Wow, I just noticed that I have not posted anything in a really long time. That is just not good. Oh, well. Well, Christmas came and went without any problems. I guess everyone liked their gifts.

I am excited, we are heading to Las Vegas tomorrow morning. My family has decided to rent a minivan and make the 1600 mile trek to Vegas. I have never been to New Mexico and I think that Arizona is amazing so I am looking forward to the drive. I am not much of a gambler, I have been to Las Vegas in the past and have not gotten hooked on the machines, so I should be ok. My aunts and mom on the other hand have never gone, but have spent several night at the local, well, Louisiana, casinos. They should be fun to watch. Wish me luck!!

Tonight turned out pretty nice. I invited the Shindig (a group of people that get together to go out and get a drink) to go to the Twelve Spot, get a drink, and meet before Christmas, but had only heard back from Chris and Teresa. I would of had a great time with just them, but was pretty impressed that more people ended up showing up, including Carmen N. she is a hard one to get a hold off! Once again, thanks to everyone for coming out...Merry Christmas!!

Went to the Christmas Tree farm and picked up my Christmas tree (duh!). It was actually fun, but a bit nippy. It is nice to see that you can actually do something like that in Texas. The only reason I knew about the farms is because I drive to Austin often and have to drive by them, otherwise I would of bought my tree at the grocery store down the street like I do every other year. Well, this whole Christmas Tree Farm is an interesting concept...You get there and they give you a tag outlining the footage of the trees, kinds of trees, and prices, then you walk and pick up a long stick with measurements on it and a saw. You then jump on the next tractor trailer and hitch a ride to your destination, we opted for stop number three, no reason we just thought it was a good stop. You get off the trailer and walk around and around until you find the perfect tree (I am glad that we measured the area were the tree was going to go at home before we left. All the trees that I had my eye on were over 9 ft. high. But, we should of also measured the width of the space also, because the tree we chose is a little bottom heavy), then you start sawing, and sawing, change positions and continue sawing and sawing. My mom, that went with us, is just glad that John does not make a living as a lumber jack, we would be starving by now. Ha, ha! Anyway, the whole experience, even though neat, does not come cheap, the tree had a whopping price tag of $67. I mean we could of driven to Kroger gotten a tree for $45 and driven home, but the pictures and memories of John chopping down a tree will last a life time.

Update to my Boston story. The Christmas party was awesome. It is always so much fun to come up and see the people I work with. I just love those guys! The only thing wrong, well, the weather did not cooperate, to say the very least. On Friday night it started to snow and it did not stop till Sunday night. Luckily we were staying with friends and were not stuck in a hotel room - thanks Gus and Steph. I think it snowed around 30 inches that weekend - gross. For all of you who know me...I HATE snow. I don't mind it being cold, I mean it can get down to 0 for all I care, but the snow pisses me off. I always feel that I am going to fall and break my head - not good. On Monday we headed off and tried to fit in as many friends as possible, given the snow we did not get to do some of the things we had planned for the weekend. And of course, the trip could not of been over without getting lost and trying to find our way to the airport in a city that does not believe in street signs and moves their streets around whenever possible. Overall the trip was great and can not wait to do it again next year.

Oh, my, it has been a long time since I had written anything on here. My New Year's resolution list is starting...1. More blog updates. Ok, well, I am currently in Boston, Mass. I got here on Monday. On Sunday before I went to sleep I looked at weather.com for the latest updates, it said, and I quote, highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's. So, of course I packed accordingly, but no, we had a "Canadian" front come through and messed everything up. It was crazy I think it got down to 15F and with the wind chill it was around 1F. Plus, the first snow of the season came down...lucky me! (yeah, right). Of course when everyone saw me at the office they would say "I thought you were bringing the warm weather with you?" my answer was "it did not fit in the overhead". Ok, that is my Boston story so far.

I am going to my company's holiday party tomorrow. It should be lots of fun, yippie!

The rain was CRAZY yesterday! I had made plans with my aunt, that has been in Houston at The Medical Center and is only 4 years older than me, to go shopping on Monday. We were planning to go to Katy Mills. By the time my time to go to pick her up rolled around it had not stopped raining for three days. We left the house and got to the Medical Center ok, but as we waited to pick her up the winds started picking up and with was raining some baseball size drops. On the way out to the freeway the water was so high that we had to drive in the median. So, our plans had to change, no more Katy Mills. It took us 1.5 hours to get from Hermann Hospital to Meyerland Plaza, usually a 15 minute trip, it was crazy. There were so many people stuck and so many cars abandoned. The bayou near Meyerland had completely overflowed and the feeder roads were closed. It was crazy, but we do live in Houston.

In The News...What is the deal with Michael Jackson now? I am beginning to question some of these parents. I mean the guy is pretty freaky anyway so are these parents like "You wanna go to MJ's house to hang out?, yeah, sure, I don't see the harm in that. Just because he has a ranch called Neverland filled with different animals, has a pet monkey, used to be black, has been seen suspending his own children (so he says) out of a balcony, and has been sued before for child abuse, I don't see any problems, you go ahead". What parent in their right mind lets their child go over there and hang out? I mean the parents are to blame for their stupidity, maybe they should be the ones being sued. Oh, yeah, and the parents of this kid don't want any money, they want the TRUTH to be known. How about working on something we did not know??

