Anythingtastic

Rockport Beach

2010-11-18T16:08:00.000-06:00

Rockport, TX has become one of our favorite things about living in the Coastal Bend. It's just an hour or so from our house and has all the affinity of a seaside village as well as a few comforts of a upscale resort area. We dig it.

Only in Texas?

2009-02-08T08:26:00.000-06:00

So I was on they way to Corpus Christi Thursday...and saw this at the gas station. I took a picture because I never seen anything quite like it. The guy driving the truck was selling them for 40 bucks a piece. I told him that I didn't really need a cow or have room to keep one, so I couldn't help him.

I wonder how he did.

Dinner at Origami makes me happy

2009-01-26T18:12:00.000-06:00

Old Tools

2009-01-21T20:20:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I forget that old things are the best. I had some drilling to do this afternoon and, of course, the batteries weren't charged on my handy dandy cordless screwdriver. I was peeved at the thought of having to put my project off, but then I remembered the good ol' PowrKraft that my father-in-law gave me after his dad, the previous owner of the PowrKraft, passed away. I've used it a couple of times and it has always gotten my out of a pinch. It may not be pretty, and it may have a slight electrical problem which may someday be the cause of my untimely demise, but...it's a great tool, still kickin' after all these years, and still doing what it was designed to do. I hope that when I'm old, and when I have been replaced by some newer, faster, more lightweight version of me , that every now and then I can save the day and scare the bujeezus out of them at the same time.

So we took the cabin to the beach...

2009-01-19T21:18:00.001-06:00

A couple of my favorite piccs from our trip to Goose Island state park.

Christmas Plans

2008-12-20T13:27:00.004-06:00

I'm hopeful today...really during this Christmas season, I've been hopeful. It's strange because I'm normally a bah humbug type...really, I haven't been that fond of Christmas in the past; or at least the commercialized Christmas I've been fed all my life. This year, however, I've been all about singing Christmas carols, going to Christmas parties, buying gifts and the whole bit. I'm not sure if it's that I'm mellowing out or if something else is different inside of me. We'll see. We've yet to actually take the long trip to East Texas and spend that time with family, but you know...I'm really looking forward to it.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is Shaune's Solitary Songwriting Escape. Next Tuesday, I'm off for some solitude at a cabin in the woods. I'll spend that time praying, writing, singing and playing guitar....oh yes, and recording. I'd like to come back with at least two songs, but I'd be OK if the trip happened to precipitate more than that.

Today, however, I'm actually in the office about to do some work that I've been putting off. After that, Kristie and I will go to Corpus for church and a meal, then tomorrow we're off to The Great State. Sometime in there I'll have to wrap Kristie's presents too. Fun times.

Peace.

A Year In Perspective

2008-12-11T10:23:00.002-06:00

It's been almost a year since I last blogged, but with a new found affinity for Facebook and Twitter (@shaunedavid), can you really blame me? However, now that the new has worn off of those two time wasters...er, I mean "social networking tools," I've decided to try again to make Anythingtastic something that at least get's updated one week. Is that a New Year's resolution?....maybe, but I'm saving the NYR spot for some other ventures as well.

This really isn't a year in perspective. I'm at work and don't have time for that. However, I can tell you that this year was a blessed time in my life and has given me many opportunities for service and growth. I started playing at my church more, so I was able to get back into the swing of playing music, which always lights me up. I started back to finish my master's degree and learned that I really dislike online classes, but mainly because of the consistency they require. Also, this year at camp was interesting as I have taken on some new roles and responsibilities. Last but not least, Kristie and I had a great year of growing together to be an even stronger couple and have taken on some mentor roles with other couples...weird but cool.

That's the short of it. As the semester winds down, I'm finding time to hit up the blog again, but maybe...just maybe, when the semester starts up, I'll be able to keep it going.

Peace.

Whirlwind

2007-12-23T00:11:00.000-06:00

Today was a travel day. It started around 7:30 am when I realized I could sleep no longer since Kristie was up and packing up to leave for the annual Christmas trek to East Texas. Knowing that I had done very little packing, I decided to go ahead and get started. Normally, we can leave by 10 am and be to our intended destination approximately 6 hours later...including meals, gas, and other stops...including letting the dog walk around a bit. That would have been good today, but we had a few stops to make and a few additions to our normal travel scheme.

