Wednesday, August 31, 2005

More on Katrina

I've been trying to keep up with what has been happening with Hurricane Katrina. It has been quite devistating. Earlier I felt unlucky for traveling to Miami at the same time a hurricane hit, but now I feel incredibly lucky that the storm wasn't as severe when it hit where I was staying. Arthur tells me that Katrina reminds him of Andrew in how devestating it is. There is one thing that I see that has been consistant about Katrina, people underestimating how powerful she is. I don't know what the death toll is, but it seems that no one was expecting this much devestation.

I've been looking online to see what there is to do for those who were unlucky enough to live in areas devestated by Katrina. I saw that the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army are collecting donations to help the victims. Just thought I would put links to them for those who wish to know how to help. That is the only way I know how at this point other than praying for those effected by this hurricane.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Correction

My father is an agnostic and not an atheist.

atheist: one who believes that there is no deity.

agnostic: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god.

Okay I think that's good enough. Later:)

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Hurricane Katrina

I'm back in Brenham for the time being. We made it back a day late because of Hurricane Katrina. It was just my luck, or maybe I can blame this one more on Arthur's luck(I think his is worse), that the one week we visit Miami there is a hurricane. The last time a hurricane hit Miami was in 1992 with Hurricane Andrew. I thank God that there was nothing as severe this time.

All in all, it wasn't too bad. A category one hurricane. The worst part of the hurricane to me was the headache from pressure change, the loss of electricity (two nights with no airconditioning), and having to deal with the airport in Miami afterwards. I will never step foot in the Miami International Airport again. It was the biggest chaotic mess. No one speaks English, they have no sit down restaurants (I think there is only a tequila bar), what food they had was incredibly expensive and incredibly disgusting Cuban food, and the people who work there (who already don't speak English) all seem to be misinformed about what all the lines through the airport are for. Arthur tells me to go off on American airlines, but I'll leave that to him. Let's just say I could go on and on.

For now I will leave you pictures of the damage around where I was staying in Miami. I tried to take pictures during the hurricane, but they all turned out like this...


Imagine trees bending in the strong gusts of wind with rain gushing down... Yeah, it doesn't work too well does it.

So here are the pictures that turned out from the day after the hurricane. The flooding was further south from where we were. There was no electricity, but other than that the damage was mostly fallen trees and fences with some roof damage.





That's it for now. I'll write more later:)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Taking a break


I'm taking a break from the blog. I have stuff that I need to take care of and I'll also be going on a trip to Miami in a few days. I'll post again in another couple of weeks or so:)

Monday, August 15, 2005

Updating the blog

I wanted to point out real quick that my cousin in Buffalo,NY has a blog going:

Nifty Things

Its interesting and little different from the other blogs I'm use to seeing since he posts podcasts. It seems he's found a way of having his own talk radio type show online. So check it out!

Another thing, I will have to take down my link to Sideshow. It seems that Nixonreed has retired his blog. It is sad to see it go. I know he is keeping another blog going with a few others:

A Troupe Called Weirdsville

I'll be sure to link to it when I get to fixing my links again. What else... Actually I think that is it for now. I'll be sure to write in later:)

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Brother's graduation

Here are pictures from my brother's graduation. Proof that he walked today. He recieved his BFA. Sorry if they turn out a little dark, but this is the best I could do with my camera.


My brother is somewhere in that group. I think his head is turned the other way though.


Here he is walking across the stage.


This is my attempt of getting a shot of the whole group with the stage.


A family picture. From left to right:me, mom, Matt, dad and my cousin Julie.

That is it for me tonight. I'll write again later:)

Family trip

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my family, Arthur and I went on a zip line tour yesterday in Austin(link here). It was for both my parents 33 wedding anniversary and my brothers graduation from Texas State.


Here is a picture of the group during the ground school. From left to right: my mom, me, Arthur, Matt(my brother) and my dad.



Here's one of the guides hooking my dad up to the line.



Now its Matt's turn. This is his second time doing this. He went on a zip line in Costa Rica. I'm sure that one was much more impressive, but this is nice for being close to home.


There he goes.



Here's the group of us crowding up on a platform. Then the guides would hook us in one at a time to zip across to the next platform. We were zipping from cypress trees, and I was told that the tallest one was over a hundred feet tall. I think that's pretty impressive for Austin.



Here's Arthur. I don't think we have any action shots of him going across. I know it was him and my dad that took most of the pictures. I think he took most of the shots of us going across.



I know this one was taken by Arthur. This is looking down from the tallest platform. And that is one of the guides. I wish I could get this video of my brother hanging off the side of the platform (strapped in, of course), but I don't know how to put up video.



This is a picture that my mother commanded me to take. I'm not how well you can see, but there are little red flowers. The rocks behind the flowers is a cave.


