Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

Random Facts

This just goes to show how BORING my life is. The items in bold are things I've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper, yeah like 154865485 times.
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
42. Had amazing friends
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (Does Ebay count?)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi1
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach (Unfortunately yes!)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Let’s Do the Fork in the Garbage Disposal!

This is cutting edge stuff here. Years from now you'll be talking about Let's Do the Fork in the Garbage Disposal. It's a new phenomena--pay attention folks.

Who knew?!?

Look at the gas gauge in your car. There is an arrow near the little gas tank picture that tells you what side the tank is on! How have I gone my whole life not knowing that?

Tidbits

Well I still don't know anything more about the insurance. I called the insurance company on Monday and then again on Friday and was told that the adjuster hasn't loaded the estimate yet. I'm hoping something will happen next week. We will see.

**************************************

I've made some changes to my blog background. I'm enjoying learning about all the bog accessories. I'm sure things will be changing more as I learn more about the "tweaks".

Insuance? What?

I'm not doing a very good job of updating my blog--I'm finding writing about myself harder than I originally thought. I will continue to push myself and hope that, with time, I will become a blogging fool.

This week at work was extremely busy. I scheduled a vacation day for Friday because the insurance adjuster was coming out. I ended up working half a day on Friday and came home when the adjuster showed up (he called me an hour before he arrived). Hurricane Ike caused quite a bit of damage to my home. My garage was damaged, the roof has tiles missing and a hole in it (something must have hit the roof during the storm) and sheet rock inside shifted. I'm still not sure about the whole insurance process. The guy that came out didn't really answer my questions. He basically looked around and took pictures. I'm going to call the insurance company on Monday and try to get answers.

Lazy weekend

It's Saturday night and I'm at home playing on the internet. I should be cleaning or washing something. Oh well, it is what it is. Not much happening this weekend. Every once in a while we need a weekend with no agenda and "to do" list. This weekend is mine.

Random

I'm making an effort to update my blog on a regular basis. The whole "blog thing" is so out of character for me. I've always been the kind of person that doesn't like a paper trail. I'm the one that responds to an email by picking up the phone and calling you. It's so much easier for me to express myself verbally. I'm hoping this blogging experience will help me with my written communication skills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day by day, things are getting back to normal here in Houston. The same can't be said about Galveston and many of the coastal communities here in Texas. They were devastated by the storm surge and hurricane force winds. It's surreal to look at pictures of the damage knowing that I was there a short time ago enjoying a boardwalk that doesn't exist anymore.

Houstonians can actually buy food and gas now; something that wasn't possible for days following hurricane Ike. There are still approx. 600,000 people without power. You never know how much you depend on electricity until you loose it; especially here in the Houston heat.

Ike came and destroyed!

Well Ike did directly hit Galveston and Houston--my worrying wasn't in vain. Ike was my first hurricane and I can honestly say that it was the scariest thing I've ever been through. It seemed like it was never going to end; the wind was beating on my house for 9+ hours. My garage door blew in and I lost several roof tiles. The entire city was without power for days and some are still without power 9 days later. I'm grateful that my family and I are safe. The damage done to my home was minimal compared to others who lost everything. Next time a hurricane heads anywhere towards Texas; I'm outta here.

Go away Ike

OK, I am so over hurricanes. It seems every season we sit, watch and wait for a storm packing 100+ mile an hour winds to hit us. Although forecasting landfall has become more accurate over the years; there is still an error factor of 300+ miles.

So I have resorted to checking the forecast about 100 times a day, waiting for updates. I know I shouldn't worry when it's so far way, but I do.