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I adored New York. I walked so much. I ate so much. I did so much. I must announce that if you are going to go to New York, Clell Tickle is the ultimate tour guide. He is a realtor and an actor so not only does he know all kinds of trivia about the city, but he knows where loads of things were filmed. I lucked out so hard that he was not working and had time to show me all over town. I don’t think that I could thank him enough for everything. He showed me little treats all over the city. I had oysters for the first time at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, I saw the ferris wheel inside ToysRUs, I walked on the big piano in FAO Schwartz, I stood in awe at the Twin Tower memorial, I ate pizza and cannolis in Little Italy, I bought fake designer sunglasses in Chinatown, I saw a show impromptu off broadway show that was fabulous by seeing a sign in Soho on a wall. Clell really knows how to show a gal a good time. I tell you, ladies Clell is a keeper.

I also saw one of my dearest friends Dave when I was out there. He and his wife, Rifat live in New Jersey with their darling son Benjamin. Ben is way too cute for words and Dave is doing quite well for himself. I was more than delighted to see them all as it has been several years. They will always have a place in my heart.

So in one little trip, I went to Hoboken, Ridgewood and some other parts of NJ and all of NY and I saw 2 shows. One called “At Least It’s Pink” which was quite hilarious and the broadway hit “Avenue Q” which was in no way short of phenomenal. It is the show with the puppets which explains my attraction.

In my last quick trip to New York, I had the misfortune of having to fly two airlines I never fly. My jetBlue boarding pass actually congratulated me that I would have “36 channels of DirectTV at my seat!” I have no preferred status on jetBlue. There is no upgrading anyway, as there is no first class. I trudged on to the airplane at 6:30am with everyone else. Sure enough, there are television monitors in the back of every seat… except the one I sat down in. Mine was, naturally, not working. Nary a flight attendant even made eye contact with me, much less apologized or offered to reseat me. Don’t get me wrong, I had other entertainment options for the dreary 4 hour flight, but it’s the principle of the thing. That’s jetBlue’s key differentiator, and I missed out on the JETBLUE EXPERIENCE… Oh well, I thought, maybe the flight on Delta would be better…

No such luck. I sat behind two little boys, obviously brothers, who lacked adult supervision. First they had a push fight over who would get the armrest. Then they flicked each other’s ears. Then they stole each other’s caps. Then they flicked each other’s ears. It wouldn’t have bugged me so much if the little boys weren’t about 22 years old. Old enough to know better, in other words, but still acting like 8 year olds. No, I know more mature eight year olds… I hope their mother is proud.

Colleen and I went to New York last week.  I went for a client, and she went cause I found a great deal on airfare.  It was lots of fun.  While we were in transit on Friday, however, another customer had some issues and they decided to send me out there for a day.

The new client was in Manhattan.  If I look at Google Earth and measure the distance from us to Manhattan, it’s roughly 1500 miles. I made that trip three times in a 34 hour period, meaning I averaged over 132 mph the whole time. Tired. More New York blogs to come…

So, we bring to a close another run of joyful paid unworkable days, as Austin opens her bleary eyes and shakes the ice off.  True to the American Dream, no one could make it to work during the ice storm, and yet many people were out shopping yesterday afternoon.  I’m actually glad to be back at work, as I have important business to take care of this week.
Wow, these two day work weeks are KILLING me…

*Gits out her shotgun and stands in front of the Texas flag as rousing music plays*

The great state of Texas was built on iron and grit. This sovereign nation within itself is an institution of pride and freedom. The ancestors that blazed a trail to Texas were hearty folk with steel backbones and true hearts. They were not the bookish, quiet types that would sit in libraries and build legislation. No. They were gun totin’ wild men with fire in their hearts and hot blood in their veins. You can’t expect the descendants of such strong willed folk to think before we act. Native Texans are doers and we are proud to be so. And, unless you live in the panhandle, Texans are not used to anything white coming from the sky.

When the first ice pellets hit my window, I knew we were being attacked. I got my Colt 45 and ran outside. I was shocked. Cold things were flying at me from all over. I began to buck and scream! “Holy Jeezers! It must be the terrerists!”, I screamed at my husband who began to calm me down. As a person who travels for business, my husband has seen this kind of weather before and reassured me as to what was happening. I had help. Other Texans were not so lucky…*sniff*

Just remember that it was me who killed Wash. This photo was taken after I suggested to him that he kill all the characters. We compromised on only killing Wash.

and I never will. I could never forgive him for the death of my Wash.

I have been watching the only season of Firefly again and dealing with my celeb-crush on Alan Tudyk (a.k.a. Pirate Steve). If you just want to know how versatile this actor is, he is also the voice of Sonny from “I, Robot” and has played Lancelot in Broadway’s “Spamalot”. He is tall, cute, can sing and dance and has a great sense of humor. He is not married and he is 35, so sure he is probably gay but I am married so how does that interfere with this fantasy?

I am starting to really understand the novel Misery by Stephen King! Mr. Whedon, I USED to be your #1 fan until you killed my Washy in the movie… OK. so don’t worry Joss, I am not coming after you. I am just going to pout a little bit more and wish I could give you handfuls of money to make more episodes. Of course, that would be after I gave handfuls to Dan Milano for more Greg the Bunny including a role for Alan Tudyk. hee hee. I wonder if Alan has ever worked with puppets…

Alright, now that most men have learned not to stare, lets teach the ladies. Girls, it is rude to stare! I know they are big and I mean BIG. However, stop staring or I am going to ask your boyfriend why his girlfriend is staring at my cans. I am not a side show act or a stripper, but from now on I am going to start charging by the minute.

Right. You have seen these ads. Our pal Justin from Dodgeball (Mac) and the stiffneck guy in suit who represents the PC. In the ads, MacIntosh claims to never need rebooting, always work with any components, and offer fun and games.

I have a new MacIntosh in a house with a PC engineer. It was a fight to get it, believe me. However, I have been doing graphic design for over 12 years and I felt that it was justified. It has come in handy, but it has died on me a few times and required rebooting, does not work with my scanner and definitely does not work with many of the games on the market that are hot right now.

I never expected anything else really because it is a computer and computers do those things. However, I think it is just stupid for MacIntosh to advertise as though they do not. They are just setting themselves up to fail. Also, saying that they are hacker-proof is just an INVITATION to the mindset of a hacker…HELLO?! Have you never MET a hacker?

Well, those are my thoughts. Those guys NEED me at Mac.

The doctor called, and I finally got the results back from my sleep study.  I have severe sleep apnea.  So far as I can tell, this mostly just means that I’ll be getting a CPAP machine on Friday and then should start sleeping better than I have in years.  Stay tuned for more information.