!!

That's right. Yesterday I officially accepted a job offer from Capital One Bank to be a Relationship Banker. Not only is it a promotion for me, but it is also a much needed pay rise...and a very healthy one at that. So, August 7th I will be ditching the blue and red of Citibank for the light green and silver of Capital One.

Let's see, what else!? Ah yes, my parents are in town for the entire week. They got in late Saturday night, and will be leaving sometime on Monday. We've had a busy couple of days so far with shopping, playing golf, sight-seeing, and lots of eating and napping! Today we are going to Martha's house for dinner, and hopefully, weather permitting, we will be watching Ruben play tonight out at the Woodlands. Tomorrow; possibly more golf and Lakewood Church at night. Other than that, the only thing set in stone is the Astros game Sunday night (my birthday) against St. Louis. It certainly has been relaxing, and there is no doubt it will continue to be. It's good to have them in town, and it is certainly much needed for me.

Other than that, not a whole lot else has been going on. It's been raining off and on, but luckily enough it's the typical Houston rain (20 minutes and then back up to 85 degrees). Good luck for the rest of the week to everyone, and have a very happy 4th of July!!!

A single dad with twins

As many of you have read, my Pygmy Marmoset couple had twins back in April. Yesterday, the mom passed away completely unexpectedly. Her name was 'Mia' and she was only 5 years old! She never showed one single sign of being sick, or not eating, or anything. Of course, I was the one to find her which made things even harder! She was such a good girl and an excellent mother. Her death was especially hard, not only because we didn't see it coming, but also because it now leaves dad with twins to care for on his own. They are almost 3 months old, and are eating a lot of solid food, but they may have still been nursing on occasion. We did some research and things are looking positive. At this age, even if dad abandoned them too, they should be able to survive on their own. That was great news as I was extremely worried about the welfare of the twins! However, it does not change the fact that Mia is no longer with us and that dad is now on his own. He had such a sad look on his face yesterday. For people who think animals don't show emotion, you are so wrong. It's never seen easier than in the face of a primate. Hopefully we will be able to introduce another female into this family group, but it of course will not be the same. Mia you will be missed!

After all this occurred, I began reflecting upon the last year and realized that we have lost 4 animals (3 primates and 1 acouchi), had to send 1 primate to a different zoo due to her partner's death, and 5 animals have gone through serious injury in just the past year. This was the hardest year of my career so far. I told my supervisor yesterday as I was in tears, that "I don't want to love animals anymore". It's just so hard when you lose them. And her response was, "that's why you can never stop doing this job"...and I never will.

Good News and Bad News

Now that we are finally fully staffed my off days are changing. I've been the next person in line for several months now, but am just now getting the chance to switch. I am now going to have Sundays and Mondays off! This means that Dave and I will finally have a day off together every week! We're both very excited about this! It will be starting this week!
The bad news is that I did not get the supervisor position, but it's not all bad. As much as I wanted it, I am very happy where I am now, especially with adding the Sea Lions and Koalas to my daily routine. It's a new challenge, which I always need. And being a supervisor means a lot more time away from my animals, so I am fine with the decision and am just glad I had the opportunity to interview. Hopefully, my time will come!

A Quick Update

I have to go to work in T-minus 10 minutes, but I figured I could squeeze in an update for all my fans. :) Just kidding. Anyway, the Sea Lion department has been short handed for about 6 months now, which is the reason that Kristin and I have ben learning the routine over there and helping them with training the sea lions (like they had to twist my arm). But, they needed more consistency then the two of us just coming over when we had time. So, it has been decided that both Kristin and I will be spending 3 days a week over at sea lions and 2 days a week in our sections at Natural Encounters (rainforest for me, bats for Kristin). I'm very happy about the decision. I don't have to give up my primates and I get to add 5 more animals to my care (3 sea lions and 2 koalas). Oh, by the way I got to hold one of the koalas last week! Very cuddly! So, this new rotation schedule should start in a week or two! I'm very excited to get some more experience under my belt.
Alright, well that's all with me. I'll bug Dave to do an update, as I can't even keep up with all his activities lately...tests, dinners, parties...the list goes on! Hope all is well with all of you!

The Good, The Bad and The Stressful

Well, thank you to my honey for recognizing in the last post the hard work taking care of animals can be. I always laugh when people are surprised that I work weekends... the animals still have to eat... the zoo is still open (and in fact is busier than any other day)... and we still feed them on Friday, which means...well, think about it. :(
Anyway, it seems that the job I love is even more challenging lately. We have been short staffed for quite a long time now and we have 3 employees starting this week and next. We also have zoo crew starting! Zoo crew are teenagers who work a couple days a week throughout the summer with us. It's an amazing opportunity for kids who are interested in the animal field. Finally...some relief! Although, I am still nervously awaiting the results of the supervisor interview!!! I want the position so bad, I can taste it. Despite that, I am not getting my hopes up too far. There are outside candidates coming to visit this week. For me, that is not a good sign, but I am just grateful for the chance to interview and I know I will make it there someday, if not now. In addition, just when we have several animals getting over injuries for various reasons, there's another one. My baby, my little Pygmy Falcon "Zuri", broke his toe yesterday and had to have part of it amputated!!! I was off yesterday and today, so I have not seen him yet. My supervisor told me that they have no idea how it happened. She said he was in good spirits though. I can't wait to see him...I hate not being there for him.
Well, with all the above good, bad and stressful going on, I will end with something good! On Dave's beloved 3 day weekend he came to visit me on Sunday! I have been working with the Sea Lion staff to learn the training necessary to work with our 420 pound male Sea Lion "Roscoe". I finally have enough behaviors down to perform a pretty good show and I was so excited for Dave to come and see it! So included are some of the pictures that he took while he was there!
It's back to work tomorrow and I am ready!

