Saturday, 7:15 pm

There's one thing they don't tell you: When airbags go off, they stink.

Well, as anniversary weekends go, ours pretty much sucked. We drove up to a motel just past Waxahachie, in a town called DeSoto. Checked in, freshened up, changed clothes then headed for Dallas. We killed a couple of hours at the Galleria, then headed to Texas De Brazil for much carnivorous goodness. Dinner was wonderful. We splurged on a piece of chocolate mousse cake to go – we never did find out if it was good.

It just started to rain as we left the restaurant. We got maybe half a block from the restaurant when brake lights bloomed ahead of me. Apparently, some guy decided he needed to turn left in a place where there was no left turn. Next thing I knew, I was car #4 in a nice five car bumper car game, my airbags blew up and smashed my windshield, and my to-go cake is smooshed all over my car.

Four hours and a $50 cab ride later, we were finally back at our motel in DeSoto with no transportation. Sleep was not all that forthcoming that night.

Did I mention the rain? Torrential downpours, thunder and lightning, and tornado watches. We were scheduled to go to Scarborough Faire the next day.

Saturday we picked up the rental car (a Ford Taurus), had breakfast and headed for an extremely muddy Scarborough Faire. Wow – the mud and sludge was several inches thick. We enjoyed the faire, but it really wasn't what we had been expecting. By the time we left, we were pretty much soaked through, and very muddy. Faire parking is on grass. Can you see where I'm going here? Yep. Stuck. We were most certainly not the only ones, either. Rob and this other guy got our car pushed out, then Rob helped push out another one.

As I type this (won't be able to post until we get home on Sunday) we're relaxing in the hotel room, watching a Beverly Hills Cop movie (not sure which one) on cable tv. Both of us are pretty much dead tired. I've got some real pretty bruises, and I think I managed to jam my left hand pretty good. Rob's got some weird welt we think was caused by the passenger air bag. My poor little car is in all probability totaled. But all in all, we seem to be fine. It could have been so much worse.

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Sunday, 3:20 pm

Home again finally. This morning when we left the motel, we discovered yet another tidbit to add to the joyous experience that was this weekend: apparently there's some sort of leak in the rental car. The passenger side floor had a nice little puddle of standing water. Guess that explained the smell we couldn't quite identify. We stopped at a Kroger and picked up some munchies and a roll of paper towels to soak up as much of the water as we could. What's funny about this, is this is the second car they gave us. The first one was a Dodge Stratus, and seemed to be quite nice. We were all set to go, but I noticed that the brake light on the dash stayed on, even though the parking brake was not engaged. So, back inside we went to get the car swapped out. That was Saturday, and naturally there was yet another thunderstorm and torrents of rain Saturday night.

We slept somewhat better last night, though it was interrupted by an alarm clock going off at midnight in the next room. A room that was unoccupied. After a call to the front desk it took about 20 minutes for someone to go in there to shut it off. We opted out of showers this morning – the water from the shower and the bathroom faucet smelled strongly of mildew.

The ride home was blessedly uneventful. I've discovered that cruise control is the neatest thing since chocolate ice cream. My poor car is someplace in Dallas; I don't know what the adjuster is going to say. I can't imagine the cost of fixing is going to be less than it's worth. We're talking two airbags, the smashed windshield and the frame is probably somewhat tweaked. I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do – a car payment is not gonna happen right now.

Oh well. Being home is good. Our comfy bed will be most welcome tonight, and tomorrow we'll spring the rest of the family from confinement. I guess it was a memorable anniversary.

Our third anniversary is the 29th and obviously we like to go to Scarborough Faire if at all possible.

So Rob has Thursday & Friday off, we're dropping the dog at the boarders and the cats at the vets and heading for Waxahachie and Ren goodness. We've got a anniversary dinner planned in Dallas Friday night, then Scarby on Saturday, and home sometime Sunday afternoon.

So naturally, I get the Curse™ last night. Dammit! Unless it cooperates, no hotel sex for Jen. Grrrr. What's really annoying is it's 2 or 3 days early – and it was almost a week late last month. I do not like the implications of that.