Like we were hauling a 16' trailer with this very large mesquite tree on it. I was taking this to Pineywoods so that they can cut it into boards for our camp. The backhoe operator, always good judges of the weight of large objects, estimated this thing to be about 2000 lbs....so I was a bit tentative. We had to stop so many times to check the tie downs and the tires. It was pretty funny how many people would pull up alongside and stare at us. "Hello, it's just us. YEs, we know we have a huge tree on our trailer." We finally made it to Pienywoods around 7:30 after leaving the camp at 11:30. We amazingly stretched the first leg of our 6 hour trip into 8....nice.

Besides stretching our entire 6 hour trip into a mere 12 hours, the best part of the day had to be my final task before leaving the house this morning. Yesterday Kristie had mentioned that something was in the chimney and it sounded like it was trying to get out. A full day at work kept me from coming home to check on it, and I forgot about it last night. Regretfully, I had resigned myself to the fact that the poor animal was probably dead and I would need to remove the body or reap the benefits of a ripe carcass in the chimney for 6 days. The absolute last thing on my list this morning was to open the damper and throw away whatever I found...what I found, or more exactly what found me was a very alive and very in my living room South Texas freaked out squirrel. I had barely cracked the opening and this blur of life came flying by me and dove underneath our couch. I immediately remove our cat from the situation and begin to build a pitiful barricade to keep the squirrel in the living room and not in the rest of the house. I open the back door and before I know it the squirrel in headed toward to the great outdoors. The only problem is even though the squirrel knows the way is open, he or she cannot figure the whole door thing. We have these really low windows in our dining room and Flash the Squirrel in repeatedly throwing itself against the windows to get out. I finally have to step into the dining room (no I wasn't in the same room as the squirrel until this point) and begin to ask Flash to use the door instead of the window. Just when I think I 'm gonna have to catch this thing and let it out. It's gone. Out the door. It was the most exciting part of the day and it lasted about 5 minutes. Funny how life works like that.

Still here....sort of

2007-12-11T01:09:00.001-06:00

It's late. I can't sleep. I haven't posted in like 16 years, so I thought it was time to break my blogfast. Things around the camp are steadily drawing me into another whirlwind summer, and that's actually exciting and tiring all at once. Family life is good unless you count having to give my dog these nasty smelling sulfur lime dips for skin allergies. I got to go fishing with Joe Saturday, but it was really, really sad since he caught fish on a fairly regular basis for 3 hours and I caught absolutely nothing...humbling. I guess the biggest thing I've been struggling with lately, or maybe just the thing that has bothered me the most is this: I can't seem to be here...I don't mean here like a physical location, but here in the way someone actually has their mind and body in the same place. It's gotten annoying lately how I can't seem to get my mind in the same room as the rest of me. I've tried getting more sleep, less sleep, more activity, less activity, less caffeine, more caffeine, but nothing really seems to help. I feel like I really need to get away from distractions for a while....no tv, no computer, no work. I remember having that time in my life when, with no distractions, I thought I was pretty focused on grounded, so I know that it is achievable. Hopefully, this weekend on the annual Woodlake Camping Club outing, I will have a chance to sit and stare at a fire for three days, share time, food, and stories with people with whom I have shared life for years. It could be that this is perfect timing for a getaway. We'll see. I'll let you know how it goes.

Trade Days

2007-09-08T09:13:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we made it out to the local trade days...what an adventure. You never know what you're going to get when the first thing you see is a guy selling bootleg Tejano cd's out of the back of a truck for 5 dollars each....what we got was a old fashioned trade days good time. There were people selling everything from used silverware and kitchen appliances (very garage sale-like) to folks selling hardware store surplus. They also had food, you know the kind you can usually only get at a carnival or fair of some sort...the sausage on a stick, kettle corn, roasted ears of corn, turkey legs, and, since it's South Texas, they also had gorditas, tacos, burritos, and menudo. We had a pretty good time just walking through and checking everything out. I guess we felt like it brought us closer to being official residents of the Greater Orange Grove Area.

