someone pointed out to me the other day that i have nothing positive to say about Texas. don't get me wrong, there are some things i like in Texas. the bbq is amazing, the fact that they have seasons is pretty cool, and then there are some weather phenomenons that happen here that i haven't experienced anywhere else. one of those phenomenon things happened last Friday.
the weather last Friday was predicted to be seasonably hot - around 99 with the heat index pushing 106. no showers were predicted but it was supposed to be quite humid (hence heat index).
i was at work and i thought i would try to get out of there around 5:30pm. at about 4:30pm i looked outside and noticed that it had gotten significantly darker. since my wonderful 1998 Jimmy doesn't have a working driver's side windshield wiper (thanks to a garbage can lid on the highway), i decided it was time to pack up and get out of there. i should have moved faster, because i missed my window.
about 15 minutes later i looked outside and it seriously looked like those news pictures of a hurricane. you know the ones - where the news guy is standing with the ocean behind him and the waves are crashing and the tree is blowing so hard that the top is touching the ground and the wind is pelting rain at the camera lens so you can barely see what you are supposed to be looking at? yeah... that one. without a windshield wiper, i wasn't going anywhere.
now storms in the south can last for about 30 minutes but most of the summer storms we get only last about 15 minutes, especially the strong ones. not this one. about 5:30 the thunder and lightening started. the office had a 15 second power outage. the rain kept coming. and then the fire trucks came. the power outage triggered some a/c unit which triggered the alarm and now yours truly (aka the admin/HR/maintenance/facilities manager) was walking around the fire fighters trying to show them that yes, we were fine.
around 6:30 the storm had died down enough for me to head outside to my car. the rain was now a soft drizzle and as long as i drove as far away from the big trucks as possible, i knew i could get home safely. i headed out and this is where the coolest part happened...
i pull out onto the highway and looked to my right (to the south). there are no buildings there (instead it's old DFW runways) but you could see the storm. you could actually see the heavy dark ominous storm clouds and the lightening bolts and the rain coming down - and all of this was at least 20 miles away! and then i looked to my left (to the north) where there was sun and a few scattered clouds. if you didn't look at the ground or see the tree branches hanging off the trees by a couple of leaves, you would have thought it was just a typical summer day.
i wish i had my camera with me and i wish i could have taken a picture to capture the awe of it all. the sight of this huge storm cloud just moving further and further away was beautiful. and to be able to see the cloud surrounded by calm, dry, sunny weather was a sight that is hard to describe in words.
storms like this make us realize how small we really are in the grand scheme of things. the power that mother nature has is amazing. being in a state which is very flat, you can see that power. in San Francisco, you don't get to see the storm roll in and then still see it when it's 20 miles away. if you are high enough (maybe Twin Peaks or Pat Wipf's old house on 21st Street) you can sometimes see the fog roll in and settle on top of the city. but you can't see the monstrous storm clouds that just drenched downtown head over to the Peninsula and drench the Hillsborough mansions. the glorious hills that i miss so dearly prevent that.
but in the flat lands of Texas, you can definitely see those clouds coming and going. which is a good thing, especially for those tornadoes... right?
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
a day off with coldplay
i forgot how much i love ColdPlay. not just love them, but like love love love them. and here is how i remembered.
i took the day off today. i had to. work is awful. i mean really really awful. yesterday someone actually IM'd me to say this:
This is not a complaint but a comment from a concrned resident of the first floor. After compensation my primary source of job satisfaction is a readily accessable source or frozen water granuales for my beverages.
about the broken ice machine. not only about the ice machine, but about 1 of 3 ice machines on the first floor and 1 of 4 ice machines in the entire building. ice. and this wasn't the only thing he had to say. he went on from here. but i won't torture you with his diatribe.
anyways, i took the day off. and while i had the day off i decided to do something i have been meaning to do but haven't had the energy or time. my friend Cassidy is running the SF marathon. i know, she is insane. but i love her and i admire her BIG TIME for doing this. and i wish i could afford to be home that weekend to stand on a corner and hold a huge sign that said "Don't Stop People are Watching!!!" but i can't. so instead, i am pulling quotes and words and music together to send to her fantabulous girlfriend to pull together for a big inspiration book of some sort. (i swear, if Cassidy reads this i am in so much trouble because i think it's all a big surprise.)
in the midst of all of this, i had to get onto itunes and pull some names of songs that i love. the instruction said to pull stuff that would remind Cassidy of a time that we had together. unfortunately that would just be all of one artist's music, so i opted for songs that inspire me. and then i thought about songs that get me going, that pull me out of a funk, that make me smile, that make me love my life and that is where i found coldplay again.
it's not like i lost them. i mean, you don't really lose music that sings to your soul. but i sort of forgot about them. and then today, as i was playing around the 14.6 days of music i have in my itunes (no i have not finished downloading my cds yet!), there they were. seeing the old X&Y album reminded me that i needed to find that one song that makes me cry, makes me laugh, makes me want to dance for hours. so i dove into itunes and found it.