This is taken of the tree right across from the highest platform. Do you see the cactus? There is a prickly pear cactus growing upside down out of the trunk (in the corner of one of the branches)of the tree.



Here's my mom going across. Proof that she went regardless of her fear of heights. She says she still won't go bungie jumping.



Now I'm getting strapped in.



There I'm going across.



As we ended the zip tour we were picked up by a little girl in a cart. I should have taken a picture of her driving, but we only had room for one more picture. We drove past buffalo on the way. So here's one of the buffalo coming up to the fence. I didn't ask why they had buffalo on their property, but it was pretty cool.

That is it for the Canopy Tour. It was a fun afternoon! I would recommend it if you happen to be in the Austin area and you want something different to do. It was a good way to celebrate my brother's graduation:)

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Canopy tours


I'm going to go do this today. My brother is graduating today and my mom thought this would be an interesting way to celebrate it. So, I'm off. I'll write about it later. Maybe I'll be able to keep a camera. Who knows...

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

More pictures of Arthur...

... okay, not just of Arthur. I thought that would be funny though, as much as he loves pictures of himself. I was going around in buzznet (what I use to save my pictures in) and I was looking for pictures I haven't put up yet. Other than some trashy pictures of Jess at the bar, there were these left over.

First one is of Arthur and I...



Second of Arthur and 'Joe Brenham'(not really his name, but I don't remember who the hell he is and that's what my dad called him)...



Now for a picture of me with old Joe. I'm in my shirt I seem to always wear anytime I take pictures. I promise I don't wear that shirt that often. For some reason every time I do wear it there are pictures taken of me...



Arthur again...



Another one with me and Sebastian...



And this post cannot be complete without a random picture from a cemetary...




I love taking pictures of cemetaries. I know that one was taken at some small town around here. Not really important. Just thought it was interesting that someone would put a flag up like that on the grave stone. That's it for me today. My head has still had a dull pain all morning, and it seems to be getting worse.

No use in complaining. Till next time...

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

I love long hair... On guys

I decided that I can post today if I only take a couple of minutes. I have to get some stuff done, and I'm actually doing it for once. I want to say thanks for the compliments on my glasses picture. I greatly appreciate them.

Reading back through my post it seems like I was fishing for compliments. What's funny is that I wasn't. No really, I wasn't. No use with arguing with myself. I can think of one instance where I was. And I got a compliment from the Complimenting Commenter. That was kind of cool. But other than that I was just trying to get compliments on my hair. I like having short hair and Art said that if I wanted to cut my hair like that again that he would shave his head. I thought maybe I could change his mind. The reason for posting this picture...



I cut my hair while I was with my parents one day. So my hair is shorter and he still hasn't shaved it. Maybe I'm safe. You see, I have a thing for guys with longer hair. I'm sure you can tell with my art. And from my other pictures I have posted of guys such as these in April and May...



and...



Its kind of funny though that I have not dated a guy with long hair in years. I'm really out of luck in that area with Art. We were going through old pictures of him before he joined the navy. This is one of them...



He says that he could never let his hair grow out that long; he'd look like a hippie. He thinks he looks like a hippie in that picture. I should expect that from someone in the military. He'll be cutting his hair the same way for the rest of his life. I'm cool with that... I've accepted that. I'm just nervous when it comes to him shaving his head. I like hair, even if he just has a little hair. I can understand it more if he was going bald or something, but he has a full head of hair. For now.

I'm not really going anywhere with this. My head is throbbing slightly, as it has been for the past couple of days. I need to get more work done, rather than writing about the fear of my boyfriend shaving his head. Its hair, it'll grow back... That is what I tell him about my hair. It'll grow back. Then I'll probably cut it again and this will start over. Yes, my life hasn't been incredibly exciting this summer. The fall semester will start soon and the trip to Miami will come before that. It's been nice taking time off for a short while. This is probably the last time I'll be able to do so, and I know many will never have what I have right now until they are retired. I have enjoyed it. But now I need to get back to writing about different types of sovereignty... Or something like that. Whitecastle burgers sound good too...

Friday, August 05, 2005

First picture with glasses



I have had bad eye sight since I was in second grade. At the time I was told that it was from me wearing my parents' glasses around the house when I was little. They had to say it was my falt. I remember whenever I first got glasses I thought they were cool. Maybe it was because they were different, or maybe it was because I was a dork. I don't know, I felt the same way about braces... Until I wore them for three years.

By the time I was in middle school I figured out that they were not the most attractive things to have on your face. I despised them. I know that it was also the frizy blond hair, braces and a thick east Texas accent that hurt me as well. I eventually got rid of all three, starting with the glasses. I didn't care what I had to do, I was going to wear contacts. I wore contacts even when I had alergies against them. That eventually went away. Then I lost the braces, dyed my hair and picked up the west Texas accent (which I am told isn't really that noticeable). Well, it didn't matter much by that point anyway because I went on to private school where there were only 50 students in the entire school anyway. No worries about being cool there.