It's the weekend

2007-08-31T09:56:00.001-05:00

Rarely do I begin to write here and actually think I have something to say. Really, I'm just posting today because it's been a while, and I'm feeling like writing a bit.

Last weekend I was headed to Dallas via Houston, Woodlake, Diboll, and Tyler. In Dallas I sang at a wedding, unloaded a U-Haul truck until around 2am Saturday morning, drove said U-Haul truck to the dump in Melissa, TX later on Saturday morning, hung out with my cousin and his family, saw an old bandmate and his family, saw a bunch of people from my old job at the wedding, went to church at Grace Community in Tyler, drove back to Diboll to spend the night with my parents at their new house, left Diboll Monday morning to come back to Lagarto....yes we live in Lagarto.

This week had been relatively simple. Worked on Tuesday. Lazed on Wednesday. Went to San Antonio on Thursday. Today is rife with adventure and possibilities.

Possible options for this weekend: Do work around the house (mow, weedeat), go to Mcallen and cross over to Mexico, go to the beach and chill with Kristie...maybe take the RV and camp out there, visit friends in and around Corpus, shoot skeet, wash the cars...ok, I guess I'm not that bored or lacking for something to do after all, so I'll wrap this up and get to it. Have a great weekend!

All things new

2007-08-19T11:05:00.000-05:00

The end of summer is a unique time for people who work at camps. What we've worked so hard for all year long has come to be, we are all tired and worn, new expectations are being born as we look toward next year, and there is no rest for the weary since retreat season is directly upon us. It seems as if we are waiting...waiting for a break... for next week...for a phone call or email....or maybe just the energy to go back into the daily grind of getting ready for summer camp.

I know that I'm ready to get moving again...at least, whenever I'm done waiting, I'll be ready. Right now, I'm waiting on vision for next year....for the who, when, what, and how of next summer. I'm waiting for chemistry to mix up just right on our team so that we can really tackle some big stuff together. It should be a fun year. We have projects and possibilities aplenty, so we should stay busy 'til next summer with no problem.

I am rambling and not really putting it together well so, so I'll wrap it up. No cohesive thoughts are coming to mind, so I'll just save it for another day. Here's a pic of the amazing summer staff of 2007 at a Corpus Christi Hooks game.

Summer Camp Summer Camp, Sum Sum, Summer Camp

2007-07-05T08:14:00.000-05:00

Wow, the summer camp season is flying by...yesterday I was booking groups, last night the first camp came in, and now we are halfway through the summer. That was fast. So far, the summer has been eventful in all the right ways...if you've ever worked at a summer camp, you know what I mean. It's like there is totally enough stuff going on to ward off atrophy of the spirit and will, but it's smooth enough to keep too many ambulances away too. I'm sure that I'll unpack more from the summer later...maybe when I post again in September.

The big news today in the house is that I'm all alone for about 9 days while Kristie is traveling with Billy and Cindy Foote as a nanny for their little girl Libby. So, it's just me, the dog, the cat, and about 600 kids next week at preteen camp.

On the agenda for this week: Go to Austin today for a youth camp meeting. Restring the Larrivee and write some Grammy winning songs. Go fishing on the coast on Saturday or take a kayak out on the lake for a day of sight-seeing. Try to keep the house from getting filthy while Kristie is gone. Finish all my books that I am currently trying to read. Mow and weedeat if it is at all dry enough to do...oh yeah, and put new sparkplugs in the Landcruiser and get that thing running.

Wish me luck.

The Woodlake Camping Club

2006-12-10T19:51:00.000-06:00

The Woodlake Camping Club convened again this weekend. Never heard of it? It's just the foremost club of its kind that originated in Woodlake, TX. A group of "Pineywoods people", as people who worked or work at Pineywoods are called, get together every so often and camp...hence the the "Camping" portion of the name. There's really no rank or file to the thing, it's just "Hey, let's go camping. Who bringing the coffee?"