"every teardrop is a waterfall"
thanks hjc and cass for the nudge to remember what inspires me.
i took the day off today. i had to. work is awful. i mean really really awful. yesterday someone actually IM'd me to say this:
This is not a complaint but a comment from a concrned resident of the first floor. After compensation my primary source of job satisfaction is a readily accessable source or frozen water granuales for my beverages.
about the broken ice machine. not only about the ice machine, but about 1 of 3 ice machines on the first floor and 1 of 4 ice machines in the entire building. ice. and this wasn't the only thing he had to say. he went on from here. but i won't torture you with his diatribe.
anyways, i took the day off. and while i had the day off i decided to do something i have been meaning to do but haven't had the energy or time. my friend Cassidy is running the SF marathon. i know, she is insane. but i love her and i admire her BIG TIME for doing this. and i wish i could afford to be home that weekend to stand on a corner and hold a huge sign that said "Don't Stop People are Watching!!!" but i can't. so instead, i am pulling quotes and words and music together to send to her fantabulous girlfriend to pull together for a big inspiration book of some sort. (i swear, if Cassidy reads this i am in so much trouble because i think it's all a big surprise.)
in the midst of all of this, i had to get onto itunes and pull some names of songs that i love. the instruction said to pull stuff that would remind Cassidy of a time that we had together. unfortunately that would just be all of one artist's music, so i opted for songs that inspire me. and then i thought about songs that get me going, that pull me out of a funk, that make me smile, that make me love my life and that is where i found coldplay again.
it's not like i lost them. i mean, you don't really lose music that sings to your soul. but i sort of forgot about them. and then today, as i was playing around the 14.6 days of music i have in my itunes (no i have not finished downloading my cds yet!), there they were. seeing the old X&Y album reminded me that i needed to find that one song that makes me cry, makes me laugh, makes me want to dance for hours. so i dove into itunes and found it.
"every teardrop is a waterfall"
thanks hjc and cass for the nudge to remember what inspires me.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
facebook "friends"
ahhh... the glories of facebook. i personally find it to be quite fun to read about what my friends are doing. but then there are days like today, where it stings a little to read about the people you used to count as friends are doing.
there is a group of gals i used to hang out with here in Texas. i used to consider them my friends, used to meet up for lunch with one of them regularly, used to play ball with them, and i used to get invited to their homes for parties and the like. somehow, along the road, i got on the "non-invited" list. and while i find their 7 day a week drinking habits to be a little too much for me, i do miss the camaraderie that having friends in your neck of the woods can feel like. i thought they liked my company. i thought they enjoyed my ability to pick up their card games quickly. i thought they liked the fact that i used their palates to taste test new recipes. but i guess, somewhere between january (the last time i hung out with them) and today, i lost the invitation.
i am not disheartened, just that much more determined to make these next months my final months in Texas. i am not saddened, as i have friends in my life that may not physically be here but are always there for me. and i am not disappointed, because i know that in the end the loss is theirs. and if they ever find themselves on a trip to CA and want to stay at my house or hang out with me or have a tour guide for a day, i think i may not be available. in fact, because of the glories of facebook, i think by the middle of this week a number of them will be deleted from my "friends" list. because who needs to know what they missed anyways?
on a happier note - my dad has been here this weekend and we have had a great time. it's been a long long time when it was just father/daughter day - and it sincerely is wonderful to have a couple of those to enjoy.
there is a group of gals i used to hang out with here in Texas. i used to consider them my friends, used to meet up for lunch with one of them regularly, used to play ball with them, and i used to get invited to their homes for parties and the like. somehow, along the road, i got on the "non-invited" list. and while i find their 7 day a week drinking habits to be a little too much for me, i do miss the camaraderie that having friends in your neck of the woods can feel like. i thought they liked my company. i thought they enjoyed my ability to pick up their card games quickly. i thought they liked the fact that i used their palates to taste test new recipes. but i guess, somewhere between january (the last time i hung out with them) and today, i lost the invitation.
i am not disheartened, just that much more determined to make these next months my final months in Texas. i am not saddened, as i have friends in my life that may not physically be here but are always there for me. and i am not disappointed, because i know that in the end the loss is theirs. and if they ever find themselves on a trip to CA and want to stay at my house or hang out with me or have a tour guide for a day, i think i may not be available. in fact, because of the glories of facebook, i think by the middle of this week a number of them will be deleted from my "friends" list. because who needs to know what they missed anyways?
on a happier note - my dad has been here this weekend and we have had a great time. it's been a long long time when it was just father/daughter day - and it sincerely is wonderful to have a couple of those to enjoy.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sunday Funday
Sunday. It used to be Sunday Funday which involved Softball and Beer. But as I have grown older I have realized that not only do I dislike the feeling of complete loss of control on a Sunday, but I also don't like the added calories that a 12-pack of bud light can add to my ass. Don't get me wrong, I am not a teetotaller by any means. Hell, if I was, most of my family would disown me. But I do like to retain my senses and I enjoy waking up on Mondays feeling refreshed and ready to start the week. Of course, that feeling has dissipated by 11am, but at least the mind set was there to start the day, right?
