I should have started this a long time ago. Whenever I think about it, I'll drop a line and let the outside world know what's going on. Be forewarned, start at the bottom (the other top) if you haven't been here before.

Alas, if you want to see other journals, mostly those from my trips abroad, go here.

If you have comments, you can email me..

August 13, 2008
Azucena is out of town again. She is in Cincinnati working a conference. Also visiting Dad-o before and after. In the After part, they are heading to Celina to visit my his brother Dean and wife Honey. Brother Joe should be there also. Funny, they are probably going to go bowling on the Wii that Uncle Dean's got hooked up. Ya never woulda known. I wonder if dad, a real good bowler in his time, will take to the Wii. She'll be back on Saturday.
Robert Moura has moved back to Texas. He's in Arlington/Dallas area near his daughter Vanessa. Good to see him back. He'll probably visit a few more times than when he was living in Connecticut.

August 1, 2008
Azucena came and went to Washington D.C. for a one day meeting but was there for about 4 days. She took her nephew Douglas III (Little Doug). He had a great time visiting the sites and just getting out of Texas. ARO also had a great time if you exclude getting run over by a Segway. She made the mistake of hopping off as she gave it a slight turn and it went ballistic with spinning in a circle. She had to stop it with her thigh. Pretty good looking bruise she had a week later.
Kate Clark (formerly Katie), aka K-8, is moving to California permanently to have better luck at landing acting roles. Right now she is doing bit parts so not much with that. She claims to be in the know of some big names, but since we can't see her "diary" we'll have to trust her on that. By the way, you can check up on her at imdb. She'd be Kate Clark (III). Her latest movie is now out: "Kids in America". Not a big part. She's known as a model. In her other listed "Operation Shock and Awe..some" she actually has a name. But the best I can find on this movie is it is 6 minutes long. Her other big budget movie was in Grindhouse. You'd have to see the movie to find her. Apparently she's in a bar sitting on a stool and happens to be next to the big name star. Anyway, she and mom probably left this morning by car to find an apartment and move in. Good luck kiddo. I can say I knew ya.

June 5, 2008
Here's some catchup for you. Visited my dad last month for really only one day. I had a business trip to Lexington Ky and stopped by his place for the rest of the weekend. Had a great time as usual. Short, but fun.
Last week, Azucena finally gave in to her lust. Blue Streak Metallic, Black top Toyota Camry Solara Convertable SLE (This is the best I can do www.toyota.com/camrysolara/exterior-360.html. Choose SLE Convertable, Blue Streak. For Interior, "Leather in Stone"). Very nice ride. She's only driven it one day, though. She settled on it and bargained on Monday, bought it on Tuesday, drove it to/from work on Wed, then we went out of town on Thursday to visit Gary in NJ and then she went to DC until tomorrow, so I've driven it a few days now. I'm thinking about swapping cars with her, giving her my Acura MDX.
Speaking of New Jersey, we visited Gary from Thurs to Sunday. I don't know what influence we had, but he decided he wanted an LCD, so we went shopping. While we were at it, he then decided he wanted a PS3 (and a Wii, but as you know, they are out). So we helped set it up. Not bad for a vacation. Got to see the Phillies whoop up on the Marlins too.

April 9, 2008
Looks like I'll be visiting dad next week. I have a small conference to go to in Lexington, Kentucky and when I'm done, I'll head over to Dayton, OH. Gonna be a pretty tough week since Azucena will be out starting Monday. She'll be back on Thursday, but I'm leaving Thursday for KY and won't be back until Sunday. But on Sunday, she'll be heading out again for a few days. We'll be able to wave to each other in the skies. At least we won't have to get a babysitter for the animals.

February 7, 2008
Azucena is off on her 2nd medical mission. This one is in Bolivia. She will be on a plane leaving at 5pm. She won't be back until next Friday at midnight.

January 28, 2008
So, Azucena is in DC doing her marketing stuff and I'm stuck here in Austin doing my IT stuff. It could be worse. She could be basking in the sun while I'm wearing galoshes and gloves, hat and coat. WAIT. She IS basking in the sun and when I get home, it'll be sleeting. Wonders never cease. Right now it's 47 in DC and 35 in Round Rock with sleet in the forecast. Poor Dad-O. It'll be 7 tomorrow night in Dayton, Ohio. I hope he bought some DVD's to watch.
Uh, you know, this is a pretty dull and boring website. Not that there's anything wrong with it. We won't win any awards, that's for sure. Azucena wants to change it up, but she's been busy and I've not taken the time to learn the new software, so if it gets done, it may happen when she retires.

January 7, 2008
What a weekend. First we started by having issues with Fry's trying to get them to give us a price quote on their Sony XBR4 TV. They wouldn't do it. I tried to get one in person, they wouldn't do it. Azucena stopped by after work and basically told them she wanted to buy a TV. She got a price ticket to take to the register to purchase a TV, but since all we needed was a price quote, she left. She went to Best Buy and did a price match with our TV (Sony XBR4) and we were able to save about $600 on the original price of our wonderful TV we bought in November. Saturday, when we stopped by Fry's, she told them the TV wasn't big enough so she couldn't get it.
Picked up a new Wii game called Carnival Games. Doesn't get good ratings, but it is a blast when it comes to playing. Imagine all those games you play when you are at the carnival/fair, Water Balloon, Balloon Dart toss, skeeball, knocking down milk jug, clown ball toss, dunking booth, basketball toss, shooting gallery, football toss, dish toss, bottle toss, cup toss, etc. We were able to play 4 at the same time on a few of them, or in turn on the other games. This will be a big hit at St. Williams' fair with the kids. 4 adults play on this for about 4 hours yesterday. It's a hoot and a lot of fun.
Ohhh, Ohio State plays tonight for the NCAA championship. I may be watching it if I'm not watching Heroes or playing games at the Carnival.

January 2, 2008
Brand new year!! Time to start a new beginning all over again. One of my goals was to watch the Hawaii Warriors win the Sugar Bowl. So far, I'm on the losing end of goals. How are your goals doing?
Robert Moura stopped by for the weekend. Played cards and had some fun. Glad you could make it. Kymmie's birthday was Monday, we watched too much on the TV. Azucena rented Heroes, watched the first 2 episodes and decided she couldn't wait for a few days to watch additional episodes so she bought the first season. Don't you just hate that? Oh wells. I'm more of a Bones person, but I could probably get into Heroes. Better than Jericho, which wasn't too bad of a show.

December 27, 2007
Didn't get what I wanted for Christmas. Oh wait, yes I did. I actually ordered it myself. Since we have so many remotes for our electronics, we figured we had 8 remotes plugged into our old Sony Universal remote. Pretty much maxed it out. Had the PS3/DVD using the control for the Tape. An MP3 player using the CD, DVD using DVD, cable for cable, Receiver using AMP, TV for TV, a multi changer that was used for the PS3, PS2, Wii and MP3 player was using the MD setting. Did I leave anything out? Oh, yeah, the VCR. But this was set aside incase we needed the VCR. So, I bought a fancy new one - Logitech Harmony 890 (with the IR remote). This not only allows me to have each of these with their own settings, but only one button. At one point, I just needed to press DVD to control the DVD. Or press Cable to control Cable. Not any more. With our HD TV, and HDMI and PS3 and others, it has gotten pretty convoluted.
Here's a scenario. I want to go from Cable to watch Blu Ray movies on the PS3. Press the TV button, then the Input to change from HDMI1 to HDMI2. Press the MD button and change the multi changer to PS3 (if it was on another setting). Turn on the PS3. Press the Tape button for PS3 control (yes, since it's BluRay, I had to buy a USB adapter to convert play/pause/stop/left/right etc. so I can control from the Sony/Harmony remote). Anyway, I also press AMP to change from Video 1 (cable) to Video 3 (game - or BR DVD). With the new Harmony remote, I press Activities, BR DVD and it does all this for me.
Gary let us know that their visit to Cirque Du Soleil was wonderful. The girls had a great time. Jeff's family headed east this Christmas so we'll find out when they get back how everything went.
Azucena just informed me that Bashful is attacking the TV. She has been recording these sunrise shows on Discovery HD. They look incredibly great. Well, this episode has lots of birds sounding off and Bashful is pawing the TV and in attack mode.

December 12, 2007
So what is with the weather doing 40 degrees on Monday, 80 on Tuesday and 40 again today? Not as bad as Oklahoma, though, right? 1 million without power. Ouch. Hope where ever you are located, you have decent weather. My condolences if you are in Oklahoma.
Watched Down Periscope last night. Even the non HD dvd's look better with an HD dvd player.
One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the passing of Azucena's mother. On Halloween, we usually pick her up for trick or treating. This year, Azucena was out of town, so we left her with the nursing home and I did all the tricking by myself. Did a good job of scaring some kids, and a few adults. One kid took off running and screaming around the corner to her house. Poor thing didn't even get any candy. Anyway, Azucena's mom was on dialysis and did her usual cleansing on this day, then had dinner. Complained of a headache and went to bed. An hour or so later, the staff came by and found her non responsive, so they called the paramedics and had her transported to the hospital right next door. It turns out she probably had a brain aneurysm. She was pretty much gone by the time the staff came around. We were able to get her family in town and the next day at 7pm (appx 24 hours), they pulled the plug and she passed away at 7:30. Put up a good fight, though. She and Azucena would meet me for lunch somewhere each Sunday after church. She was always saying stuff like: "You look wonderful, Angel", or "You have beautiful teeth, Angel/Hijo". She was also fun to tease. She could also sit in her chair and for hours just call for the cats, who always ignored her. We'll miss her, but most of all will be Azucena who visited her at least 2 times a week.

