Goings On

Here are a few of this week's happenings in So Tex:

--I've been trying to buy a 2008 wall calendar. Tried Barnes & Noble and Quips N Quotes; both said they were out of stock until November. Office Depot had some kitten and puppy calendars and some wannabe Asian art; I wasn't about to pay full price for that. Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena stocked calendars year round, so I never thought it would be a problem to find one here in February.

--A local guitar teacher/music store owner was charged with raping a 13-year-old guitar student on Valentine's Day. Two days later, another front page story said he'd been accused of raping a 10-year-old relative.

Last year, I interviewed the same music store owner/accused rapist for a Valley Girl article. Mike remembers him being suspicious when I said I wrote for the newspaper, but I don't. I do remember not wanting to write about the place once I walked in.

--I took our recycling out to the bin and saw huge piles of debris along the drainage canal. The canal banks and bottom had been bulldozed and all the cattails and other plants from the canal were piled up dead on the banks. There's trash floating in the brown water. I saw that the gnarled Mesquite tree growing by a paved area of the canal was gone, too.

I'd seen turtles sunning themselves on the cement by the Mesquite tree. Occasionally, I'd see a white Heron looking for a meal among the cattails. We'd find toads in our yard that I'm sure spent their tadpole days in the canal. Whenever I'd walk along the canal banks or go down by the water for a closer look, there was a vibrant ecosystem at play: butterflies, dragonflies, minnows, birds, plus the turtles and frogs.

I know the drainage canals have a job to do, and they seemed to be handling runoff just fine. I'm sad that someone thought it necessary to denude the banks and canal bottom and scatter (if not decimate) the ecosystem it had become.

Politically Active

The Texas primary isn't until March 4, but the Democratic candidates are campaigning hard. Hillary's made a couple of visits to South Texas and spoke this week at the Dodge Arena. (Sadly, I couldn't go).

Barack's on his first swing through the RGV and he's speaking at UTPA this morning. Students lined University Drive waving placards and cheering when motorists honked. Half the campus is fenced off and I was lucky to get a parking spot at 8:15 am. Heaven help anyone who's trying to come to work now.

They'll open the gates at 9:30 but Barak isn't scheduled to speak until 11:30 am. Since I have actual work to do, I'm not going to stand in line or on the quad for 2 hours. I'll wander down about 11:00 and see what I can get.

Not planning to vote for him, but it is exciting to see people really energized about politics.

On a lighter note...

My college friend, Rob, was in town last week for a birding conference. (Everyone in the birding world seems to have heard of McAllen/Rio Grande Valley and they get to come here for conferences when the weather bites elsewhere).

Rob, his dissertation adviser and a couple of his birding/blogging colleagues had gone to dinner and we met up with them for dessert--and were introduced to a decadent concoction called almond tacos. Mousse-y vanilla and chocolate cream, chocolate drizzles and berries served in a crisp, sugary almond bark "taco" shell. Drool...

Rob has a little more facial hair now than he did at the Y; otherwise, the years have been kind to us both:




Also for your amusement, this is what happens when the sweet potatoes aren't done roasting when you have to leave to go visiting teaching and you forget to tell your husband to take them out of the oven in another 15 minutes and you come home 3 hours later:



Papas del carbon. They were orange once.

Question

After a conflict, if you pinkie swear with someone to let bygones be bygones, can you still blog about it? Or would that be not really letting go?

I would have blogged about the fracas when it happened, but I was swamped with all my Super Sunday assignments: sac mtg talk, SS lesson, making cupcakes for RS. And I stayed out late Saturday night seeing a college friend who's in town for a birding conference.

Now that the situation is supposedly resolved, is it fair to do a crabby write up as I would normally do?

Happy V-Day!

Our supervisor gave all the gals in the office yellow roses for V-day and our admin left boxes of tart Necco Sweethearts on our desks. FYI: the tart Neccos taste infinitely better than the old school, chalky Neccos of yore.

The favored treat in these parts: chocolate dipped strawberries. Students sell them as fund raisers, bakeries and grocery stores hawk theirs and you can't open the newspaper without seeing ads for them. When they're done with quality chocolate and ripe berries, yes, they're good. But is all the swooning necessary?

Mike's teaching until 10:00 pm, so our V-Day celebration will likely be another night. I'll hit the gym, come home to watch LOST and debate whether to make calzones or defrost the buffalo meat for a late night carnivorous dinner when Mike gets home.

Turned out to be a loaded week. I'm teaching SS this week and I'll also be speaking in Sac. mtg with the rest of the RS presidency. Our text: another talk by Julie Beck. Each time I've been asked to speak in this ward, it's based on one of her talks. Enough already! I'll also be bringing the cupcakes for the February RS birthdays. I will likely spend the afternoon catatonic from sugar and overexertion.

