Two Random Bits
I have found another "it's so bad it's good" show called Dance 360. Perhaps my love of dance shows and my desire to one day participate in a dance-off influences my perception, but I love any show that has a "head to head" competition between audience members. Especially when the host says something like, "Bring your best, 'cause you're gonna be jugded." Ahh, yeah!
The second random bit involves a person who requested some info about the program I work for. I was taking down her information to send her a brochure and her address was on a street called "Killdeer." First, it made me realize that I am truly back in Texas. And 2, it made me want to live on a street called "Trimbush." But that's just me.
That's likely all for the next few days while I get my Texas Book Festival on.
Wednesday
Monday
Feeling Adult
Well, it has been quite a weekend.
We put an offer on another house. A house which, coincidentally, is bigger and down the street from the first house we put a bid on. The sellers countered, we accepted, and later this afternoon we are going in to fill out the required paper work. We still have to get through the inspection and the appraisal, but unless something unexpected happens, it looks like we could be moving into our house (our house--something I've never said before) around Thanksgiving.
Buying a house is a big thing.
The other big thing is that I finished a draft of my novel yesterday. That draft has been long in coming. I'm glad to be finished, but mostly I'm just tired. I'm going over what I have this week, sort of trying to figure out a game plan, and I'll start rewriting around Nov. 1. I have to go to the Texas Book Festival on Thursday, and I'll be in Austin through Sunday, so I doubt I'll get any major work in before then.
Do you want to write a novel? You might try NaNoWriMo. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will be to write a novel during the month of November. I'm not going to join up this year since I think it would be cheating, but I am going to try to get a revision of the novel in one month. I think I need to do at least 3-4 serious revisions and then a few more proofing look-sees, but what the hell do I know? I've never done this before. Right now, my hope is to revise in 3-6 months. Will I meet my deadline? Will I ever finish? Stay tuned ....
Well, it has been quite a weekend.
We put an offer on another house. A house which, coincidentally, is bigger and down the street from the first house we put a bid on. The sellers countered, we accepted, and later this afternoon we are going in to fill out the required paper work. We still have to get through the inspection and the appraisal, but unless something unexpected happens, it looks like we could be moving into our house (our house--something I've never said before) around Thanksgiving.
Buying a house is a big thing.
The other big thing is that I finished a draft of my novel yesterday. That draft has been long in coming. I'm glad to be finished, but mostly I'm just tired. I'm going over what I have this week, sort of trying to figure out a game plan, and I'll start rewriting around Nov. 1. I have to go to the Texas Book Festival on Thursday, and I'll be in Austin through Sunday, so I doubt I'll get any major work in before then.
Do you want to write a novel? You might try NaNoWriMo. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will be to write a novel during the month of November. I'm not going to join up this year since I think it would be cheating, but I am going to try to get a revision of the novel in one month. I think I need to do at least 3-4 serious revisions and then a few more proofing look-sees, but what the hell do I know? I've never done this before. Right now, my hope is to revise in 3-6 months. Will I meet my deadline? Will I ever finish? Stay tuned ....
Friday
NY Times Editorial
"Dr. Gene Bolles spent two years as the chief of neurosurgery at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, which is where most of the soldiers wounded in Iraq are taken. Among his patients was Pfc. Jessica Lynch. In an interview posted this week on the Web site AlterNet.org, Dr. Bolles was asked: 'What kind of cases did you treat in Landstuhl? And these were mostly kids, right?'
He said: 'Well, I call them that since I'm 62 years old. And they were 18, 19, maybe 21. They all seemed young. Certainly younger than my children. As a neurosurgeon I mostly dealt with injuries to the brain, the spinal cord, or the spine itself. The injuries were all fairly horrific, anywhere from the loss of extremities, multiple extremities, to severe burns. It just goes on and on and on. ... As a doctor myself who has seen trauma throughout his career, I've never seen it to this degree. The numbers, the degree of injuries. It really kind of caught me off guard.'
If you're the president and you're contemplating a war in which thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of these kinds of injuries will take place, you have an obligation to seek out the best sources of information and the wisest advice from the widest possible array of counselors. And you have an absolute obligation to exercise sound judgment based upon facts, and not simply faith."
Read the rest here.
And if you didn't read "Without a Doubt," an article in last Sunday's Times Magazine, you should. It's a great article about Bush's faith-based presidency.
"Dr. Gene Bolles spent two years as the chief of neurosurgery at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, which is where most of the soldiers wounded in Iraq are taken. Among his patients was Pfc. Jessica Lynch. In an interview posted this week on the Web site AlterNet.org, Dr. Bolles was asked: 'What kind of cases did you treat in Landstuhl? And these were mostly kids, right?'
He said: 'Well, I call them that since I'm 62 years old. And they were 18, 19, maybe 21. They all seemed young. Certainly younger than my children. As a neurosurgeon I mostly dealt with injuries to the brain, the spinal cord, or the spine itself. The injuries were all fairly horrific, anywhere from the loss of extremities, multiple extremities, to severe burns. It just goes on and on and on. ... As a doctor myself who has seen trauma throughout his career, I've never seen it to this degree. The numbers, the degree of injuries. It really kind of caught me off guard.'
If you're the president and you're contemplating a war in which thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of these kinds of injuries will take place, you have an obligation to seek out the best sources of information and the wisest advice from the widest possible array of counselors. And you have an absolute obligation to exercise sound judgment based upon facts, and not simply faith."
