The Problem with Blogging...

...is that, to do it well, one must post on a fairly frequent basis. And the problem with that is that I'm lazy by nature. And that means that I sit here on December 12th, attempting to remember things that I wanted to say about my 20 year class reunion, which took place two weeks ago. So, the question is: do I do a half-assed posting, in which I try to remember witty things that I wanted to say about the event, or do I just blow it off?

OK, I'll give it a shot (but I'm not promising much effort here):

So, sometime back in the summer, July I think it was, I was contacted by a member of my graduating class (Tara High School, 1987). This person was in charge of planning the 20 year reunion, and was trying to get in touch with as many people as possible. My first thought was, don't these things generally happen in the spring? Whatever. A Yahoo! Group had been set up, so I spent a good deal of the taxpayers' dollars catching up on the messages that had been posted there. After reading everything, I knew with certainty that I was not going to attend this thing. But then I started seeing some names of other Group members that I thought I might like to catch up with.

As weeks and then months passed, a group of about 7 or 8 of us were emailing back and forth, and trying to determine if the Reunion was going to get off the ground or not. Based on the information (or lack thereof) that we were getting from Yahoo!, it looked pretty hopeless. At some point, I decided that I would have a "mini-reunion" at the house, either in front of or in lieu of the real deal. Time kept rolling, and just as I took the plunge and invited folks over for cocktails, the Yahoo! Group seemed to be revived. To tell the truth, it looked a little fishy, and we were skeptical.

To keep this from being too long and boring (oops! too late), I'll cut the chase. So (in the words of the sage Chuck Woolery) how did the date end? My friend, Kevin, came in for the Thanksgiving week with his family. Ray and I met up with Kevin and his wife for drinks Thanksgiving eve, and we had a lot of fun. There was a THS tailgating event planned for Friday, prior to the Arkansas game, so I went with them to that, too, and hooked up with a couple of other old friends. Friday night and Saturday morning, Ray and I sweat our asses off in an attempt to get the house in shape to have a few people over. A very small group came over Saturday afternoon, and then we all headed to the Chimes/Varsity for the main event.

How was it? Well, thanks to the wonderful folks at the brewery in Abita Springs, I had a pretty damn good time. It was funny to see how some people didn't change much, and how others did. I was especially amused by the people that came up to me and said how much they had "always liked me". And how impressed they always were, because I was "so smart." Well, guess what? I still am a friggin' genius, and while I genuinely enjoyed talking to everyone there, I could give a rats ass about what most of those folks think or thought about me. Liberating.

Yep. Susan's all grown up. And for those of you who know me now and know me well, I think you'll agree that I've grown into a somewhat scary, yet lovable (pushing it, huh?), adult.

Here's some pictures of the Stockstill pre-party. They are limited b/c we forgot to get the camera out until late.

(L to R): Phil, DeEtte, Susan, Ariana, Kevin, Nicole

Phil, Susan and Kevin study the old yearbooks

Kevin and Phil discuss the girls they wish they had nailed

Here's some from the Tailgate and Reunion:

Jeff, Susan, Nicole (and Jessica), DeEtte

Principle Blocker (oh, wait, that's Ray), Marcy, Nicole and husband, Michael

Susan (and cups), Nicole, Trent and Derek

Marcy, Kevin and Susan (and cups)

In Memoriam

Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel

October 17, 1938 - November 30, 2007

evelknievel.com

It seems that I am not the only Government employee who revered the man...the legend...the action figure. No, I didn't create this video - but, yes, I did own an original Stunt Cycle as a kid. And, yes, I currently own the reproduction Stunt Cycle and action figure. And, yes, it has been out of the box and taken a spin around the den within the last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcBFSgyGp4I&feature=related

Getting Ready for Christmas

Well, sort of. I put up the tree, stockings, nativity, wreaths, and a few other things here and there. Definitely don't have the florist coming out to deck the halls in garland like several of the neighbors do. If it weren't for the artificial tree we got last year, I probably wouldn't even be putting up Christmas decorations.

Still have lots of shopping to do - although I don't really shop for many folks. I've got Dad, Sylvia and Mom squared away. 1 Sibling down, and stuff for Lauren. Ray and I are talking about buying exercise equipment for our joint gift to each other. We'll see. So that only leaves about 6 or 7 things that I need to get. Not too bad, I guess.

Here's the tree. I had to move it from the Keeping Room this year, since we have the chairs and Plasma in there now. I think it actually looks much better in the Living Room - especially at night, since you can see it from the front door and the back yard. You make the call.

Fake Trees Rule!

Nativity Set from Childhood (as proven by the holes meticulously punched in the bottom of each of the Paper Mache figures) with "Story of the Nativity" cross (gift from Louis and Charlotte)

Back on the Grid

Well, it's been six weeks of working 7 days a week (with 2 days off for my birthday), but it's finally over - for now. I got to sleep until after 8:00 this morning, AND take a 3 plus hour nap today - sweet. Not that work is going to be super slow, but hopefully it can be managed with just a few hours late here and there until things pick up again in January.