Oh well. With luck, it'll wrap up by Friday. If not, well, I don't have to wash the sheets.

Lower-carb Coke on the way

Coca-Cola Co. said Monday it will launch a soft-drink with half the carbohydrates of traditional colas this summer as the world’s largest soft-drink firm looks to capitalize on the low-carb diet craze.

Jen: I restarted jak2 – I've even done a few missions!
Rob: wow. I didn't think you were going to do that
Jen: Me neither!!
Jen: I reserve the right to quit AT ANY MOMENT!
Rob: Have you gotten to the tank yet?
Jen: Tank?
Jen: I've done the flag, and the water. Saw the oracle, and just was told to…. I forget.
Rob: You'll go inside the building where you were captured. I'm trying to remember exactly what mission.
Jen: Um… something about ammo
Rob: That's the one
Rob: You'll be quitting soon
Jen: LOL
Rob: That's the one I was yelling at.
Jen: You…. <sob> have no faith in me.
Rob: If it makes me scare the dog, you ain't gonna like it :D
Rob: And no, I probably won't do it for you

Happy Birthday !!

Yay! Another 1.4 gone. And don't come back, ya hear?

Starting weight: 291.8 lbs
Last week: 254.6 lbs
This week: 253.2 lbs
Loss this week: 1.4 lbs
Total loss: 38.6 lbs
Loss rate: 1.09 lbs/week

Last time we bought dog food, I picked up the 30 pound bag to put in my trunk. Wow. One, I'm not carrying that anymore. Two, I carried that around 24/7???

Houston School Board Moves to Adopt New Student Promotion Plan

City schools are dropping a policy that required city high school students to pass such core courses as English and math before they moved to the next grade.

The board of the Houston Independent School District on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a new promotion policy that school officials hope will keep struggling students from getting discouraged and help cut the district's dropout rate.

I… have no words.

Last night was the book signing for Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. I can't believe I almost missed it! I'd forgotten that it was Wednesday until Rob called and asked if I was on my way. Margaret Atwood was warm and funny with a very dry sense of humor. I enjoyed it immensely. I was able to get both books, The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake autographed.

I was amused (and not surprised) by the very first question: “Taking into account the current state of world events, do you believe The Handmaid's Tale could happen?” Atwood said that she did not subscribe to the theory “It can't happen here” and that nothing in her novels had not taken place in the past, or was not possible given current technology. She also said that a lot of the Handmaid's Tale was based on US history.

Another question was “Why do you write about bad relationships between mothers and daughters?” Atwood's response: “Why do you enjoy reading about them?”

She's a very cool lady.

Piranha let loose in Berlin aquarium petting pool

BERLIN (AFP) – Berlin aquarium staff were startled to find that a carnivorous piranha fish was recently released in the facility's petting pool for children, Germany's most widely read newspaper, Bild, reported.

The piranha, whose teeth can grow up to two centimetres (three quarters of an inch) long, had already begun taking bites out of other fish when it was found and transferred to another aquarium, curator Rainer Kaiser told Bild.

He said the fish was so rapid that staff had to empty the pool, where children can stroke the fish swimming there, to catch it.

Kaiser was puzzled about how the fish came to be there, but said tortoises and other exotic marine life had been found in the past left “by people wanting to get rid of them but who didn't dare flush them down the toilet.”

The razor-toothed piranha can grow to up to 60 centimetres (two feet) long and normally lives in the rivers and lakes of South America. It can be freely bought in specialist pet shops in Germany.

In no particular order:

laundry
Petsmart
oil change for 's car

taxes Bleh. We owe $300 this year. How… icky.
play ratchet & clank 2
clean up the kitchen
dog park if it's nice tomorrow
get some jeans

get some “motivation” jeans for me at thrift store (a size or two smaller) Bzzzt! Nothing in the right size.
go to the Swamp Romp Probably not going to do this. Just not into crowds this weekend.
fold laundry