Before wrapping up, I want to tell mi querido supernovio, husband and partner that I love him body and soul. Even though the road isn't always smooth, there's no one I'd rather have riding shotgun. Besos, amado mio.

Goin' Back to Cali, Cali, Cali

We'll be in town for Sunstone West March 14-15 at the Claremont Graduate University campus.

Check out the preliminary program here: http://sunstoneblog.com/?p=286#more-286

I'm excited to be part of the panel discussion on What Women Know and to take another dive into the topic of Mormonism and immigration.

Hope to see some friends and eat some great Thai/Malaysian food while we're there!

Tool Time Girl

Last weekend was all about outdoor home improvement projects. I pulled my body weight in weeds from the tomato garden, around the base of a still sickly looking Meyer lemon tree and back behind our BBQ turned jungle.

I also got a bee in my bonnet to work on the front entryway, so I pulled more weeds there, dug deeply enough to remove three pernicious hackberry saplings that had taken up residence and turned over the soil.

While in front, I also wanted to get rid of the dead ficus. I gave the trunk a test push and was pleasantly surprised when it MOVED. Once Mike got up, I enlisted his manliness in toppling said ficus. He chainsawed it into pieces while I scooped up its dead leaves for the compost bin and to use as mulch. I transplanted some succulents and spider plant-like plants along the front walkway and envision the now ficus-less space with a bench flanked with flowering vines.

This was the weekend of long forestalled indoor home improvement projects.

Mike took down the hideous living room ceiling fan (all brass filigree and fluted lamps) and installed the new brushed nickel/linen-look lampshades ceiling fan we bought in January. I handed him tools and parts. LOVE IT! It looks sleek and chic. Mike put the old fussy fan in the alley and I bet him it would be gone before dark (but I haven't gone outside to check).

While we were fixin, I asked Mike to raise the chandelier over the dining room table. The previous owners hung it so low that you'd bonk your head standing up from the table.

The chain connecting the fixture to the ceiling was doubled up, so Mike took out all but two links. He also tucked some of the wiring into the electrical box that was previously twisted around the chain (classy!). I washed the lampshades/bug cemetaries. When we rehung it, it was about 10 inches higher than before.

Just those two changes made a huge difference! The new ceiling fan is quiet and stylish and the old chandelier looks great and is no longer a noggin safety hazard.

Juggling

Incoming Fall reports.

Audit findings on Spring reports (60 or so).

Audit findings on Summer reports (83, or 1/4 with errors). [Eeek!]

Scanning and emailing all the problem reports to people who can help me figure them out.

Keeping track of errors resolved/pending (involves 6 spreadsheets so far).

Trying to keep up with incoming email, phone calls, interoffice mail.

The need to eat, drink, take potty breaks and occasionally look AWAY from my computer monitor.

Gym attendance to save sanity and figure from stress eating.

All things on the home front in various states of neglect (laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, vacuuming up tufts of cat hair).

Church stuff--Sunday school lessons, RS newsletter, missionary meetings, presidency meetings, updating RS rolls and attendance data, trying to control eye rolling during open mike Sunday.

Is it any wonder I have little energy left to blog?

Silence = Agreement

I took a break tonight from my still frighteningly busy desk to hear Paul Rusesabagina speak as part of the university's Distinguished Speaker series.

He explained the political/ethnic context leading up to the 1994 Rwanda genocide and talked us through the events as they unfolded. He said he didn't make the decision to help people survive; initially, people showed up at his home seeking refuge and he couldn't turn them away.

Although his remarks were mainly narrative, he did make several points worth repeating. First, the best (and worst) weapons humans use are the words we say. Paul recounted how he opened dialogues with soldiers and militia that lasted for hours before they arrived at some kind of agreement. Fight with words, not with guns, he advocated. Guns have never been the best solution.

Second, it's essential to listen to each other. We can't find other solutions if we don't understand the other party or what they want/need. He also said he kept his enemies close to him so he'd know what was happening with them.

His final point was to say NO to the killing fields. Don't look the other way. Don't stay silent on the issue because silence equals agreement. If we find genocide abhorrent, we need to SAY SO.

In the Q&A following his remarks, Paul said that America has been largely silent on the genocide in Rwanda. He said Africa needs diplomats to start dialogues and bring truth to the table and that America can help support these dialogues.

And if we ever despair thinking one person's action (or inaction) can't make that much difference, perhaps it's time to re-rent the movie, Hotel Rwanda.

Now: Feeling Groovy

Twas the busiest work week in recent memory--and it's not quite over.

I have a newsletter article about my job processes due tomorrow. (I hope they meant end of business because I only have one paragraph so far). I have 64 audit findings to comb through (plus 3 people the audit missed) and results to summarize for a Monday meeting.