December 11, 2007
Ahh, what has changed. Much in the last few weeks alone. Azucena decided she wanted a Blu Ray dvd player, so she bought a Playstation 3. WooHoo, got 5 free movies. Now to compliment the blue ray, she decided she wanted a TV that does HD real high quality. She found one and agreed to put it off for a year. That lasted for a week. Best Buy had a buy she couldn't ignore. Jim and Evelyn agreed to take our old tv off our hands. It was a 57" rear projection. The new one is bigger, but a 52" Sony LCD. Bigger because it has about 2 inches of frame around the screen that doubles as a speaker. Then we had to get a nice stand for the TV. So we found one on Sunday. Next is getting a receiver to handle all the new fangled gadgets. That too can wait for about a year. Yeah Right. Watch us have one by end of next week, or end of year. Good thing all of this is on a no interest plan. The all in one remote we use is pretty much maxed out, so we might need to get a high end one soon. Putting the PS3 on the remote was a challenge since the PS3 is bluetooth and the remote is infra red. Plus her car needed brakes real bad, so that's another chuck of important stuff that was really needed, not like the tv and such.
Well, I'd better head out. We are shopping for a family for Christmas. We've been doing this Just Because Christmas thingie from her church. And every year, we get 2 or 3 bikes. Where is all this money coming from?
P.S., if you ever do high quality HD with TV and Cable and DVD, you'll probably not want to go back. It's da bomb!!!

December 10, 2007
Ok, I was going to let this die, but Azucena says I need to keep it up. So here is the latest.
Sadly, while we were on our vacation to Cheesehead land, we lost several fish including most of the babies. Baby Randy and baby Azucena were the only new ones in this family to survive. I'd try again to bring new life into the aquarium, but I'd hate for them to be fishbait. Maybe soon.
I should have a bunch more to say, but I'll let you think I have something important. I'll try to start filling in pretty soon.

July 13, 2007
We have a new addition to the house, baby Kym. That makes 3 new additions in the last few months. These are mickey mouse platys. We are hoping for more to come.
Been a wet few months. Lots of fireworks were rained out, but several that were moved to the weekend were able to get off the ground. We also got to see a record number of ball games this year. My work had a party at the Dell Diamond last month and Jim was my escort. Then last Saturday, Azucena and I went to her company outing. Then Sunday, Dell had given thank you tickets to TML so I took Kym as my date. Not too bad. Only one win in all that, though. Fireworks on Saturday.
Yes, we are practically done with the house renovating. We just need to quit finding things to replace. We now have a new washer/dryer and had to "remodel" the room they went in since we couldn't open the doors all the way. So we took the doors down and put curtains. Looks pretty good too.
Azucena just got back from a trip to DC. She'll be on a few more trips this month and all next month. We'll also be going to a Rockstead reunion in Wisconsin in August. We may try to visit my dad around Thanksgiving. Suppose to plan on Vegas early November for one of Azucena's work trips. Can't get out of that, I guess.

June 12, 2007
YEAH!!!!! Our house repairs are pretty much complete. Just minor stuff like sealing the tile grout before the cats ruin it (which Bashful is already trying to do) and touch up on the paint. It is looking much better and very nice. Ya'll are invited to our House Warming All Over Again party. No date is set yet, but will be once we get this and the furniture set. Oh and lets not forget we need to "dust" the whole house. Everything has a layer of something on it, except that which we were able to keep locked away or under plastic.
Jim and Evelyn deserve lot of thanks for helping us load and unload our furniture and putting our toilets/sink back together. I'll need Jeff's help on the sink since it wants to leak some and we've got it as tight as we dare to.
Kym also deserves a lot of thanks because she helped with the loading and putting up with our dogs this whole time. Papas is a handle just by himself, but she had our two and her two and it sounds like they all pretty much got along. Oh, she stopped by to bless us with our color choice (well, concur with Azucena and remind me I'll like it regardless of my current opinion). It's a shame we don't have before/after pictures, but think of seafoam green rug and linoleum, now Continental Slate from Daltile. Looks good. Really Good. We've also redone the downstairs bathroom fixtures.
I'd thank Jeff, but he was able to time his trips out of state on both loading and unloading days. He gets some thanks though, for not electrocuting himself while fixing a lighting problem. I'll have other stuff for him later on.
Azucena has been busy working away on her church dvd and their web site. I guess she made sure she is listed first in the web page (see movie matinee), and no, I didn't see anything on the web site about their dvd.

May 30, 2007
It has been a very wet month. Almost messed up our plans for everything.
First of all, we had the foundation fixed on our house. It wasn't in bad shape, probably a 2 on a scale of 10, but we wanted it fixed up before we did other long term goals on the house. Only this required the rain to cooperate. Yes it did rain a bit on the 2nd day they were working on it, but only a bit. It also started raining some as they were finishing up on it and laying new concrete. The day after they were done, the rains came, and hard. Whew, done just in time. Some of the new concrete slabs look funky, but it all worked out.
Then we had someone come by and fix some woodwork to get ready for upstairs tile work. We asked him to come back and install some new doors we've been thinking about getting, which the tile people strongly recommend we get BEFORE the tile goes in. He was scheduled on Monday and it poured even worse than the previous rain storm. So he had to postpone until Tuesday. We had a front door put in and replaced the sliding glass door with french doors. Also we had him fix the cracks along the outside of the house and redo some window sills. Yeah, Jeff could have done the sills, but since he was there, we had him do those too. Doors look great and they shut real well too.
Kymie has been keeping our dogs for us, so we are much appreciated with her on that. Thanks to Jim for carting the french doors home since it wouldn't fit in or on the SUV and I didn't have a current insurance card to rent a truck. Kym's payment is lunch or dinner. Jim's payment is leaving the WII at his place so he can play and practice. The football game would be exceptional if it weren't for the bugs in it. Maybe next edition will be better.
All that's left is finish painting and tile work. Are we there yet???

May 3, 2007
Well, our birthdays have come and gone. Neither with much excitement. NOT!.
We had a great dinner on Sunday for my birthday at Fish Daddy's, then went home for cake and ice cream. For Azucena's, we had a little bowling party at Rockover Lanes as well as a very nice dinner that J&E cooked up. J&E, Herb and Betty and Kymie showed up. Then we played with Azucena's birthday present which she got the previous Sunday (yes, she got her birthday present on my birthday. Go figure. I won't mention who had the gall to do that, but she was married to him). Anyway, her present was the WII from Nintendo - she squealed pretty good when she opened it up. We created our on mini MII's and went to town. Bowled, played tennis, Bowled some more. Jim's dad, Herb got into it a lot more than we expected. His eyesight is going, so he doesn't get to do much any more, but with our Big Screen TV, he was able to see them pins fall. A lot of fun, the Wii's, more than I would have expected.
Changing subjects... as you know, since we plan to have foundation work done on our house, we have decided to repaint and tile the downstairs. We have selected all the paint colors we will use and have completed the stairwell and living room. Got the hard part out of the way. Plan on getting the dining room done this coming week, then the kitchen and we'll be done except for touch ups. Sesame, Pumpkin, Plum, oh my!

April 13, 2007
Been awhile, hasn't it. Fooled ya, thought I wasn't going to update it any more. Well, fooled me too.
Got an email from Montie Krumnow who lives in Hawthorne, NJ. She's married into the Krumnows from Huntsville, Texas (Monroe Robert Krumnow).
Everything is kind of wacky here in Central Texas, but I'm sure it's wacky elsewhere too. Weather is the most unusual we've had in ages. It was sleeting in Round Rock last week and it should do some hail damage this weekend. It snowed in Temple, which is not too far north of us. Cold enough to start another fire and turn on the heater.
Ok, so we have started the ball rolling on serious house repairs. We will be doing some foundation work at the end of May, which means that they will not only re-settle our house some, but poke holes in the concrete inside the house, which also means pulling up the rug. So, since Azucena is determined to lay tile downstairs, this looks like one of those back to back to back projects. As soon as they finish the foundation, we'll probably paint the walls. I'm for hot pink, but I doubt she'll go for it. Then after the painting is dry, we'll get someone to lay tile. We've put it off because of money and cause we didn't want to have to move the TV, fish tank, curio cabinet, and other stuff, but since we'll have to move them for the foundation work, so might as well get it all done at that time. We'll need a place to sleep/shower/romp - Kymie? J&E? The animals are a different story, but we'll figure it out.