Yes, yes, I know, I said I was going to write a lot sooner about the concert, but to tell you guys the truth it took me several days to recuperate. Ok, let me start at the beginning...It was a hot and muggy night in Houston, well, it was!, anyway, back to my story, we arrived late, my sister wanted to have dinner before the concert, I wanted to be there by seven, anyway, by the time we got to Downtown, battled the traffic, found a place to park, and waited in line to get in, my band, Rabanes, was already up on stage, OH MY, I must go!!! I ran to the front and elbow my way to a very decent place on the floor right in front of the stage. Wow, Rabanes were awesome and I was so close I could see the sweat dripping from their faces (I guess I still think that is cool). After their set we went upstairs to seat and that is when it turned ugly. After so much jumping up and down and dancing I had worked up a thirst, so I requested a $9.50 Miller Lite. Ok, everybody say with me $9.50!! Anyway, Maldita Vecindad and Motolov were great. After the concert we, well, I , was looking for the band and I was told they would be at the Hard Rock, but by the time we got there they were already gone, boo, hoo. But I took the opportunity to enjoy a couple of more cocktails and make new friends (I even got a free hat!). Yeap, it was a FUN night.

Yes, tonight is the Rabanes concert, I am so super excited. It should be a lot of fun. I will keep you all posted on how it went.

Enlightenings...Well, I have come up with a new way to live my life and to tell you all the truth it is actually working for me. I have decided that I will let everyone live their life as they see fit...yes, I know, you are saying, isn't that what we are all supposed to be doing? Well, yes, but there are times when you want to pass your pearls of wisdom to other people and it does not always turn out the way you expect it - you know, big hugs, thank you, thank you, hugging again and of course something mentioned about saving their life - nope, not always like that. Anyway, to make a long story short, I will no longer offer my 2 cents. I will wait until "what do you think?" before giving my opinion and even then I will try to limit my answer. Yeap, I will be completely hands off, huh, I will see how this goes.

Ok, see you guys tomorrow after the concert.

I am so super excited. I just booked my trip to Boston. Yippie for me! It should be super fun, but I think it will be "wicked" cold. Last year when I went for my company meeting, also the first week in December, it was snowing. Yuck! I hate cold weather.

I have been jet-lagging all day. It seems that I am home a lot now days, but can not get anything done. It has been one of those days that I wish that I could just sit down and watch tv all day, but there is so much to do. Still nothing gets done and I don't get to watch any tv.

Ponderables...I wonder why some priests label themselves as gay if they are not allowed to have sex? I wonder about that. Why do they go out of their way to say they are gay if they are supposed to be celibate? It seems kinda a waste of energy to me.

Another awesome Halloween gone. This year we celebrated halloween at the house for the first time. It was great, we got over 200 kids. Wow, I had never seen so many people on the street. It was a lot of fun. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Ahhhhhhhh, I am already making plans for next year.

Speaking of seasons...(Oct. 20 blog) Fall finally arrived in Houston. The temperature got all the way down to 47F. No, I do not miss Boston THAT much. Cold weather, though it is nice to think about and look at, specially with all the snow (everyone now - AHHH!!), has a way of slapping me and waking me up. No, I will stick to my original thoughts - winter sucks!

Ponderables...Why do candy companies bother making candy other than red ones? The other day I was thinking, as I watched a Mentos commercial, that everyone always fights over the red ones. It does not matter if you are eating Mentos, Starbursts, or Life Savers. I have actually opened packages and eaten just the red ones. I always try to pass the other flavors around but get "are there any red ones?". Huh, just a though. Hey, and what is up with the orange Starburst - YUCK!!

Yeah, the season finale of Nip/Tuck was last night - awesome. I love that show. I can not believe that I have to wait till June 2004 to see it again. Doesn't 2004 seem so far away!! Anyway, I can not wait.

In The News...The whole Kobe Bryant thing is weird to me. I can not decide which side to take or if I even care for that matter. All that I can come up with is...why was she up in his room to begin with?? As a women the first lesson you learn is that you DO NOT go up to a guys room unless you want something to happen. What did she think they were gonna do watch tv? As a woman it makes me upset that I can not call him a rapist or hate him for that matter, but the fact is that they are both to blame since he did open the door.

Hello. This is my first entry...woo, hoo. I have been wanting to do this forever. I actually had one already but never did anything with it, but here I am all brand new and everything. I am so excited. Ok, ok...
I just realized how much I miss Mass., well, I do now, I won't when it starts snowing (ha, ha). I am currently in Marion, IL. (for work) and it reminds me so much of Mass. specially with all the fall foliage. I had forgotten how pretty it is. I leave Marion tomorrow, it was a nice city.

In The News...Today in USA Today there was an article about Jillian Barberie (I just LOVE her!) ... "Fox NFL Sunday weather girl Jillian Barberie lost several points by sporting a Barbie doll-type top that was below even the substandard she has set for football studio shows...". All I can say is HELLLLLOOO!!!!!!!!!! and who is he calling girl?? Maybe the reporter writing the story wanted the viewers to concentrate on the weather report!?! Well, if that is the case. why doesn't he complain that the outfits that the cheerleaders wear distract from the game?