And it's good timing, as I've got some stuff coming up. Lauren's 2nd birthday is next weekend, and Margaret will (hopefully) be coming in for her birthday in three weeks. Then Thanksgiving, followed by the Tara High School Class of 1987 20th reunion. Although the status of that is questionable, I'm hoping to have a gathering of about 20 or so fellow graduates over here on the Saturday following Turkey Day - with or without the official event taking place.

But the fun doesn't stop there, folks! Beth is coming into town in mid-December and four of us are going to drive to Houston to see Third Day and Jars of Clay in concert. And then Christmas. And thanks to Governor Blanco, we'll be off two days each for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I always did like that lady.

OK, now that I've bored everyone with my schedule through the end of the year, I'll go see about catching up on all of the housekeeping that's been lacking for the past six weeks. Yikes!

Aunt Hoohen Rocks!

'Nuf said - that's all there is to it.

Motorcycle Musings

The weather has been beautiful for the past week, and T.S. and I have been roaming around a lot. On the way into work this morning, I was thinking about some of the "surprising" differences that I've noticed between riding a motorcycle and driving a car.
Of course, there's the obvious - you're on two wheels - duh! But what I'm really talking about is the enhanced sensations that you have (or as John Travolta said in Pulp Fiction, "It's the little differences"). Here's 3 things:

1) The Wind - OMG! When you're riding around on an asphalt parking lot in training class, with maximum speeds of about 18 mph, you have NO idea what riding at 60 mph is going to feel like. The first ride for me was a shock. The first stretch of Airline Highway where I got up to about 45 mph scared the crud out of me. I still don't have a windshield, but I'm considering getting one this fall.

2) The Temperature - Even though I was told that the temperature feels about 15 degrees cooler when you're riding, I still wasn't prepared for last winter. I mean, I got this information during training class, which was held on the last weekend in June on a tar covered parking lot. At that point, the concept of a 15 degree drop in temperature still equated to "hot as hell"! Flash forward 6 or 7 months to early morning rides when Diane Deaton is saying that the temperature is 36 degrees. There were many December and January mornings when I arrived at work not sure if my fingers were still attached. I've upgraded my gloves since then. The other thing about the temperature is coming across cool spots. It's really neat to be riding down the street and all of the sudden hit a small patch of cooler air. That happened this morning - although since the temperature was about 55 degrees to start with, I wasn't much of a fan of the cool spot today.

3) Smells - All that metal and those windows really block out a lot of the "fragrances" of the world around us. And sometimes, that's a good thing. Skunks and roadkill - nice. This morning, I was 2 vehicles behind a big garbage truck. It wasn't terrible, but every now and then, I'd catch a whiff of that unmistakable scent. Then I passed through an oily/gassy smell. A little farther down the road, I could smell the unmistakable grease of McDonald's. When I was almost to work, I passed by somewhere bread was being baked. I don't think I've yet to encounter the scent of a field of flowers yet - something to look forward to.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yep - that's me - 39 years ago. Apparently, I felt that the delivery room nurse didn't sufficiently clean out my nasal cavity, and photography being what it was back then, retakes by "Nursery Identi-Foto" weren't an option!

Some interesting notes from my baby book:

Mother said: "I'm glad it's another girl."

Father said: "Good." (Good that I was a girl or that my mother was glad? Or maybe the Cowboys had just scored a touchdown. Who knows!)

Shape of Head: "Just perfect" (sorry, Margaret)

Character: "very loud and strong" - who me?

Position: "Normal - only 3 hours of labor"

OK, the reason these two things are funny, is because they are under a heading called "Birthmarks" - as in, what is the character and position of any birthmarks? Mom got that one kind of confused, I think!

And then, being the second child that I was, it doesn't go much beyond that. Oh, well, those are the breaks, I guess.

But today, I had a pretty good day. I took off from work and went for my semi-annual dentist check-up, got my motorcycle inspection sticker renewed, saw Dad and sat with him while he ate lunch, ate a late lunch with Ray at Monjuni's (WAY off the diet, but delicious!), had some alone time with Ray this afternoon, and then swam a mile. I spoke to all 3 of my siblings and my Dad (and talked to Mom yesterday afternoon), and got an email from Brittany and Lauren, and one from Sylvia. And a special birthday posting from Beth on her blog, and a follow-up phone call. Best of all, I got a surprise phone call from Lauren saying "Happy Birthday, Aunt Susan." Precious!

Yesterday at work, I was pleasantly surprise by a beautiful fall arrangement of cut flowers from Mom. I can't get over how pretty they are. I'm not sure if the pictures can do them justice.

One other note of interest from my baby book: First Bank Account: "Plano Bank and Trust - savings". I WILL be calling Mom first thing tomorrow to check on that. I wonder how much 39 years of accrued interest amounts to???