The best part of the weekend had to be the food. Thursday night Will and Kim blackened the redfish that I recently caught and cooked potatoes and corn with cajun seasoning...tasty. The next night we grilled steaks and chicken and had baked potatoes. Yesterday was really the all you can eat food day. Mat and Karlee started off the day with chorizo and egg tacos. This stuff was great...very authentic tasting...just like Grandma's...don't tell Grandma though. For lunch Will and Kim supplied venison chili with cheese and chips and all that stuff....this was extremely fitting since it was pretty cold this weekend...did I mention the chili was incredible? But Will and Kim didn't stop there. They pulled out the tortilla soup for dinner. This homemade dish coupled with my guacamole was so good. I don't know where Kim gets this stuff, but...wow.

So the moral of the story is, if you want to go camping with me, you must bring food. Lots of good food. None of the "it's not camping if we don't eat beanie weenies" stuff. Steak, soups, potatoes, chili...yes.

Oh yeah , we capped of the campsite culinary undertakings with what were almost home made cinnamon rolls cooked in dutch ovens by me. The only problem was we should have made more.

All in all the trip gets an A. Good friends, good food, good games, good life. For all you Pineywoods people who might be interested in joining the Fishers, Chandlers, Martinezes, and hopefully the Keelings next year in December...think Inks Lake State Park. Prepare your menus... and bring the coffee.

Good day....good..day

2006-12-01T22:33:00.000-06:00

My dad once gave me a plaque that read "God does not count against man's allotted time those hours spent fishing." If it is true, great, but if not, it could be that it's just time well spent. Today I got the opportunity to go fishing with my friend Joe and his friend Johnny. By 11am we were on the water and into redfish. On Johnny's first cast, he caught a 24 inch redfish (didn't like Johnny that much after that) and the day was really just one nice catch after another. I even managed to bring in two nice sized reds before the day ended around 3:30. Saltwater fishing was great fun, I just wish that I knew more about it. I do know this...3 guys plus 9 redfish between 22 and 28 inches equals three daily bag limits and one heck of a fishing trip!

McAllen, TX

2006-11-16T15:51:00.000-06:00

That's where I find myself today. Sitting at the Coffee Zone, a tucked away coffee shop that would be unnoticed in North Dallas or South Houston...the smell of good coffee, some instrumental music that makes me thankful for Pandora.com, and free wi-fi (go RioPlex!).

It's almost two hours from home, but I had a couple of meetings today, so in the eight hours in between engagements, I thought I would set up shop and do a little work...which I did.... a little work that is.

The cool thing about working at a camp is that everyday is practically a blank canvas of possibility. As many ways as there are to learn, that is part of the my palette. Almost as many physical activities you can do outside, those are part of my palette as well. As many people who love to communicate truth and beauty, these are the brushes that I can use. I know it all sounds very flowery, but then there is the other side too. As many messed up, cracked, and cranky people as there are, that's us. We're the ones who are trying to pull it off. We're the ones who barely graduated from "PicturesPages with Bill Cosby" and here we are trying to paint while entropy catches up with our buildings, our programs, our people and our motivation. Some artists we are.

You can look up "entropy."

On lighter subjects, I've been playing the guitar a lot more lately. Not big news? Wrong. This is big news due to the fact that I had almost lost my callouses and definitely lost some dexterity that I once had. I'm working hard to get that back up to speed, but I haven't had the chance to really put it to use yet. Hopefully soon.

Also, we just got garage doors on our house. Our house is a remodel of a house that was built in the 50s of double brick and cement. The camp did a great job of remodeling it before we moved in though and everyone who's seen it before says it's like a different house...amazingly different. Wow, what a blessing. Anyway, the garage doors officially end the renovations, so we are excited to be able to go to the laundry room and still stay "inside." A small thing, but still good to have.

I'll try to keep up with the blog better. Maybe I'll update sooner than month from now.

You probably already know...

2006-10-22T00:22:00.000-05:00

If you are reading this, then most likely you know me and won't be surprised that this bit of weirdness is in me. You probably not be alarmed that I think this to be blogworthy, but since this blog really isn't dedicated as a forum for political tirade, religous dogmatism, or NASCAR, I feel safe here sharing the secret that so many people have wondered about. The answer is....

.....yes, I like avocadoes.

Not only that, I really, really like avocadoes in the form of the elusive yet tasty South American sweet spot, aka "avocado milkshake." Yes, I know what your thinking "What the !#$@!"... I too once thought the avocado milkshake (hereafter called "the good stuff") too good to be true. I heard about it from a friend of ours who lives across the lake. She is the same lady who makes popsicles out of Mesquite beans and prickly pears, so how she found out about the good stuff is really just a minor question in the grand scheme of what should be asked for her to explain. Anyway, I like avocadoes and I like milkshakes...a beautiful friendship has been born.