January 17, 2007
Ah, the fun of it all. Temps around 29 - 31 degrees since Sunday night (wind chill down to the 18's). Colder here than Ohio and New Jersey. Looks like NJ is having some sort of warm wave, in the 50's and 60's (Dayton dropped 30 degrees yesterday and Mt. Laurel dropped 30 degrees today). Funny how Azucena and I traveled all the way to Ohio for ice and snow and found virtually none of it, but here in our own back yard 3 weeks later, we have plenty. How ironic too that because it's in our own back yard, we are told to stay home. So, Azucena and I have been home telecommuting for 3 days, well, mostly. She has enjoyed the days off some, but I've been checking back in with work, solving issues and getting work done that normally comes in via the web, so for me, it really isn't much different that if I were at work. For Azucena, same thing - she can get most of her work done via the internet, but she elected to treat it as days off, which her work officially did - paid too.
Tuesday, while letting Papas out front for the "pee on demand" trick he has going for us, Buddy got loose. When Buddy gets loose he's gone. We've always been able to find him except for the last two times and he's come back on his own (damn!, uh, Yeah!). But this time he heads out and after awhile we get a call. I had to climb in from the passenger side of the truck to go get him. The truck was iced too much on one side. Didn't really take long to clear the windshield, but I do like the side window vent. Cleared the ice right off the windows. But today, all sides are iced up. One coworker decided it wasn't worth coming in to work when she saw a neighbor spend 30 minutes using a knife around the edges of his doors to open them. Another coworker spend 2 hours de-icing only to decide the bridge she had to cross may be closed.
Some roads and overpasses were closes. Austin ran out of deicing material yesterday, so they basically pleaded with us to stay home. And when an accident occurred, the traffic announcer would say " See, I told you. But don't listen to us, go out on your own and see for yourself if travel is bad". We stayed home and saw for ourselves via the tv.
Dad is still enjoying his electronic setup. He got it off track the other day and came close to calling us, but we think the problem was hitting the channel button (taking it off channel 3 which just screws the whole setup) instead of the off button on the tv. He got it working on his own which is real good to hear. I just wish we had taken the effort to make mom's as simple.

January 11, 2007
Ok, we went over the river and through the woods to grandpa's house, or dad's house, or whatever (Dec 23 - 30). We had a great time, OK? Visited with his godgrandson and Uncle Dean/Aunt Honey, and Uncle Joe. Really, we had a great time. No snow, and none of this problem with frozen water we heard so much about. Right before we left to come back to Austin, Azucena and I splurged since we hadn't really splurged on dad before (not for Christmas). Gary had given him some dvd's that showed his pretty face on tv during a Philly's game, and Jeff's family had given him a book on Baseball stuff (yeah, it was a good gift, only it included a DVD of news reels). Well, since he had no dvd player, we felt it was our duty to get one for him. But since his pissass tv had no connections other than cable, we felt it was our duty to upgrade the darn thing. So, Thursday after breakfast, we shopped at Best Buy and picked out an Insignia TV and DVD/VHS player. We went to the National Museum of the Air Force after lunch. This is one big museum. It is free and you can easily spend a few days here. After the museum we to his apt and gave him his Happy New Years Gift (since we already gave him a Christmas Gift, we needed to make up a gift reason, right?). The expert set it up (ARO if you didn't know) and let him learn the controls. He did have one nice piece of equipment, a Bose Wave radio that we used for speakers. Minimal effort on his part to watch DVD or VHS or cable. Then we went to dinner. (he tried to invite his newfound girlfriend we hooked him up with (dining hostess from our hotel), but she didn't have transpo at that time. Oh wells. On Friday, on our way back home, we stopped by his place to work out a few kinks and it was like watching a kid in a candy shop. (Sorry your Buckeye's lost the ball game, but they really did play crappy, and YES, UT did beat Iowa - Hook Em.)
Sunday (1/7) we had a wonderful lunch with Angie, Li'l Doug, Marcus and Mom R at Dave & Busters. Played for a few hours and left with a few goodies. We revamped our loft so we picked up an fiber optic lamp from D&B to put in the room for decoration. Loft is looking might good after all the changes. It's the game room we always dreamed it would be. Just a bunch of years later than we wanted.

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December 23, 2006
Well, most of you have gotten our newsletter by now and are checking this place out, so MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a MERRY CHRISTMAS. Thought I was going to say Bah Humbug, didn't you.
We begin this journey by telling you that we are going over the river and through the woods to a grandpa's house in Dayton, Ohio. Our journey will continue as we spend a day or two in Celina, Ohio, where some of grandpa's brothers live (and sister in law). We may visit a cousin or two or additional uncles while in Ohio (the Overman side of the family in case you were wondering).
We've been notified that some good friends of ours are either on their way, or are there already, to Alabama to visit her relatives. We'd also like to publicly thank another good friend of our, Kym, for taking care of our pets while we are away. Don't worry folks, she got paid good money (well, food at Outback) for babysitting.
We'll end our journey by getting back to Texas next Saturday, just in time to miss the UT bowl game against Iowa. And, no we won't be able to tape it since TVO doesn't go that far in advance (ah, the benefits of plain ole vcr taping). Maybe we can pick it up somewhere and listen to McCoy take apart the defense and toss a couple of touchdowns and set the all time record.
Well, gotta go, our trip starts in about 45 minutes. Ya'll have a safe holiday.

November 27, 2006
Thanksgiving weekend was a bittersweet time. Our beloved Longhorns found another way not to win. Thanksgiving was tension free for the first time in memory. Spent too much on shopping which I hope it is not a start of a new tradition.
In a couple weeks, we'll have a garage sale to end all garage sales. NOT! We hope anyway. Then after that, right before Christmas, we'll head up to Ohio and visit dad and other relatives for a few days. I think golfing is out of the question, don't you?
Speaking of dad, Way to go Buckeyes. On to the Championship game. If it weren't the Longhorns, I'd like to see Ohio State in there. Maybe we'll be in it next year. Would have too if it weren't for McCoy getting hurt. Another Ba Humbug.

October 20, 2006
Well, it's been a little slow and slightly boring until the past week. The Longhorns have won, Kate is starring as a cheerleader (although you won't see anything but her hair) in a series called Friday Night Lights. Well, not really starring since she was only slightly visible in two episodes. BUT, she does play a slightly larger role in a move due out next year called Grindhouse. Dual movie really. You need to watch both movies since they relate to each other.
Other than that, Jeff, Gary and I took up a poker tournament last week at a place called Wings & Things. No money, only points. They play around 6:30 and 9pm on Wednesdays. Jeff was real anxious to give it a try, especially since Gary was in town for who knows what, probably a vacation from the kids. They give points if you place in the top 15. After losing fairly early the first match (we got there about 45 minutes late), I won the 2nd match and someone said I beat the points leader in a showdown (is that pretty wild or what). Jeff was pretty cool about it until this past Wednesday when I whupped him in the points again (Jim didn't do too badly himself. With only $5,000 in chips, he was able to move from 9th to 5th in points without making a single bet). Since then, Jeff's been worshipping my poker skills, enough so that I've had to retain an agent to handle my affairs. See my new website that we had to get just to deal with all the attention.
Big game against Nebraska this weekend. Who ya rootin for?
Papas has had two surgeries for some time of Mast Cell cancer. We hope we got it all and since he's pretty young, he should recover quite nicely. Along the way, some neighbors across the street saw a dog running loose and thought it was ours, so I went out and ended up bringing her home. She's a cross between Cocker Spaniel and Golden Retriever, so we think. Took her to the vet for some shots and a shave and she turned into a he (oops). So, I guess we can't call them Blondie and Dogwood like we planned. Put up notices and have walked around with him, but so far, no one has come forward. I might visit some vet places tomorrow. Haven't quite had him for two weeks yet.
I guess it hasn't been slow and boring like I thought. Till next time I feel like writing, toodles.

September 19, 2006
I'll lead you in slowly with Papas antics following up with news on Mamas. Took both dogs to the vet this past Saturday. Papas is now at that age that he don't like vets. Just like kids don't like barbers, or dentists. He's got this real pathetic look the whole time he is there. Droopy ears and eyes that look like he's going to cry.
Papas was the first for his annual exam. Got him up on the table and he cowered real bad. When the technician started pulling his tail from between his legs, he got a squirt from the anal glands. His comment of "This is not good. It's going to stay with me all day" didn't mean much until about a minute later. Yep, not good. Anyway, with Papas not being cooperative, they took him into the back for blood work. I even had to lead him out of the room with Mamas so he could go. They came back a few minutes later giving up on doing this stuff. Papas was so uncooperative, they couldn't do anything. So we tried again in the room with a muzzle on him and he behaved pretty good this time.
Mama's turn. Before we really go started I asked about her heavy breathing that she just started doing, so they took her in the back for x-ray's. While back there, Papas was in the middle of the room looking sideways at the doors on each side of the room. Really funny. He'd go back and forth waiting for Mama's to come back. And that sad look was just too much. I wish I had a camera.
Anyways, to finish this long story, the x-rays showed Mamas was either in the late stages of cancer, or had some bronchial problems. Hoping beyond hope, they treated her for the bronchial problems and wanted to bring her back on Monday for additional testing for more positive diagnosis. On Sunday, between 4 and 5:30pm, Mamas passed away. She was breathing just too much (for those that remember Maggie, this was the same style of breathing) and probably hadn't had any sleep in a few days. She ate some cheese that morning, but the rest of the day, just sat around panting. Azucena had company come over at 4 and I left to run some errands and when I was done, went around the back to sit in the hammock and read a book. Saw Mamas lying there and that she wasn't breathing. Azucena's guests were great. They wrapped her up and put her in the truck for us.
Bye Bye Mamas. We'll miss you.