The audit got the higher-ups attention. Yesterday, I was pulled into a meeting with key stakeholders to figure out how we can solve problems more efficiently. The top guy said that I am to ask for help if I need it and told everyone else to give help because certification isn't just my job; it reflects on everyone involved. This was a pleasing development.

And I was pleased with how I handled being called into a meeting with a dozen people and put on the hot seat to explain the problems (diplomatically) and saying where they could help.

New certifications went out today in another meeting where I fielded questions and explained processes like a pro. And I actually FELT like a pro, too. You know, that confident, I did a good routine and I STUCK THE LANDING, TOO feeling. And that feels groovy.

Overload

Spent ALL morning going over my spring reports with the woman who audited them. She shows up, we go over the discrepancies and POOF: it's lunch time.

Some known problems never got fixed. (I passed them off to people who did nothing).

Some corrected, signed reports weren't included in the audit although they were provided to the auditors.

Some employees had another work assignment pop up since the reports ran last July, which makes me feel like I'm trying to hit a bloody moving target.

FY 07 is closed, so there are some adjustments we can't make.

Certification is supposed to happen 30 days after the semester ends and all cost transfers/corrections are supposed to be completed within 90 days. If accounting is late closing the month, I can't run reports.

I stay on top of things pretty well and let go of the things I can't personally fix. But I wonder: How is anyone compliant under these circumstances?!?

After going through all the spring reports twice, the auditor said she was glad she didn't have my job. Ditto that.

Today's Mail

Nothing but a postcard from the Texas Department of Public Safety informing us there is a high risk sex offender living in our neighborhood.

Of course, I Googled the address provided to see exactly how close the guy is. The local police verified the address on January 3, but according to Google Earth, he lives in La Vista Park.

Close enough for a good case of the heebies.

Ding, dong, the Book Group's Dead

I was a slug over the holidays and didn't get around to emailing the book group about our January meeting. When I finally did, I proposed shifting A Tale of Two Cities to February and figuring out the reading schedule then.

Book group has been limping along, never attracting more than the same two or three people. One of the regulars moved and then it was just me and Melissa and one other semi-regular drop-in who usually brought her two kids along. The ward boundary changes put both regular attendees (and almost everyone on the mailing list) in a different ward.

There's been one reply to the announcement from the semi-regular letting me know that she only has time to read scriptures and materials for a class she's teaching. She said someone in her new ward (whom I don't know) is starting up a book group; maybe I could join that? She thanked me for my diligence and hoped more sisters would join me in the future.

This leaves me with two thoughts:

1. Why not hook me up with this other book group organizer and combine efforts? Unless they want to read only church lit, in which case never mind.

2. In theory, friendships or activity groups survive ward boundary changes. But in reality, not so much.

Other than book group, I barely had relationships with these women even when I saw them every week. The ones who've moved away don't keep in touch. Nor apparently do the ones who've "moved" to the McAllen 3rd ward.

I miss my lovely Pasadena Ward book group! I'm still on their mailing list. Maybe I'll just read along with them. I can't help feeling down that another enjoyable pursuit has gone belly up.

10 Weeks of Jane

I know I'm woefully behind and there is much to catch up on about the holidays, etc. I think I have now fully recovered from having all 4 step kids visit at the same time, so look for fresh content in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, enjoy this tasty treat: PBS's Masterpiece is showing Jane Austen movies for the next 10 weeks! I watched a nicely done version of Persuasion last night. I really do need to read the book.

The link below shows the 10-week lineup or check your local listings. Looks like I'll be parked on the couch Sunday nights between now and April. Awesome!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/austen/index.html

Wreck the Halls

The top half of our tree with slightly askew bow:



And the bottom half, post-Cosby:



Also, our lovely after-Christmas dinner: filet mignon with roasted shallots and not-quite-cream sauce (in which I learn not to substitute half and half for heavy cream):

Community of Christ, Part Deux

We went to the C of C's Christmas Day potluck with a cheesecake topped with raspberry pinot noir sauce. (Ironic, no?)

After winding around the tables and self-serving the wonderful repast, we adjourned to the sanctuary to sing Christmas songs. I saw one our choir sang and suggested it. The fellow leading the music said he didn't know it and asked me to lead everyone--and slunk away chuckling, leaving me to lead the music for the rest of the songs.

After the music, we went back into the room where we'd eaten. The non-singers had cleaned up and set up for the gift exchange. The pastor, Pat, said she had brought extra gifts so the people who hadn't brought one (or hadn't known to [like us]) could participate. We drew numbers and then the gift picking/gift stealing began.

It was a pretty good natured exchange; I've seen this game get ugly--mostly at work where the gift stealing manifested along the lines of extant hostility.

The two clear canisters of cashews changed hands several times over the course of the game. One guy wanted someone to take his gift and took to saying "I have jam!" and later, "I have jam--and a DOLLAR!" One woman finally took the jam (and dollar) off his hands and he looked a little sad.