Here's how you do it. You need one small avocado, 7 cubes of ice (approximately 1 cup), 1/4 cup sugar or Splenda, and about 2 cups of milk. It's simple. Put all this in a blender and let the blender do what it does. It should turn a nice shade of green and you should be able to taste the avocado and the sweetener. I like the sugar because it gives a different texture than the Splenda, but Splenda is better for you I think. Give it a try; you'll either love it or hate it. One way or the other, at least you'll have a story about the time to had an avocado milkshake.

Enjoy the good stuff. Cheers.

Road Trip..again

2006-10-15T00:22:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Sunday, and it looks like I'll be traveling on my birthday. Just kidding it's not my birthday. That happy occasion is on March 28th (for anybody who was wondering when to buy me that Starbuck's gift card) Seriously though, I'm headed to Arlington for a quick visit with some old friends at a conference. We'll be stopping in Austin for a Mute Math concert. It should raise my cool points to say that I went, but I really haven't heard much of their music. I'll let you know how it goes. We'll be back on camp Tuesday for a fun filled week of budget and program planning, mowing, and hopefully...fishing...did I mention I've been fishing a good bit lately.

On to other items of interest, it seems as if we are beginning to experience Winter in South Texas. "Winter" being defined as any one of the days between October and March when the temperature dips below 74 degrees during any part of the daylight hours. Apparently, it doesn't matter if it gets up to 93 degrees at any other part of the day...Winter is here. To celebrate the season, I wore jeans to work for the first time in a long while. Of course, I eventually got too hot in them and had to change into shorts and flip flops. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...I'm just sayin'. I'm actually looking forward to a mild "winter". Last year my head was cold all the time when I had my hair cut short, so maybe this year the short haircut can come back with no reservations.

In case you're wondering, I have no real reason for this blog just yet. I'll let you know when I think of one. Until then, we'll all just have to suffer through.

Peace.

There is an old proverb...

2006-10-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

....."Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

This week has been unusual. I woke up Monday morning in Tyler, TX, drank a Red Bull and about9 hours later I was in South Texas. I'm not sure about all the in-between stuff, but I assume that I somehow packed the car, drove 7 hours and stopped a couple of times to ward off boredom.

Tuesday, I sat with important people and talked about important things and tried to make sure I sounded like I knew what I was talking about. It reminded me a lot of working in higher ed, except none of us were dressed as nicely as we did at the university...and there wasn't a coffee shop 30 yards from my office...and instead of a boardroom on the 3rd floor, this week we met in a barbeque joint across the interstate from a large refinery (it's funny, where important people like to eat...)

...forgive the digression.

After that meeting, I have been busy. Thinking, praying, reasoning, calculating, writing, and talking...talking to smart people who might help me best navigate the challenge that has been put before me. When I say smart people, I really mean visionaries who have accomplished much in their careers and lives....presidents, professors, CEO's, chairpeople, directors and the like. I'm doing this not because I trust these people without regard to my own intellect or deisres, but rather that I don't trust my own intellect and desires sometimes. I want to make sure that my ambition doesn't run away with my integrity or my sanity....I love both and would hate to be without them.

One thing I realized is that these intelligent visionary types are rather accessible. Most of the time, they were at the end of an extension that I could get off the internet. The ones that weren't there were within email range....and all of them agreed to talk again if I needed any more help or advice.

To quote a friend "I love being the dumbest person in the room."

"What kind of parade is that?!"

2006-10-08T22:12:00.000-05:00

That was the quote of the day for me. One of my friends who moved back to Diboll from New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina and his daughter, who had never been to a Diboll Day parade before, were there. She was pretty excited about the parade. Being from New Orleans, she understands parades quite well...floats, candy, beads, scrambling to collect said bounty and an overall festive atmosphere. When she found out that this parade no longer threw candy for "safety reasons" or something like that, she was...well...confused. But being a generally good natured type, she went along anyway thinking maybe some real parade action might be found. Alas, the young one was yet more confused and disappointed.