September 14, 2006
Not a whole lot going on. Well, one thing happened over the past weekend. Longhorns got their butts handed to them. They'll be back and if they get their act together and not play conservatively, they should go the rest of they way undefeated and play Ohio State again in the Big Bowl. That would be nice.
Still going through a lot of mom's stuff. Found a bible that had family trees on the front and back cover. Found a few more obits that were handled by Adams Funeral Home. We'll keep all those together and see how many there are. So far, I know of 4 including mom. Azucena has gotten on a organizing kick. This is actually good. With all mom's stuff going to be around for awhile, we need to get our stuff better situated for the longer haul. She's also starting a Garage Sale section with all this organizing. So, I guess we'll have another one around December.

August 21, 2006
Garage sale this weekend took care of the rest of mom's stuff. What wasn't sold is either tossed out or given to goodwill. Now will be tossing trash stuff from her house and sheds. Then that should be the end of it. Hopefully 1 or 2 weekends to go. Then some cleaning and hopefully it will be sold.
In almost 3 weeks will be the Longhorn/Buckeye ballgame. We've invited dad to join us, but not sure if he can make it. He might come down later on when it's not so hot. Azucena is about pleading with me to go visit during Thanksgiving. Maybe see other Overmans and if it's close enough, some Rocksteads as well. She's also talking about going to Bolivia for a medical mission for her church. This isn't until February of next year. Oh, saw "Taladega Nights". Pretty good movie. If you are a NASCAR buff, you'll need to go with the flow, but yes, it's still a good movie. Will definitely get it when it comes on DVD. Haven't seen "CARS" yet, but will when it comes to NETFLIX.

July 28, 2006
This past weekend, we went south to Harlingen for funeral proceedings for Azucena's Uncle Ed. I'll leave an account here for you to check out. Ed was into boats and woodwork, so Azucena decided to built a boat to put Uncle Ed's ashes in, put it out on the bay at South Padre Island, catch it on fire, and watch it sink (We accidentally provided an escort for his final adventure). Well, it caught on fire, and we almost caught another boat on fire, which would have caught even more boats on fire, and who knows where it would have ended. But only one boat burned up and that was fine with us. Would we do it again, especially for Kymie? Well, we COULD do it again, hopefully minus the drama, but WOULD we? We'll get back with you on that in a few years. Overall, we had a great time in Harlingen, even if we did do Chinese for lunch Sat and Sun. Sunday was much better. And mom R figured out how to get the hotel movies to show up. That's a dangerous area to get into, her knowing how to find the movies.
Now we'll have to concentrate on getting mom O's house cleaned out and ready for sale. Going much slower than we want, but oh wells.

July 20, 2006
Wow, didn't realize it'd been so long. Where to begin. Still getting most of mom's stuff packed up. Had a few people interested in the house, but we're not ready just yet. Sue will stop by next week for a vague appraisal.
Had a great Fourth in Jersey. Spent the week in Mt. Laurel and Ocean City, NJ. Rain two days, which wasn't too bad. Gave us a break from the beach, although it cooled off the already cold ocean some more. Also, since the state government shut down, we weren't able to do any gambling at Atlantic City. Kids were a blast as usual. Dad showed up and I'm sure he had fun. Sad to say this, but with mom not being there, it was a more relaxed atmosphere that it has been. She had a way of putting tense in tension. Most everyone went body boarding, including the kids. Got some video and might get it up on the web site before long. While in Mt. Laurel, we visited Famous Dave's BBQ joint, not once, but 3 times. Azucena's fault, really. They have some great BBQ and Memphis style Pulled Pork sandwich. After inquiring, there is a Famous Dave's in El Paso, but we figured it'd be quicker to fly to New Jersey, than drive to El Paso, but much cheaper to drive. I compare the ribs to Damon's, but alas, they moved out of Texas. Nearby for Dad and could be for Gary, though.
Tomorrow the Rockstead clan head to south Texas for a burial at sea. Well, sort of. Uncle Ed Rockstead passed away last week and his wishes were to be cremated and Azucena and others decided a Viking Funeral Pyre is in order. Sort of. Azucena and Jim has built a small boat (about 1 1/2 feet) that will hold his ashes in the bottom half, then the top half will have a rocket housing to send it further out to sea (a small port in south texas is where we'll do this, so it's not really out to sea). We are hoping the rocket that propels the boat, will ignite the rags that will have been soaked in a flammable fluid. If all this works, and we'll do this at dusk, then we should get a pretty good fire, the boat will get mostly burned up before sinking and Uncle Ed will float with the fishies.

June 7, 2006
Whoops, guess I'm not keeping up with this too much lately. A lot has gone on, mainly with mom's house and stuff. We've cleared a lot out and Azucena has put several items on ebay. 2 weeks ago, we had a massive Garage/Estate sale. Sold most stuff (Anna, you'll be happy to know, the swingset is still there.). I've also been going through most of mom's papers that she stored in boxes. These are being shredded one box a day. Takes about an hour to go through each box. It gets a bit frustrating when you see that she kept 10 copies of her divorce decree. Then when she went to court with dad over child support payments, she kept 10 copies of that also. Lot's of her lawyer stuff ended up with 5 copies or more. Each tax return has 5 copies plus the worksheet. It's funny some of the stuff she saved, for example, she kept an email that said she was in charge for the rest of the day.
There's a family reunion on Saturday, but from what I hear, not a whole lot signed up for it. We may talk about doing it every other or every 3rd year.
Till next time...

February 7, 2006
Time surely has been flying quickly. I didn't realize I hadn't been out here in a while. Had been to mom's on the weekends for the past few weeks picking up furniture that mom had bought in the late 70's from Far East Gift Shop in Taiwan (don't bother looking this company up on the web, I couldn't find them). Anyway, mom had 2 octagon end tables, one long coffee table, headboard, 2 dresser mirrors, 2 dressers (one tall, one long), grandfather clock (Jeffie has this now), curio cabinet, 2 sets of stacking stools, "stacking" tables, secretary desk, bar, entertainment center, Oriental divider, papasan chair, rocking chair, two end regular end tables, and two "cedar" chests. I think this is all (all for the low price of $700). Most of the table tops are marble. Anyway, since no one in our family is really interested in them, Azucena and I have been taking them apart and bringing them home and swapping out our own furniture with them. One problem. Cigarette smoke. I've been wiping them down with furniture polish and this seems to help. This has been keeping us busy, with unscrewing, polishing, putting back together... Also packing up Jeff and Gary's glassware.
I finally got the gumption to work on the Christmas newsletters and get them posted on our website. I was able to print, scan and turn them into PDF's. Don't look too bad at all. Here you go to view them - Christmas Newsletters. Up until today, we only had thru 1999 on the web.
Azucena and I are going to visit Gary on the east coast in July. Our current plans are to pick up dad on the way there, then stop by Dean and Honey's on the way home.

January 4, 2006
NATIONAL CHAMPS BABEE!!!. UT hooked em. Overcame fumble, noncalls, and missed kicks to pull it out at the last seconds 41-38 over USC. No fireworks, ground still too dry, but lots of horns are going off. Jeff, Anna, Gary, Jim, Evelyn and Kym came over and we watched the whole game. Well, Jeff and Anna fell asleep for awhile, but we were glued. Dad too. He's in Ohio and watched the game and rooted for Texas. We're gonna try to get him down here for the UT-Ohio St game later this year and hopefully with tickets to watch the game in person.

January 1, 2006
Happy New Year!!!. Bah Humbug. No fireworks. It would have been boring if it weren't for Kymie and her birthday and Talisman and champaign. For all those that tried to get in touch with us, but failed, Happy New Year to you too.
UT championship game on Wednesday. Are you going to watch? Should be a great, if not a great, game.

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December 18, 2005
Funeral was yesterday. Lots of flowers and people. Very nice service. Gary did the MC part and did a fantastic job considering. He also opened it up for comments. It all went pretty well. Azucena spent a lot of hours putting together a video of Mom's "life". Once she gets the final version (which will include the funeral portion), then we'll get it up on the web site. Current version is over 500mb, so you'll have to wait for her to finish this and then create a web version.
Visitation was at Adam's Funeral home on Friday evening from 6 - 8. There is a guest book on Statesman.com that's good thru January 14, 2006. This is the cemetery she is located. We haven't submitted her name, but will as soon as we get the dates of her mom and grand parents (UPDATE: scroll down and you'll see Overman, Betty Louise Clark and this is the obit that was submitted).
Jeff, Sue, Gary and Carol have been going through mom's house and creating a lot of garbage. Azucena and I was there today and did our own trash making. Not sure if a dent has been made, but I did see a lot of "EMPTY" notes on drawers, doors, mirrors, etc. Wait until we get into the attic.
Azucena and I also took a lot of pictures home, which we will scan, label and save to disk in a photo album style. Our house is looking pretty crappy since we haven't been home much the past few weeks. I guess now we can get started on it. But first. Azucena is going to get a lot of sleep. She crashed about 9:30. I'm surprised she lasted this long considering the long hours she's been putting in on the video. We'll create copies for everyone who wants one.