Instead of a Sunday Funday filled with Softball and Beer, today is a Sunday Spa Day filled with that once-every-blue-moon urge I have to drop $400 on a day at the spa for some much needed pampering. My acupuncturist told me on Tuesday that no, I could not have 2 weeks off from him. I was required to come back the following Tuesday AND in between the 2 visits I needed to get a massage. (Stressed much?) I took that as a sign that I need to go get pampered. And now I am.
I have to say I am always a little cautious on going to a spa for the first time. What kind of situation is it going to be? Am I going to do something stupid, like disrobe completely when you aren't supposed to? Does the place live up to all it's hype or are all the 'yelp' reviews people who were paid to write about it? Are the staffers so bored that they made up phony email addresses so they could vote the place the "best of Dallas" for that magazine poll or is it really better than the spa at the Ritz? (Wait a minute, does Dallas even have a Ritz Carlton?? Oh, who cares anyways. I think the Marriott bought them all so they have digressed from what they used to be.)
But I am anxious to go. The first appointment is at noon and I am supposed to show up at 11:30. From the website the place doesn't appear to have all the amenities of the Huntington Hotel in SF (OMG that place is amazing). But it also doesn't appear to require $50 to park at either. I just hope that the girl who answers the phone doesn't get her treatments there. Because she sounded like she is wound so tightly that she may explode any minute. And if that's the case, the spa will receive a BAD review on yelp from me and you, my blog-readers, will have to read about my horrid experience on my blog. And the worst part is I will be stressed out trying to find another spa to indulge myself in - or I'll just say F it and schedule an appointment at the Huntington for my next trip to SF.
Wish me luck... I need this fresh, clean, new start. I need this more than you will ever know.
Instead of a Sunday Funday filled with Softball and Beer, today is a Sunday Spa Day filled with that once-every-blue-moon urge I have to drop $400 on a day at the spa for some much needed pampering. My acupuncturist told me on Tuesday that no, I could not have 2 weeks off from him. I was required to come back the following Tuesday AND in between the 2 visits I needed to get a massage. (Stressed much?) I took that as a sign that I need to go get pampered. And now I am.
I have to say I am always a little cautious on going to a spa for the first time. What kind of situation is it going to be? Am I going to do something stupid, like disrobe completely when you aren't supposed to? Does the place live up to all it's hype or are all the 'yelp' reviews people who were paid to write about it? Are the staffers so bored that they made up phony email addresses so they could vote the place the "best of Dallas" for that magazine poll or is it really better than the spa at the Ritz? (Wait a minute, does Dallas even have a Ritz Carlton?? Oh, who cares anyways. I think the Marriott bought them all so they have digressed from what they used to be.)
But I am anxious to go. The first appointment is at noon and I am supposed to show up at 11:30. From the website the place doesn't appear to have all the amenities of the Huntington Hotel in SF (OMG that place is amazing). But it also doesn't appear to require $50 to park at either. I just hope that the girl who answers the phone doesn't get her treatments there. Because she sounded like she is wound so tightly that she may explode any minute. And if that's the case, the spa will receive a BAD review on yelp from me and you, my blog-readers, will have to read about my horrid experience on my blog. And the worst part is I will be stressed out trying to find another spa to indulge myself in - or I'll just say F it and schedule an appointment at the Huntington for my next trip to SF.
Wish me luck... I need this fresh, clean, new start. I need this more than you will ever know.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
oh yes... again.
again what? well, again a lot of things. again it's been a seriously long time since i have posted anything. again, i am still stuck in texas. again, i am working in a corporate job with stupid people that really make me doubt the intelligence of humans as a whole. oh, and again, my ex-girlfriend (times 4 now i think?) has broken my heart.
but again i rise above it all and open my mind to the fact that i am going to give myself a 10 month goal of getting the F out of this hell hole. yup - 10 months. i will NOT spend another summer in hot, sticky, miserable texas.
i don't know what else to say but i am making a lot of goals right now. and this time i will stick to them. so stay tuned for more information on how this miserable girl who has gained probably 30 pounds in the past 3 months is going to climb out of this hole and stand tall and proud on a new mountain in a state where they have actual mountains. i'll be in CA before you know it... and texas will be a mere dust particle in the rear view mirror.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)