These glasses I have on now (and in the picture), were the first ones I ever bought to wear in public since I was in middle school. Maybe I've outgrown that fear of looking uncool with glasses by now. I just notice that sometimes I am still hesitant of wearing them in front of people. For instance, there are a couple of pictures on this blog where I took off my glasses before snapping the picture. My excuse, I like my eyes and I think they look better without these frames in front of my face.

I thought I'd at least put up one picture where I am wearing these things. I know they aren't that bad. Arthur likes the way I look in them. I guess that is all that really matters. But now I am going to have to go back to the bathroom and put my contacts in. I can't stand wearing these things any longer today.

I can't sleep

I am having problems sleeping. It sucks. Have you ever gone to sleep for a couple of hours and then can't go back to sleep for the rest of the night? I seem to be having that problem right now. I'll probably be tired again at about 6am or something. What sucks most was that I was happy earlier tonight because I was actually tired early. I thought, "Wow, maybe I'll sleep tonight and be able to be productive in the morning." Maybe not.

Well, I decided to do a bunch of quizes. I don't know, it amuses me for some reason. Not that I think they are true, I just like taking them. Then I see the html code for the quiz. For some reason then I feel bad if I don't put it up on my blog. Like its a way of justifying that I'm not waisting my time on these things.

Here you go. These are the ones I've gone through tonight so far...










Your Political Profile



Overall: 70% Conservative, 30% Liberal

Social Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal





Your Kissing Purity Score: 43% Pure

You're not one to kiss and tell...

But word is, you kiss pretty well.


How You Life Your Life

You seem to be straight forward, but you keep a lot inside.

You say whatever is on your mind. Other people's reactions don't phase you.

You prefer a variety of friends and tend to change friends quickly.

Some of your past dreams have disappointed you, but you don't let it get you down.



You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant.
Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle.
You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs.

For you, comfort and calm are very important.
You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection.
You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.



Now I'm going to attempt to sleep for the third time tonight. Maybe it will work.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

My creature



I tryed to combine all my favorite creatures into one, mythical and real. The things I do to amuse myself in the summer (I did this last summer).

My Rose

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

I should learn spanish?

You Should Learn Spanish

For you, learning a language is about career advancement and communication.
Knowing Spanish will bring you tons of possiblities for jobs and travel. Bárbaro!



Sometimes I get the impression that I am one of very few people who hasn't learned Spanish or hasn't taken a keen interest in doing so. Nevermind that my boyfriend speaks Spanish. My brother is interested in speaking spanish and traveling around South America. He went to Costa Rica this past Christmas Break to learn the language. My mother has decided she wants to start learing spanish as well. She thinks it will make her more hireable as a sociologist or a social worker. In the TA office two of my friends would always speak spanish around me as well... It made me paranoid. Especially when I traveled from D.C. to San Marcos with my friend and his mother. I heard nothing but Spanish the entire trip; that is unless they wanted to include me in the conversation. I just took demerale.

It just seems to be everywhere to me now. Not just now though. Even in highschool, I heard it all the time. My English teacher would tell people in class that she would start deducting points from people if they spoke any language other than english in class(there were also the portugese from the students from Brazil). It was Catholic School though. Now I'm going to a trip to Miami. I've been told that I will be suprised by how little English is spoken. I'm kind of apathetic towards it though. Its just a trip to me. It makes me worry how it will be in a few years from now in Texas. I hope it doesn't get any worse to years to come, though I know it probably will.

Why do I care so much? Because I don't speak Spanish and I have no talent for language! I took this quiz thinking that it would probably tell me that it would be beneficial for me to learn Latin... No, it tells me Spanish. I had developed this fear of language classes by the time I reached college anyway. I took Spanish starting in middle school. My middle school teacher failed me my eighth grade year so I had to start over on the credit. In highschool I really never cared much for the subject, and in the end it kept me from having a graduation ceremony by one point! I swore at that point that I wouldn't take the damn subject again. I had a feeling that it was screwing me over. Maybe I should have taken my anger out on the teachers rather than the language, but I didn't. So I tried German. Let's just say it didn't get any better. I remember getting sick before going to class. It was inevitable that I would get called on all the time. Why? Because I could never answer anything correctly and my prof loved to embaress me.

So, is there any reason for me to learn spanish now? I have no clue. I just know that I'm never learning a language for school credit again. If that is possible. I will more than likely be forced to endure it once again if I actually go through with getting my PhD. I just wish that english would be enough for me. Aren't we the superpower here? Why can't we just speak english? It would be easier on me that way.

Well, enough bitching. I think I'm going to crash out for now...

I was a diseased sailor (ha, ha)

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Diseased Sailor.

Where You Lived: South Africa.

How You Died: Killed in Battle.


That just made me laugh:)