December 10, 2005
Still been busy. Mom and Jeff butted heads for awhile about Christopher house and staying at his house. She really really wanted to leave the hospital to spend Christmas at her house, so the agreement was (and approved by her doctor, only because Hospice was involved) was that she get out on Tuesday, have Christmas on Wednesday, then after Gary and family leaves, stay at Jeff's until she needs constant care, or starts in a wheelchair, then it's off to Christopher house. That's how it was going to work.
How it really happened is like this: Jeff got mom signed out on Tuesday and was home in time for Gary and family when they came in town. Wednesday early morning hours, mom started complaining of severe pain. The pain pills she was taking didn't work (they were for a different type of pain), so she agreed to Christopher house if that's what it would take to get rid of the pain. So, they get her there about 11am and I meet up with all the relatives that have stopped by for Christmas, we pack the tree and presents and head over to Christopher House about 2pm. It was pretty amazing to see this tree and all these gifts come rolling in within hours of their new patient, plus a total of 17 people. Then we opened presents, and after that was done, had dinner that Azucena tracked down for everyone (Ham, sides, sodas, tea, dessert). More people visited Thursday, and former coworkers visited on Friday. Friday evening after Gary left, she got real nasty with the pain medication, so they decided to hook her up to an IV for a Morphine Drip. This pretty much said the End is Near. Her breathing got a bit better as the night went on, and her agitation started going away. Jeff, Sue, Anna and I spent the night and around 7:20am, Anna noticed mom not doing good and Jeff looked up and saw her last breath. I missed it by about 10 seconds. We had a few relatives stop by before Adam's funeral took her away.
Gary and Carol will be back Wednesday, funeral is next Saturday and we will probably have an open house either Friday evening or Saturday after the funeral and other festive's. Should be able to get some rest now, and also get back to work full time.

December 5, 2005
Been a busy last few days. Longhorns won... !!! YEAH!!!. More on that later.
Mom had a real bad panic attack on Thursday/Friday and has been in the hospital since. She's doing ok considering, but not well enough to head back home. The doctor's prognosis is 3 - 4 weeks, or (50/50 she'll make it to New Years). Anyway, we are looking at Hospice, specifically Christopher's House in Central Austin. They'll take daylong care of her which she probably needs. More on this later too. Since we've all been busy with mom and such, I only have a minute to do this and head back out to visit work (about 4 hours late, since I stayed overnight with mom. Sue did it the first night, Azucena the second. I may do it again tonight, Don't Cry For Me/We/Us, Argentina).
Gary and family are heading to Austin tomorrow and we will probably have an early Christmas. Stopped by mom's house to make sure all the stockings are hung by the chimney with care. Most were, Gary's family is lacking, so they can un-lack when they get here.

November 29, 2005
I guess mom's determined to use up some of her retirement money since she's been told the chemo drugs aren't going to do her any good. It turns out she is ready for a vacation to anywhere (except maybe Europe). This vacation includes all expenses for Azucena, Sue and Carol. Girls vacation. This vacation could have started tomorrow if everyone was ready. Sue probably is. Mom would have left by noon if possible. Carol is across USA in New Jersey, so the earliest she could be ready may be tomorrow. Azucena is in Memphis, so she wouldn't be ready until at least Friday. This vacation is between 6-8 days before or after Christmas, but not during, so everyone can be here for Christmas. Prelim word has it it may be a cruise. Maybe dad can stay with Gary while Carol is away and babysit. - - I'm back. Just took a moment break and emailed him about that. That's all I've got for now.

November 27, 2005
Watched Texas "squeak" by on Friday. Overall a great game. Saturday, we had several people over for a Rockstead Thanksgiving. All went well, but if we are going to have pot luck, then ARO will need to NOT make so much extras next time. Pot luck was a great idea. Lots of good food came by and very little got wasted. The dressing was some of the best I've ever had. Then the actual Rocksteads got into playing something called Hero Clixs. This is a "50" minute game, but it took them about 1 1/2 - 2 hours just getting set up, then another 1 1/2 - 2 hours to play. I had also charged up a bunch of batteries so we could do some RC racing out back, but since it rained that morning, plus with everyone playing some Clix game, it didn't seem important enough to start it up. But, I think I disappointed Kimmie. I didn't know she was looking forward to racing. Jim probably would have also, so I think I failed in my decision making. Doug, Sr. and Ronald have been here since Wednesday, and they'll be heading back to Harlingen on Monday.

November 24, 2005
Another Thanksgiving came and went. We had a pretty good time with the Overman household. Everyone behaved themselves pretty good. And Charlie Brown had thanksgiving with his pals at Grandma's house. Saturday we'll have the Rocksteads and friends Thanksgiving.
On a sad note, mom's chemo isn't going very well. Her liver is starting to take a turn for the worse. Because of this and other factors, the doctors have told her she can't be on the experimental program any more. After some discussion and the usual Why Me, she said, Hell With It, Let's Go Shopping, so Sue took her to one of the military bases PX/BX while in San Antonio.
Dad said it is snowing in Ohio, probably Reynoldsburg where Wanda lives (if she still lives there). And it got to 80 degrees here in Austin. I gave him an open invitation to stop by any time he want with his golf clubs and he said he may take us up on it. At 50 degrees during the winter and golf courses open year round, I don't think it will be hard to twist his arm.
Cowboys lost, missed a field goal, screwed up in overtime. Longhorns tomorrow. Oh my. What to do. I guess I'll tape it and when it gets out of hand in the first quarter, I can fast forward between plays.

November 23, 2005
Nothing like having something to say, then not bothering putting it down in writing. Over the past month, we took mom to San Antonio for another round of Experimental Chemo testing. This is one of those type where they have several people participate and they use different doses to see which does best.
We'll be doing Thanksgiving at Jeff's house tomorrow. Azucena's dad and brother are in town. They are visiting Doug and kids for tonight. Saturday, we'll do Thanksgiving at our house with a lot of invited guests, so if you didn't get the invite, you can stop by anyway.
I was thinking we'd watch some football, but that ain't really gonna happen at Jeff. Even if is the Cowboys. Now Saturday, we'll have UT on, so we'll get to view that as we want, even if it is a blowout. We might also do some RC cars out back.

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October 10, 2005
We'll, I gotta say, the hernia thing is not as bad as it could have been. I thought I'd be in "bend over" pain for a week or so and that hasn't happened. A bit sore, yes, but not lots of pain. I sat around mostly for two days before I reread the paperwork for about the 4th time and came across an item that said NOT to sit around for 2 days. Ooops. The worst part was having gravity use the bathroom for you. You don't realize how much "force" you use when you go, so next time, try it on your own, without any help from your body. Just let gravity take over. Took me over 5 minutes to do the job the first several times I had to go. And the pain. Well, not too much, but that's when I realized they had used a catheter while I was knocked out. Other that that, all is pretty good, no gory details. Plenty of people helping out. Azucena "baby"sat for 2 days, although I don't think I acted much like a baby (calling me her "poor baby" doesn't count, does it?). Went to work for a few hours today and took a very solid 3 hour nap. I guess that's because getting sleep is not that easy with stitches in your gut and the pain to turn over or get up/lie down. Anything that's gut related will hurt (sneeze, cough, can't blow nose, etc). You have to use your arms to pull you out of the chair, plop down, take a minute to "stretch" when standing.
How bout them Horn's !!!! Ok, so Oklahoma wasn't all that good, but it still feels good to beat one of your main rivals. Tech and A&M are next. I'm concerned about Tech more than A&M at this point.

October 5, 2005
Ok, now I'm going to spill the beans. I went to see a doctor about a small pain problem I was having and he told me I had a hernia. I saw a hernia specialist and he said I had 2 hernias. I scheduled the outpatient operation (bi-lateral, Laparoscopy surgery) for today at 12:30. I got home about 4:30 and have taken it fairly easy. I really can't do much except have soup tonight and tomorrow. Pain is not too bad, but I'll take the painkillers just in case. They said I wouldn't remember anything since I was going to be knocked out, but they didn't even give me a chance to count backwards. They must have given me something while I was still in the pre-room because they didn't even get 20 feet and I was out. Woke up about 1:30 and was in and out and probably made a few comments along the way. I hope that was Azucena's hand I kissed.
Jim and Evelyn came by with a Get Well balloon and pie. Will get to the pie tomorrow, yum-yum.
Work can't be too happy, miss a week for Hawaii, in for 2 days (mostly playing catchup) and gone again for another week. Thanks to Patty for the hard work she's done to allow this without my freaking out.

