League of Melbotis

We are back.

As far as family visits go, despite the unfortunate events in Austin, Jamie and I managed to spend some good quality time with the Steans side of the family.

Jason was in until Tuesday morning when he and Susan departed. Cousin Susan was in on Sunday morning, coming through the gate while Jason, Jamie and I floated in the pool. Obviously being out in the desert means I don't see much of Susan, so I'm always glad when our schedules align and we can see one another. Sue is headed for China for a few weeks in the fall in some sort of Occupational Therapy exchange program.

Saw Shannon Lowry. Josh was a no show thanks to the rigors of the "telecommuting" world. Sucker! Shannon's still working long and hard for a life insurance company. Her job sounds pretty interesting, and I'm a little jealous. The Lowry's are headed for Arkansas to join up with Josh's kin for some post-Holiday fun.

Apparently my old high school buddy Nick has returned to the bountiful land that is Spring, Texas. He has a billboard on the side of the road announcing that he's gone into business as a realtor. So, you know, if you're buying houses in Spring, let Nick know. He will broker you one heck of a deal.

I was so taken with the idea that Nick's mug was now adorning billboards that I called him. I think he was a little surprised, but it made me realize I hadn't talked to the guy in years and years. Anyhoo, I'll bug him next time I'm headed back to Spring.

Hit Bedrock City comics and picked up some Superman back-issues. I was pretty excited as, while doing my wandering around the store, I noticed they were selling all Superman merchandise at 20%, so I was able to grab a few DC Presents issues I wasn't sure I could afford. Well, I got them. And an issue of Promethea whose cover I didn't previously have.

On the 3rd, Jason and I went and blew a collective $36 on fireworks, putting on a minor extravanganza in the driveway (Jason was already scheduled to leave town on the afternoon of the 4th). I shot off my first missle of my life, and I'll be honest. It was fun. I did feel a little bad about seeing all that plastic disappear into the sky. I guess I thought the little plastic fins would be left behind. Not so. Ah, well. All in all, I think the fountains were my favorite. Lots of bang for your buck and no plastic hurling into your neighbor's yard.

Steve Magsig joined Rick, Jamie and myself for a stellar Cubs v. Astros game on the 4th. We had a great time, although I missed a great bottom of the 8th when I ran out to the hat shop to grab an 80's-style Astros cap. Oh, well. I've now seen the D-Backs play both the Astros and Cubs and the Astros and Cubs play one another. That's got to be some sort of sign of baseball synchronicity or something... By the way, if you haven't been, Minute Maid Park is really cool.

Yesterday we didn't get up to much of anything, but the day sailed by. We went down to some far-off portion of Houston to my Dad's office. The Admiral took us on le grande tour of his offices' facilities. They just moved in, so I spent the whole time geeking out over their AV systems in their training and conference rooms. While I'm surprised they skipped the AMX control systems, they managed to come up with some good analog solutions (that saved them a LOT of money).

Mom seems determined to get me fatter. She feeds us continually while we're home. We have fun, we do. We played some Uno, swam around the pool and spent some time tooling around Spring. Lots of hanging out with the folks, but she did ride to Austin with Jason on Tuesday and fly back that same night, so you know what kind of super trooper she can be.

I'm a little tired, and although it's 10:15 AZ time, it's now 12:15 Houston time. I'm headed for bed.

Hope all of you are doing well. Thanks for the well-wishes for Jeff.