Alas, the beloved Three-Day Weekend!

Finally it is here. MY three-day weekend. I would love to say it is OUR three-day weekend, but Laura just isn't that lucky. It really is a full-time job taking care of animals. Kudos to her!!!

The last couple of weeks down here have been a bit of a whirlwind for us, with work and everything else going on. Laura interviewed for a supervisor position, I signed up to take my Life and Health Insurance Exam for work, my sister went to Colorado with the kids for a mini-vacation. The weather is getting warmer, and the beach is sounding better and better. Only problem is, one of us isn't going to go alone, so we must both suffer in vain. Oh well, soon enough I will have vacation and I can do anything I want.

Speaking of vacation, my parents are officially coming to visit. I have no idea why they have decided to drive, but I have a feeling my dad is regressing to his younger days and wants to get out on the road with his new car and see what it can really do. Nevertheless, I am extremely excited they are coming down here. They haven't seen the new apartment yet, and I really think they are going to like things down here. We'll do a little sightseeing, catch a ballgame (most likely on my birthday), and of course, lots of golf for my dad and I. I hope there's enough left in the tank for me to beat my dad...not that I'm really all that worried.

Less Than Jake came out with a new album this week. "In With The Out Crowd" is by far there most introspective record to date, but not so much that it is depressing and somber. Instead, the usual crunching guitars and sing-along style lyrics are there, but with a depth to it that hasn't been there before. I highly recommend picking this album up and giving it a try. You will not be disappointed. For those of you who like to download music, I know the iTunes store is running a deal where you can download the album and get an exclusive art PDF as well as a bonus track. Why not at least check it out!!!!

Finally, on a sad note, 24 is over for the season. I have to say, while I was able to predict some of the happenings during the 2-hour season finale, the ending COMPLETELY shocked me. I was not ready for that one! All I know is, I really hope the rest of this year goes quickly, because the new season that starts in January is going to be a helluva good one!

To everyone that has a long weekend, I hope you are with one's you love and I hope you are safe. We will probably cook out tomorrow night just for fun, and enjoy the gorgeous nights that we have down here. Be good and have fun!!!

-Dave

Austin City Limits

Double Trouble!

Yesterday, as many of you know, Laura and I took a trip to visit our state capital, Austin. While the weather wasn't necessarily cooperating with us in the morning, it certainly turned out to be a gorgeous day. We left the apartment around 7:00 AM, and we arrived in Austin at about 9:30 or so. From there we started at the capital building, which as amazing! The grounds were beautiful, the layout was incredible, and the scenery was spectacular. From there, we went to a restaurant called The Oasis, which sits atop a "mountain", if you will, and had some lunch. The view was absolutely incredible, and can be rivaled only by that of the landscape in Colorado. Lunch was very filling, and the best part of all, it was only about 12:00! So far, we had driven to Austin, visited and toured the capital, visited the information center, eaten lunch at The Oasis, and gotten back into town.
From there, we went to the Texas State Cemetery. Now I know what you're all thinking, but just give me a minute. The reason we went there was because they have a monument to victims of the attacks on 9/11. There are two beams from the WTC Towers that are displayed as a memorial to those who lost their lives. I can only show a picture of what we saw, but I can never describe the feelings that Laura and I had looking at those two mangled beams. It is something that anyone who comes to visit Texas should go see, and I will do my best to take anyone and everyone there.
Moving on, we found out there was some sort of festival happening on 6th St., which is the equivalent of Water Street, only MANY more bars. Basically there is a bar every other door for about 4 blocks on either side of the road. There were little tents set up on the street and people peddling all of their merchandise. Kind of po-dunk to me, only because I never really enjoyed the whole "flea market" scene. But it was neat to see some of what people had to offer, and I know Laura enjoyed it, which is what was important to me. After walking up and down the street, we grabbed a quick drink at on of the bars, The Chuggin' Monkey to be exact, and decided to head home. Now, the trip home wasn't bad from a weather standpoint like the drive in, but we did get a bit lost, I hit a pigeon, and basically turned a 2 1/2 hour trip into about 3 1/2 hours. Oh well, we made it home!
All in all, it was a wonderful trip, a wonderful time with Laura, and hopefully a wonderful birthday for her. It was god to get out and do something different, and rest assured, we will be taking more trips once we find the time. Hope you enjoy the pictures, and I am going to try to get some posted online somewhere so you can actually see what I am talking about a little bit better than just these few!

The latest...

Well, it seems my brother and I are in the same boat. He just had a post about the fact that the time between posts keeps increasing. I guess the same is for us. Maybe the novelty of the blog has worn off, or we simply don't have that exciting of a life. Oh well.
We have decided to cool off the house search. After going to see one and really liking it, we took a closer look at our finances and feel that it may be best to save up a little more first. At least now we know what we can get and what the process involves. We will probably look again after the wedding. Right now we just want to enjoy the wedding planning process and save up money so we're more prepared.
My baby Pygmy Marmosets are doing great! They are going to be a month old on May 4th! They are getting so big, which for them is about 2-3 inches long now. They have not ventured around the cage yet, they are still enjoying being carried around by mom and dad. We got our first picture of them two days ago; it's the one above. Dad is the one carrying them. You can see the head of one baby and the back and tail of another! Could they possibly be any cuter? I certainly don't think so!
Well, that's about all I have. I hope everyone is doing well and I'll hopefully decrease the time between now and the next post.
Laura