October 3, 2005
Got back from Hawaii on Sunday afternoon. Had a pretty good time overall. First day started off real well, then ended up in pretty bad shape, but it cleared the way for the rest of the trip (Don't ask, because I won't tell). Spent some time in Hanauma Bay, Makapu'u point/beach, Bellows AFS and beach, Radford High School, Hickam AFB, The International Market Place, Hilo Hattie's, Bellows again, Molokai Lookout, Blowhole, Pali Lookout, Mililani Town, plus a few others. Journal wasn't all that great this time, but I had difficulty with Gary's Blackberry and kept it to a minimum.
Spent lots of money, especially at the Hale Koa hotel exchange and Market Place.
Saw a wonderful magic show. Mark Mauricio was the magician www.magicislandtv.com. Also a fun Luau with Glenn Medieros as the host.
Left on Saturday at 9pm and got in town Sunday at 2pm. 5 hour difference and total 8 hour flight time.
Yes, I'd go again. ARO is already threatening me for our 25th anniv.

September 22, 2005
Uncle Jimmie has a wedding on Saturday at 2pm in Easterly, Texas about 100 miles from our house. This means about a 2 1/2 hour drive. With the storm brewing (oops, sorry, Hurricane), and all the traffic that will be heading our way, it might be closer to a 3 hour drive. Now on the way back, it might be a 6 - 8 hours because of all the hurricane traffic they will be driving with (Did I say Easterly was on Hwy 79 north/east of Austin, just north of Bryan?). They should get lots of wind and rain. Late bulletin, we just got word (about an hour ago) that the wedding is now further east at 7pm on Friday night instead. If it aint the weather on Saturday, it will be the traffic on Friday.
J&E are back in town and they might come by with Kimmie on Friday to give a farewell to Randy as he heads to Hawaii Sunday morning.
Hurricane is also causing interesting situations at work. TML has graciously opened their doors this weekend for city officials who are in town and need a place to check email and other stuff (I know, why email when their city is shut down, but it happens. People still have ways to get through). Also, severl cities have an Intranet which means if their servers are still running, then they can get work done. I'll be at TML on Saturday working with them and Patty gets Sunday, since I'll be out of town (yep, they still allowed me to take off, sweet of TML, isn't it).
I'm placing bets on when Jeff and family make it back on Friday. Let's see, 2 1/2 hour normal drive, traffic been moving at 1 hour for every few blocks, traffic could be dying down, I'd go with... OH.... 2 am.
I'm back. I'm changing it to 5 hours after they leave. (update 10/5/05 - traffic was non-existant - took the normal 2 hours)

September 12, 2005
Ok, so sue me. I haven't been keeping it up any.
We had a trip to Washington D.C. at end of July. You can read the trip journal to see if there's anything important. We did have a pretty good time at the zoo and seeing Panda "Butt". Got to try some Brazilian food.
Update on mom. Not looking too good. She's getting quite a few tumors which is causing more pain with the clothes she's wearing than outright pain, but she's still a pain in the butt.
Gary came and visited a few weeks ago. While here, we went through a few boxes of photos and labeled what we could. Also while here, we decided to do a trip to Hawaii with Jeff, Gary, Randy and Mom. Mom and I will be on the same airlines there and back. Jeff and Gary will be flying on their own and we will meet up on Sept 25 and depart on Oct 1. Not sure what we will be doing. Since the three boys will probably be rooming together, Gary really has the honors of sleeping on the floor since he initially said he would stay in mom's room. I'm pretty sure we are doing the Arizona Memorial, but that's as far as I can figure out. It won't be pretty, but we'll survive. (Special thanks to ARO and Carol for getting the flight, room and car details worked out.)
How bout them Horn's. Great game, huh!. About as good as when they beat that Other Big 10 team, Michigan. So sorry daddio. Ya lost twice now. You'll have to wait until next year.

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July 11, 2005
Just did an internet search for Randy Overman, and I am shown as a supervisor who got a sexual harassment warning for IBP, a grandparent in Ill., employee of TML and husband of Azucena Rockstead. Search for rockover.com gets us www.rockover.com/br. 3 pages on Google and not a one on our web site. Don't know if that's good or bad.
Now I forgot what I was going to write about. I do know that ARO is in San Diego right now. Will be back on Thursday, I think. Maybe Wednesday. 18 goes into 72 how many times? That's how many days she'll be gone.
I'll ramble for a bit here... Kimmie says Jarek(a) is in his/her terrible 2's. Soon will be a teenager and will start to mouth off, but it sounds like he's doing it already... 4th of July was fairly fun. We were at Jim's cousin's house and turned our backs on their fireworks to watch the ones in Cedar Park and everywhere else in the horizon... I must be brain dead because I can't even ramble. I spend 6 hours last night getting about 1 hour of good sleep. My mind was so active I couldn't get it to go to sleep... We spend over 10 hours on the golf course Sunday. Azucena's idea of a great time. Actually it was pretty good. We got in 35 1/2 holes before we had to call it quits on account of darkness. Would have made it 36 with 1/2 hour to spare, except the people in front of us decided they wanted to chat more than play and no rangers around to tell them to speed it up. We did pretty good though. I think I had a 100 on both events (9:45 and 4:30). Azucena didn't do too badly either. Mid 50's on at least 2 - 9 holes. Met some fun people... Kimmie is becoming a card shark. She is hooked on Hold Em. We played Saturday in her honor... Ramblings over. Going to bed. Goodnight. Thanks for the read (Still can't remember why I started this tonight. As she says, "Oh Wells".)

July 2, 2005
Had an enormous cookout that turned into only big. Lost 2 because they were with their mom, lost another ?10? because Ceci and her side were not feeling well. Ceci's new band members were suppose to show up and we were going to talk them into being a band for us. Outside of that, it was hot and pretty good food.
I wonder if anyone got sick of watching Wonder Woman. This was going pretty much non-stop since noon this morning. Yes, Azucena has all the episodes now (I think. Three seasons, right?)
I guess the card macho's want to play cards Texas style. I'll relax some before I join in.
We'll be doing some serious fireworks on Monday, I take it. What little stuff we bought at HEB, is now on our dining room floor and in the trash can. Enjoy your fourth.
By the way, Gary, we had fun, with what we had. Sad to see you go, but glad the girls and mommaCarol came along.
**Kimmie's latest for Jarek** - Jarek actually took flight for the first time last night. I let him out of his cage to eat and he flew from the table to my chest. Granted it was only about two feet but I was very proud! You will not even recognize him as the same bird since he has gotten feathers and bulked up a little. I am still hand feeding him but that will change within the next week or so. (ed note: She brought him/her over to the cookout and showed him off. Anna and some of Gary's kids fed 'im and let 'im walk around on them.)

June 23, 2005
Latest news on Jarek... "Jarek is doing fine! Still has a heck of an appetite and is getting more and more feathers each day. He has started flapping his wings periodically and has even leaped off my hand one time (luckily if was only a few inches above my desk). Maybe he will be flying soon - the info I've read said they start at about 21 days which will be next weekend. Wow, my little boy is growing up." Kimberly said so excitedly.

June 20, 2005, B
Visted with mom yesterday and she has taken her last chemo, for now. Although she's lost a lot of hair (my beige hat looks good on her bytheway), she was looking pretty good. She said they think the chem was working pretty good but won't have the final verdict until next week. She's going in for xrays and such this week and will get the results then.

June 20, 2005
Kimmie, this is for you.
Not many of you know, but Kimmie is a new mom. Yep, a mom. Can you believe that? Of all things we think of when we see Kym, being a mom is not one of them. Well, she's a mom to dogs/cats/birds, but we don't ever think of her as A MOM. That all changed when we found a day old bird in my front lawn (Last Sunday). It had dropped about 2 stories from it's nest. (Grass was 2 weeks overdue for a mowin, so it was a plush fall.) Well, Kim elected to take the "starling" home and see if she could take care of it until it is ready to leave the roost. So, without further ado, I'll include some of the commentary straight from Kimberly's email. Hope you enjoy as much as we did. By the way, JAREK is the birds name. Don't have any clue where she got it from. (Jim, Azucena, Randy, Evelyn, Kim) I guess it's better than babyboo!

Kim (K in JAREK); next day after baby is found - "Just wanted to let you know the baby bird is doing fine. My vet agreed that he is extremely young and his chances of making it are slim. The vet advised me to feed him wet puppy food. It stinks but he seems to like it! "
"I take him to work and a co-worker watched him this morning when I had to go to a meeting and several others have offered to babysit. Apparently, there are a lot of animal lovers up here. Even one lady who has raised a few baby birds herself (but not quite as young as this one). He is still eating like a pig so I guess that is a good sign! " Thanks to all the co-workes who are helping out.
From Azucena (The A in JAREK) - "If you go to the website, starlings can be tamed but they can be ornery too." (Sounds like interesting conversation. Sorry if I don't include all the conversation going back and forth. Evelyn (E in JAREK) has some comments going on too, like babysitting.
From Evie - "Actually an imprinted starling should not be returned to the wild." Imprinted. Curious word, that.
Kim - "Jarek is still demanding regular feedings and eating like a pig. Today he even opened his eyes a tiny bit while I was feeding him. I turned him so he could see me better and he immediately maneuvered himself so he was NOT looking at me. I am trying to not take if personally!"
How the name got to be:
Randy (R in JAREK) - "By the way, does IT have a name? How does Kajer sound? Jarek? (not much you can do with our intials, is there...)"
Kim - "Well I have been calling him Dudley but I really like Jarek."
Evelyn - "I like Jarek. It sounds like one of those characters from Star Trek DS9"

Almost finally...Jarek is still doing well. He has his eyes open most of the time and this morning he started standing up! But, of course, he only does this when he wants food - I guess he thinks I might miss the subtle hint of him screaming with his neck stretched and mount wide open.