Read the rest here.
And if you didn't read "Without a Doubt," an article in last Sunday's Times Magazine, you should. It's a great article about Bush's faith-based presidency.
Fort Davis and Losing a House
Last weekend we went to Midland for my Dad's surprise 55th birthday party. The party was a success and everything went well (except my Abuelita had a health scare). The birthday menu included raw oysters, carne asada, brisket, and all the normal barbecue trimmin's. And two cakes. And lots of beer. And washers (for the uninitiated, it's similar to horseshoes).
We also went to Fort Davis and got to wear blue ribbons with "Descendents" written on them. That was due to Mr. Dietrick Dutchover himself and we met a few Dutchovers. I also read a great story about Dietrick hiding on the roof of one of the fort buildings during an Apache attack. Only three or four settlers survived that attack and it was interesting thinking: wow, if he had been a little slower, I wouldn't be here today. Way to go, Dietrick! Plus, there's that whole Apache attack thing. Amazing to think of a time when that was a regular occurence. You can see some of the Fort Davis pictures on Nate's site, in the gallery section.
In Dallas news, Nate and I found and fell in mild love with a house. We put a bid on it yesterday and found out someone else had already done the same thing. Today we were told we could counter-offer but we got the sense the seller was trying to start a bidding war, so we backed out. Very disappointing, but there are other houses in the same neighborhood (even one on the same street) available, so it seemed silly to go all out on this house. So the search continues ...
Monday
Things Aren't That Bad
Well, after the presidential debate, I feel a little better, although my reading is still depressing me. But life goes on.
Friday was my Nate's birthday and we started celebrating on Thursday and finished on Sunday, so all in all, things were pretty good for a birthday celebration.
We also started looking at houses and were neither excited (we saw several nice houses but not our house yet), nor dismayed. We're starting to get an idea of what we can afford and what kind of house that will be. I'm almost 100% positive that we are going to spend more than we first thought, which is what I'm sure almost everyone does, but how much more is yet to be determined. Life will definitely be interesting in the coming months as we look for houses and figure out what exactly we want.
To give you an idea, yesterday we saw a really great cottage in an old part of town that had been worked on but not completely renovated. It was a very cute house with gorgeous wood floors and tons of windows. The problems: the best bathroom was in the hall, not the one near the master bedroom, which meant guests would be using our bathroom (not a huge issue, but something to consider). The plentiful windows, while providing tons of light, were original and the house was built in 1911, so can you say drafty? We knew the energy waste would be high and also the utility bills. Fixable, but slightly pricey. There were five doors in this house: a front door, a back door, and a door to each bedroom leading outside. We figured at some point the house was converted into a rental unit, with each room having its own private door. Now, having five points of entry in a three bedroom house is freaky and gave me some security concerns but doors can be replaced. This was a pretty big problem because all solutions to the multiple doors will require time and money. And finally, in this old house, there were only two closets, both very tiny. So, some problems and issues and work needed. In the end, it didn't feel right anyway, but that example goes to show how many little things you have to think about. Neighborhood, style of house, size, amenities, price, etc. How much work are we willing to do? That's a question we're asking ourselves now.
This weekend we're going to Midland to visit the familia and also driving to Fort Davis. They are having their 150-year anniversary and we're going since there is also going to be a Dutchover family reunion that same weekend. Should be fun, but there's going to be a lot of driving.
Well, after the presidential debate, I feel a little better, although my reading is still depressing me. But life goes on.
Friday was my Nate's birthday and we started celebrating on Thursday and finished on Sunday, so all in all, things were pretty good for a birthday celebration.
We also started looking at houses and were neither excited (we saw several nice houses but not our house yet), nor dismayed. We're starting to get an idea of what we can afford and what kind of house that will be. I'm almost 100% positive that we are going to spend more than we first thought, which is what I'm sure almost everyone does, but how much more is yet to be determined. Life will definitely be interesting in the coming months as we look for houses and figure out what exactly we want.
To give you an idea, yesterday we saw a really great cottage in an old part of town that had been worked on but not completely renovated. It was a very cute house with gorgeous wood floors and tons of windows. The problems: the best bathroom was in the hall, not the one near the master bedroom, which meant guests would be using our bathroom (not a huge issue, but something to consider). The plentiful windows, while providing tons of light, were original and the house was built in 1911, so can you say drafty? We knew the energy waste would be high and also the utility bills. Fixable, but slightly pricey. There were five doors in this house: a front door, a back door, and a door to each bedroom leading outside. We figured at some point the house was converted into a rental unit, with each room having its own private door. Now, having five points of entry in a three bedroom house is freaky and gave me some security concerns but doors can be replaced. This was a pretty big problem because all solutions to the multiple doors will require time and money. And finally, in this old house, there were only two closets, both very tiny. So, some problems and issues and work needed. In the end, it didn't feel right anyway, but that example goes to show how many little things you have to think about. Neighborhood, style of house, size, amenities, price, etc. How much work are we willing to do? That's a question we're asking ourselves now.
This weekend we're going to Midland to visit the familia and also driving to Fort Davis. They are having their 150-year anniversary and we're going since there is also going to be a Dutchover family reunion that same weekend. Should be fun, but there's going to be a lot of driving.