You see, where the Crescent City parade might have had an eighteen wheeler pulling a flatbed trailer with streamers, crepe paper, elaborate expensive decorations, masks, beads and jazz; the Home of Fighting Diboll Lumberjacks also had an eighteen wheeler pulling a flatbed trailer...

That's it. Just the trailer.

Oh yeah. It's loaded with wood too. Talk about action.

You might think I'm kidding or perhaps employing my gift for hyperbole, but no...in fact, I knew no one (at least no one who hadn't been to Diboll Day) would believe me, so I brought proof.

I have other pics too, but they are just too painful and although loaded with great blog material, I think I'll keep them under wraps for now.

On other news: April, Charles, Jennifer, Chris, Karen, Daniel, John, Erin, Andrea, and April went out to eat with us Saturday night, and we had a blast. It was great to see my friends. It made me realize even more that I have been truly fortunate and blessed with the caliber and quantity of sincere yet gregarious people I have in my life. From high school to college and throughout my career/s, the same type of people keep showing up, but my first thanks would have to go to these people who knew me during the primer years of life and who didn't make too much sport of the bad haircuts, clothing disasters or the myriad idiotic mistakes I made while trying date. This group of sawmill town malcontents taught me a lot about life and set the proverbial bar high for others who would enter later to help finish what they started. It was good to catch up.

Diboll Day 2006. Put it down in the books. See you in two years.

The Cradle of Life

2006-10-07T01:03:00.000-05:00

South Texas will have to make it a few days without me...I am home. Not the "home is where you hang your hat" kind of home, and not the romantic "I'm at home wherever she is" kind of home.....it's more like the "I grew up in this house, fought with my sister, climbed that tree, broke that window, crashed here from college, cried after funerals, watched hours of TV, read all these nerdy books, and love these people" kind of home. You can't ever replace that sort. It's always that same unexciting and quirky place that will captivate your memories of the way things should be.

I guess I'm always a little nervous about seeing all the people I grew up with. Our lives are so different now. I'm reminded of a Pierce Pettis song "Little River Canyon"

"Some left for college, some could only dream
I see em hanging around town, still wearing their high school rings
I avoid their faces when I come to town
Man, I still don't know which one of us has let the other down"

We'll see how it goes.

Goodnight Diboll.

Road Trip

2006-10-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I leave for Diboll. That's right. It's the first Saturday of October during an even numbered year and the winter solstice is approximately 75 days aways...it's Diboll Day time! The time of every other year when the townfolk of my humble hometown invite the area twirling squads, marching bands and and auntique car drivers to fill Loop 210 with festive delight as they dance, march and drive in what is the culmination of weeks and months of preparation. I used to think that it was mandatory wayward Dibollians return home for this event, which was the highlight of my 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9, and 11th grade years in school. (They were all the same so I count them as one highlight that just stopped and started a lot). Turns out that is isn't mandatory, but one had better have a tremendously important excuse or afool proof alibi if they intend to skip out on this ritual. Since I have neither this year and since I was in need of a good reason to take off from work, I will be in attendance this year. I'll write more later, but for now...just sit here for a while and feel the excitement.

It figures...it really figures

2006-10-04T22:47:00.000-05:00

Couldn't things just go right? Couldn't my reality just every so often match up with what my mind sees it as? Apparently, if it is to happen, it is not to happen today. I had it in my mind that we would take an evening drive down by the lake. (We live on the western shore of Lake Corpus Christi so we get great moonrises some times.) Nothing really complicated about the drive, although we did get to use the 4 wheel drive low gear to get up and down some hills. We were just going to drive down the Earl's Cove, (so named for a previous maintenance man who would slip away to go fishing there as often as he could), and sit and talk as the lights went out on the day. So we're sitting there and I see that just a bit further towards the lake, there is a cool point that is really right on the water. I even get out to survey the situation:

So to myself I'm thinking,

"Can I make this?"
"Sure you can make this, this is a 4 wheel drive vehicle and it's perfect evening. Go for it."
"OK, thanks, I'm going for it."