Finally, for now anyway...Jarek paid a visit Friday night. We all got to see mommy feeding him/her. Very curious little bird. Kim is the lucky one getting to see the hourly growth of feathers, wings, color. Those feet are pretty darn long, though.
Cute how he times his dumps. Right when Azucena handed him back, it didn't take 2 seconds for JAREK to let his mom know he was home again. Azucena's got warm hands so he settled in real good in her palms. I'm still wondering how he can hold his head up with that huge beak.

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June 15, 2005
Races came and went. For all you die hard Danica Patrick bandwagon fans, tough luck. She finished 13th. Not bad though. This was a tough track for her and she did pretty well considering all the media hounding and such. Now that she didn't finish in the top, maybe she can get some peace. We, however, had a pretty good time, although Azucena got onto her bandwagon pretty good herself. But she's still on the bandwagon. Someone she can root for and pay attention to in the IRL. Sadly we won't see them again this year like we have in the past. They've always raced their season finale at Texas, but because NASCAR has a late event here, they decided to do away with IRL's last race. And yes, we spend some money as usua. Each time we go, we are pretty sure there's nothing else to get, but alas, we were wrong again. This time is was mostly Danica's stuff. Next time, it will probably be Brian Vickers stuff. Azucena has the hots for him as a replacement for Terry Labonte. Very warm at the track and it rained pretty good on Friday night after the race. And our tent did not have the rain fly on, so it got pretty damp in there. That's all for now. I'll leave you to your imagination for the rest of it. But I will tell you Doug, Doug III, Marcus, and Richard came up in time for Saturday's IRL race. They also played poker with across the road neighbors till wee hours in the morning.

June 7 (- 12), 2005
We are off to the races on Thursday (races are Truck, Fri night; IRL, Sat nigh). If you need anything, please let us know.
Doug and his kids should be joining us on Friday evening and staying through Saturday's race, Leaving Sunday. Should be interesting. We are going only because of Danica. At least that's the excuse I'm giving for ARO, since she's missed the last two summer races. It's a shame we can't get there Wednesday early. They are giving wrist bands for autographs later that evening at the bowling alley and including most, if not all, the INDY car drivers and possibly some TRUCK drivers.
Too late. You had your chance. Store is closed. If you need anything from the tracks, you'll now have to order it online. So Sorry, goodbye :(
Enough for now. I'm at work and had better get back to work.
By the way, JEFF, you can come by and pick up your catfish oil and cooker any time. Although you won't need the extra oil jugs anymore since it's all over the garage floor in front of, and under, the refrigerator. Ugh. I hope Febreeze will help with the smell. Cat litter definately helped with the sopping up. Just wish I was quick on the action like Azi was.

June 2, 2005
Well, guess who is out of town. Yip, ARO. She got up about 4:45 this morning and had a flight to LA, and will be back this evening.
On the sour note, I had to get up at 5:15 because our water heater sprung a slow leak. Had to get an $800 all bills paid replacement. Took awhile since they brought the wrong size (curtesy of me) and then the wrong brand. Oh, well, could be worse. I could have asked Jeff to help me with it (just kidding Jeff). I'm sure it would have been much cheaper this route, but I didn't have the time and too many connections. Plus, recent law (within last 10 years) says we need a drip pan, which we didn't have, and not sure if we would have gotten one, but all is working now. Should have hot water when I get home.
P.S., ARO had a 61 on Wednesday at Lions. She's in a weekly golf league of 4 from work. She was tired when she got home, too.

May 31, 2005
Thought I'd try something a bit different. Here is small note from our beloved Azucena. Did she have a great day on Saturday or what! Not even the front 5 of the back nine could damper this spirit. And to think that I know her..
"Well Randy and I went out and played golf today (Saturday) at Star Ranch. Since we started at 4:30 pm it was only $19 a person and included range balls.
Well, we were playing with 2 young guys who were pretty good and had already played 18 holes earlier. Randy and I were initially struggling but it seems once they guys left, our game improved. I sunk a long putt as they were driving away and on the next hole, I got my first birdie.
My tee shot landed just over a club length from the hole but I missed the first putt thinking I was shooting for birdie, sunk it on the second try and found out it was a par 4 not a par 3. On the front 9, taking penalties and everything, I actually got a 47 beating Randy by one stroke.
On the back 9, I fell apart, I guess I was getting a bit tired. But Randy kept on and got a 48 on the back 9 too. My game improved significantly after I called his Dad to brag about my birdie, but I was still tired. We didn't finish until almost 9pm. If it had been as dark when we were playing the 16th hole, we probably would've given up but since it was the 18th, we stuck it in. Shockingly, we didn't lose any balls on the 18th hole.
Randy wasn't able to find as many balls as he usually does, probably because we were on the fairways most of the time so we weren't in good ball hunting territory.
Anyway, that's it. We're pooped but I'm sure we'll try that again.
Azucena"
Kinda like bowling your first 200, and also like beating Randy at bowling for the first (and only) time. Kinda like when I beat ARO at Chess (for the first and only time).
Hope everyone got a chance to see racing history this past Sunday. Danica Patrick got a lot of people watching the Indy500 for the first time, including a few at my work.

May 8, 2005
Been a busy few weeks. I'll try to cram it all in here if I can. Dad showed up on my birthday, dad left yesterday. Mom came by for Mother's Day dinner today. The end.
Just kidding. That was all correct, but you probably want more info, no? Or is it I want to give you more info and you could really care less (if you did, then you wouldn't be reading, but what do I know).
Ok, We had a lot of golfing, time off and a lot of fun. My golf went haywire pretty quickly and it took the last trip to the golf course to figure it out. Back in October, I found out if I step back about 1/2 foot from my tee off, I could get better accuracy for more often. I was also able to put a lot of power into it. During our 2nd day of golfing, I lost the touch. Last day, I found out why. Instead of taking the 1/2 foot back and bending forward some, I was squatting (imagine Pete Rose at the plate). I lost lots of control, hit short, topped, missed, Tin Cupped it (watch the movie if you don't know what I mean). So my last game had much improved tee shots. 99 score. Broke 120, so I'm happy. Dad left yesterday morning. We had a great time. He stayed at Jeff's house for several days, which gave him time to spend with his grandkids (Ben, Katie, Anna).
Today was Mother's Day. We invited all the related mothers that we have (my mom, her mom, Sue, Angie (Carol is in New Jersey, so she wouldn't have been able to make it)), plus the rest of the relatives in town. I missed some of the presents that were given out. Mom O brought Corsages for Mom R, Azucena and Sue. True, Azucena isn't a mom, but she does have cats, dogs and fish, so realistically, if not technically, she's a mom (She'll say she's got me but that really doesn't count). We got her mom a cell phone. This is a bit tricky since Mom R has limited use of her right hand, uses a wheelchair and resides in a nursing home. So we had to find a phone that would allow her to place and receive calls with relative ease. Also a phone that with a push of a button, turned into a "loudspeaker". She's now on our phone plan. The phone also allows her to contact her kids directly without going through the nurses. Also allows us to call her directly without going through the nurses. Mom O also got a phone for Mother's Day. Last Sunday, she mentioned she wouldn't mind having one. The challenge on this was to find one with larger buttons and easier menu access. The phone I have has the Up, Down, Left, Right surrounding the OK button. I don't particularly like this because many times I hit the OK when trying to go in a direction. But, we think we solved this with their phones. There is an U, D, L, R button without the OK button getting in the way. This works great. Since she's doing chemo, this gives her something to have available if she starts having problems on the road or at home. Both loved their phones.
Evelyn would have been proud of our usage of the dinnerware set she dropped on us. 12 total place settings were used. Also the salt and pepper, both sugar bowls (sugar and sweetner packets), both creamers (coctail and tartar sauces), 2 serving bowls, 3 serving platters, 1 bowl and 1 broken plate (don't worry, we still have over 12 plate settings). Could have used the salad bowls. Oh and glasses and 2 pitchers. Whew. Glad we got everything set up last night. Jeff deep fried catfish, also had boiled shrimp, potato salad, cole slaw, fried okra, salad, tea and cake. Mom O liked her catfish well done, and I liked mine midlin done. Jeff worked them both in. Thanks a bunch, there bro. Great job.
On to other news. Cecilia has started up a new band. The email I got from her said her band is called the Rockstead's, or may be just Rockstead. She has the same drummer as before. Haven't hear the band yet, but they will be in Harlingen again this summer for the Blues on the Hill. Rumor has it (sorry Ceci, this is a rumor because I didn't hear the whole conversation) that the Rockstead's may be going on some sort of tour. One of the band members has connections... Good luck with your band. If it's anywhere near as good as the last one, then you should be in great shape.
We'll that's all I'm doing for now. It got long and that means you are reading a novel and not a journal. Sorry. But that's how it goes. If you are still reading, then you haven't fallen asleep and I'm proud of you. It's late and I'm going to bed. (By the way, Azucena is on her way to Houston. She was in DC last week from Sunday through Thursday. Forgot what's in Houston. She'll be back on Tuesday, but head out on Wednesday to DC??? again and be back again on Thursday.)