When someone stole Hetty Jane's vase, she took a full lap around the gift table with her walker checking out the opened and unopened gifts. HJ cracks me up. She's in her 70s at least and at the party the night before, she said some "old geezer" had hit on her.

Anyway, after the game we collected our spoils and went home to open our gifts. Twas a lovely Christmas all around.

Happy Christmas, All

We just got back from the lovely Community of Christ candlelight Christmas Eve service and an open house at one of the members' homes. These C of C folks sure know how to party; they're having a potluck tomorrow at the church and we're headed there, too.

We debated about going to midnight Mass afterward, but decided to buy a half gallon of milk at Stripes (nee Circle K), go home, make cookies and watch Gandhi in our pajamas. We just saw Charlie Wilson's War the other night and needed an antidote to the escalating cycles of violence afoot in the world.

I was pleasantly surprised at the nice sacrament meeting Christmas program this year. The ward music director and her husband provided the narration (but were out of town) and the substitute music leader called up the women and the men separately to sing different Christmas carols in between the Primary kids' predictably atonal numbers.

The bishop announced that visitors were welcome to take home the poinsettias decorating the pulpit. The new RS president opted to blow the last of the RS budget on a spread of finger foods, hot cocoa and apple cider for the RS and YW (and Primary teachers took turns coming in and noshing).

The only thing not going quite according to plan: We can't keep Cosby out of the damn Christmas tree. Every time we leave, we come back to find ornaments on the floor (minus their hangers), the gold tulle askew and visibly chewed and the bottom branches bend downward from Cosby climbing them. Grrrrrr!

Vocabulary Skills on the Rice

I popped over to St. Matthew's web site in search of info on Christmas Sunday services. This is where we got our fix of Easter music before attending our ward's dismal non-Easter Easter services last spring. I'm hoping the new ward leadership will not commit the same sin with Christmas.

St. Matthew's is having regular services tomorrow and their Christmas hoo ha on Monday night. We've been invited to a candlelight Christmas service and open house at the Community of Christ, so that's where we're heading (although if we get done in time, St. Matthew's midnight Mass looks tempting).

Anyway, St. Matthews had a link on their web site to Free Rice, where playing a vocabulary-expanding word game lets you accumulate/donate grains of rice. Thought I'd pass it along for all you word smiths. Warning: it's addictive.

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Good News

We didn't have Internet access during the majority of our Utah/Idaho jaunt, so now I'm having to catch up on dozens of unread emails and the blogging.

I still have Christmas shopping and package mailing to do and my first gospel doctrine class tomorrow, so some of the details will have to wait. On the plus side, I'm off work for the next 10 days and will have some time to write and think before the first and second wave of step kids and Grandma Sue arrive.

The titular good news is this: four days into our trip, I received an email from the online editor at The Newspaper. He had cut and pasted all my past Valley Girl columns into the email and gave me a link to the old blog site (which he wasn't sure would work and which I haven't tried yet to see).

I wrote back and thanked him profusely. While there may be other delightful presents under the Christmas tree this year, the unexpected (yet hoped for) present from The Monitor has brought me much joy.

When Introverts Attack!

It's fair to say Mike and I have different approaches to stress. I'm talky, he's introverted and not talky when he's in distress. I'm not always sure how to handle when he gets silent, his driving becomes more aggressive and it's clear something's Not Right.

He did have kind of a bad day. His easy to fix computer problem took 4 hours for the campus IT folks to fix. That pushed everything else back and by the time he came to pick me up at work, he was not in the best mood. And when he rolled down the window to take the parking ticket, it got stuck down as it is wont to do. Even more annoying when you have a plane to catch.

When we got to the airport, there was a trainee at the X ray machine. While I'm waiting for my carry on to get screened, I mention the toiletries double standard to the extra TSAs milling around. My toiletries always get checked. Last time I got scolded for having them in too large a plastic bag. This time, for not having a gel deodorant in a plastic bag.

Mike never has to bag and display his toiletries; they go through in his manly leatherlike toiletry bag with nary an extra screening or even having to remove it from his suitcase. Tees me off. The TSA chick said his SHOULD get screened every time and be bagged separately. Yeah, I'll let you know when I see that happen.

The screener in training calls for a hand inspection of my suitcase--heard her say something about batteries. Huh? They look in the front pocket of my suitcase and pull out the electronic, remote controlled whoopee cushion Mike bought at the Dollar Tree Tuesday. I holler "That's not mine! Why'd you put that in my suitcase?!" At least the TSA folks thought that was funny.

Mike was still laughing when I caught up to him. "I feel better now," he says. If I'd known that would break through the funk, I would have gotten busted for a suspicious electronic whoopee cushion sooner.