I walked back to the FJ40, hopped up into the driver's seat and told Kristie that we were going over there. She looked a little unsure, but I had confidence for both of us and she sensed that and relaxed a bit. After all, I was the man. It was perfect evening. Let's go for it.

I made it...about 10 yards...then my back tire sunk into the soft sandy soil that was once the lake bottom (the lake is down about 10 feet). Yes, I tried all the usual tricks, but the truth is...my reality tonight is...that the FJ40 is standing guard, waiting for the sunrise, down at Earl's Cove in that exact spot.

Why am I always surprised when things go a little askew? I mean it happens everyday...you would think I would be a bit more ready of these rare opportunities. Kristie had the right attitude though. As we raced the fading light the half mile back to our house through swarms of gnats and other unidentified flying insects, I think she noticed my consternation and tried to put me at ease, "Hey, it's ok. It's an adventure."

Simply put. Well said. Here's to the adventure.

Old People

2006-10-04T00:16:00.000-05:00

I've met some people lately who've been around a while. All sorts of clever and politically correct terms could be used here in order that we might not say that they are old...but they are...old, that is. We are currently hosting a conference for senior adults (the aforementioned old people). If that wasn't curious enough, we even have one WWII vet here who is somewhere in the neighborhood of 90. This guy was a pilot, was in his early fifties when I was born, has been married to the same woman for what?...60 years?...and has been coming to this conference for probably 20 years. Did I mention he's always asking the female staff what they're doing later? It's pretty hilarious to hear about him asking who they came with and if they need a ride home....yeah, his wife is here...player.

Just in case anybody reads this...

2006-10-02T22:08:00.000-05:00

...I'll tell you about my day. Started out slow as there was no Red Bull in the house. When I got to work, an extremely large hot cup of coffee got things on track. (By the way, you should know that I have a caffeine addiction...and I don't really trust non-caffeine addicts.)

The big news (just so you'll see how little my news is) of the day is that I put a new gas filter on my Landcruiser. It was really horrible riding in this tank-like beast with gas fumes wafting in through the space on either side of the stick shift lever....and maybe some small rust holes in the floorboard. I couldn't tell whether it was an exhaust problem or just and issue with the gas line...turns out it was the cheaper of the two. I put it on tonight after work and went for a quick spin around camp. No noxious fumes. Great!

Only slightly less significant only because it hasn't happened at all is that i have had an overwhelming urge to study Calculus. I know...I know..."Why would anyone want to do that?" I really have no idea. I saw a book in Barnes and Noble last week which put Calculus into a new, more real-life friendly setting and I thought "I should give Cal a second chance." It has been about 13 years since I last studied Calculus, but surely it can't go away. All that blood sweat and tears should amount to something. Who knows?

And finally, I spent a litttle time today building an Access database for work. Nothing fancy...just a small tool to help me make contracts for groups more easily. It reminded me a lot of working at UT Tyler and the days on end that I would lock myself in my cubicle and work on a db for my event registrations. What a monster that was! If anybody needs a registration database, let me know. I'll be glad to share what I have, but don't even think about asking me to work on it. I'm retired.

If anybody needs me, I''l be finding derivatives and limits.

Today was a normal day

2006-10-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

If there is such a thing as a normal day...today was it. Since I work at a camp...you know...where people come to get away from it all, renew relationships with God and with each other...since I work at a place like that, a day really shouldn't be normal without a healthy dose of serving food or washing dishes, which I did. By 9:30, I had done more manual labor than some people do all week, but that's really no big deal or anything to be proud about...it's normal life for me.

Around noon, the wife and I left for church in Corpus Christi, TX. We live about an hour from Corpus, but there really aren't any churches nearby that I would attend on a regular basis at this point. It's cool though..we make a day of it. We see friends, eat out, go by cool stores and just hang out together and be normal. It's nice.

We made it home around 6, played with the dog and then went for drive in the 1972 Toyota Landcruiser that I recently acquired. All of it, including the stunning south texas sunset, was normal.

Tonight I decided to blog. Not normal, but maybe it will be soon. Once I decide what I want to ramble about, I'll begin in earnest. Who knows? I could blog about the Landcruiser restoration...my misadventures as a outdoorsman of sorts, the camp antics that will soon ensue or maybe something totally new. We'll see, but hopefully it will be fun the whole time.