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April 23, 2005
Didn't take long to go golfing. Jeff picked Crystal Falls. If you don't know, that's on the other side of Cedar Park and way on the edge of the mountains. Nice view and homes. Talk about your golf course. 2nd hole is 3 levels. You go up one level to tee off, unless you play the Senior Citizen tees, then go down 2 levels to finish the 80 yard par 3. Watch out for that wind. Then hole 11 is about 100 yards (as if I can really remember the yardage), and drops about 30 yards. I couldn't see where my ball landed, so I took 3 shots overall, and surprisingly, all 3 were within feet of one another (yea I know, feet could be hundreds, but I'm talking 10 - 15, so there smarty pants). Didn't keep track of the first 9, but 2nd 9 was 49. I aim to do 2 over par per hole and I'm happy. I did and I was. But, this is one tough course, and not very forgivable. I lost more balls than holes played through the first 5. I may have lost about 10 altogether. Jeff, Gary, Charles Salano (Charles, you'll need to email me on your last name, sorry) were one set, me dad and Azucena were another. Ana went to keep the peace.
Charles went to school mostly with Jeff, in Hawaii. Became pretty good friends. He lives in Minnesota, I think.

April 22, 2005
Birthday boy has an answer to the riddle below, what cost $15 and requires me to stay home for most of any 6 days over the next two weeks. I took Friday off to visit mom (because of Chemo, voice is hoarse, no strength, but is able to buy 50 potted plants), and then after lunch, ARO and I were to pick up my present from Jeff's. ARO hinted by asking if I needed new golf clubs and that definitely wasn't the answer to the riddle. Then Gary asked, so I knew something was up. Gary is visiting from New Jersey and brought his clubs. We stopped by Jeff's around 3 and on the table I saw some golf tees. Yeah, funny joke. Anyway Azucena led me around his house and I was half expecting to see golf clubs. As we made our way back to the dining room, we had our answer: Dad. Azucena used her frequent flyer miles and $15 to fly him down here (from Ohio) for 2 weeks. As we walked back and I saw him, the only think I could say was "AWW SHT!!!!!". Not what I was expecting. Great surprise, great present. It was almost given away when we drove up because he was outside and had to hustle inside, but I wasn't looking so it didn't matter. So, I need off 6 days for the next two weeks so I can go golfing with dad and anyone else who wants to tag along. Which means, by the way, that this $15 present is really $45+ each day of golf.
Update on mom, she's doing fine so far. She cut her hair short one evening. She was sounding a bit hoarse on Friday when I saw her in the morning. She talked about not having much strength and stamina, which ONE is understandable, TWO, what the hell was she doing buying 50 potted plants (this makes 300+)? Guess who will do the tilling for these? Yep, Gary. Oh-ho, thought it was me didn't you... Well, it's not. It's Gary, who is also down here as a surprise for me, but he's leaving Tuesday morning. BUT, if Gary wasn't here, then I may have been the one doing the tilling, which is fine with me.

April 10, 2005
Riddle me this. What costs $15 and requires me to stay home for the most part of 6 days. I can pick any 6 and I can change them with about a days notice. I really won't have time to take the dogs in to the vet unless I go realllll early in the morning. Any takers? Me neither. This is suppose to be my 45th birthday present. Yep 45. This year. April 22. 45. If you have the answer, I'm taking them at the above email. You can remain anonymous if you'd like.
I've also got a secret about Azucena and being a MOM that I might tell if provoked enough.

April 8, 2005
I have some somber news regarding my mom. I'll have to lead you into this, so bear with me. Also keep in mind that I may not be exact or precise with my notes here, so take it for what it's worth and don't read too much into it.
A few years ago, mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. They operated and removed the right breast (I think this was it). Did skin grafts and the usual reconstruction. Recently, after getting checkups on a regular basis, she was told to come in for additional work because the cancer may have spread to her left breast. After she got back from her visit with Gary in New Jersey, she had her checkup. The doctor who has been working with her gave her the bad news. He had been keeping an eye on a dark spot on one of her lungs. This dark spot never moved, but the other lung sort of exploded with cancer cells (this, in the space of about 2-3 months). These cells also spread to other parts of the body. This new cancer is called Small Cell Carcinoma (I hope it's spelled correctly). Anyway, this is a fast moving, blood distributing cancer. In other words, surgery is out. Well, you can wipe out what is found, but since it moves through the blood stream, you'll never get rid of it, it'll just move on. All the Overmans here in Texas went with her on Wednesday to South Austin Medical Hospital to listen and question the doctor who will work with her. They are going to give her Chemo medicine (IV style) starting next Monday. She'll get two forms of it on Monday, then one form on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then do this all over again every 3 weeks for 4 attempts. After that, it is a wait and see situation. This type of treatment is suppose to work real well again this type of cancer. They also have a Chemo group meeting every Monday. Sue will be with her this coming Monday, which will be tough on both. They are going to go slow with the IV this time to make sure she doesn't have any reaction. So, with the Chemo group and the slow IV drip, they will be there from about 8am to 5 or 6pm. Next time, the IV will only last about an hour or so. They do have beverages and light snacks and reading and other stuff to keep her occupied.
If you want to get in touch with her, email her here. She doesn't check her email very often and probably less so now. So, it could be a week before she responds back. If you want to mail, her address is 8708 Oak Ledge, Austin, TX 78748. Her phone number is 512-282-5036. We are on Central time, so if you plan on calling, be aware that she may be tired or stressed out or just not in the mood to talk. Also, don't call too late, before 8pm should be fine. I'll try to keep you up to date as I find out more.

February 17, 2005
Sorry folks. Really gotta keep this updated. I'll try better, but that's just talk. Hopefully it'll be more action.
A few weeks ago, we had a Father Ray stop by for dinner. Jim & Evelyn were here as well. Was Kimmie here? Can't remember. She's here sometimes and not othertimes (busy with school). Anyway we had a great time, listened to some good stories and wonderful food.
This past Sunday, we went to St. Pedro (?) for Nini's Right of Confirmation. That's what I think it's called, but if not, please use the email link above to let me know. I'll make a correction in your honor. Anyways, Azucena is Nini's sponsor for her introduction into the Catholic church. When we were done, if I had been thinking ahead, we would have taken mom's Valentine gift(s). We weren't too far, but didn't think about it until we were about half way back. We did stop by Tokyo Steak House for dinner and celebration. Great food and yes, I did catch the shrimp.
Robert is suppose to stop by soon. I'd like to throw a welcome home party the day before he gets here. What do you think.
Azucena has been checking out the Woot.com site and decided she wanted to get a CD/MP3 digital jukebox for the living room. This has a 40gb hd (about 600 cds?). Anyway as soon as we hooked it up, she decided we need to upgrade our Receiver to accommodate it. So Saturday we went on an expensive shopping spree. Not only got a real nice (and I mean NICE) receiver, but also a steering wheel chair thingie combo for our playstation driving games (www.playseats.com). Well, last Sunday morning, before 5am, there were a couple of lighting strikes and apparently they took out the receiver. Actually, we think it took out the cable box, which we just found out isn't showing proper colors. Because the cable box is hooked into the receiver, then it took out the receiver as well. Also, our cable modem bit the dust. Surprising since all these are either on a UPS or surge, but we think it came in via the cable line. Bummers. I should be able to resolve this fairly easily.
That's it. It's late, I'm done, good night.

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January 1, 2005
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!. Hope all is well with everyone. I know we had a GREAT New Year Celebration around 7pm today. TEXAS WON!! Whoo hoo!. (Sorry dad). Last night we did the fireworks no-no at Jim and Evelyn's house, but since they don't live in Round Rock (street on left and on right are in RR), then it was totally legal. Had a pretty good time. I was forced to dance to the Disco fireworks (bright flashing lights) (they have no shame, nor do I, I guess, since I agreed). Azucena bought Robert and I a need two wheeler r/c. I'll have to track the name down for you. I picked up an inflatable "NASCAR" r/c. Not NASCAR sanctioned, but has the bells and whistles of one. Pretty large and with slick tires, does a mean spin.
All lights and other decorations have been taken down and put up (most anyway). It's been a pretty interesting end of year. It's late and I'm tired, so I'm closing and going to bed. Sorry couldn't be more informative.

December 27, 2004
Well, well, well... How was your Christmas? Better than ours? Could be if you were on the receiving end. Doesn't mean ours was bad (ARO got a Mission upsidedown 4 lamp chandelier - or whatever you call it; Wonder Woman's first season; RSO got a nice set of chips(poker)/cherry style wooded chip holder turnstile thingie). Our Christmas is over; the one we thought would happen early next year, took place on Friday instead. This was good. Everyone was here. And we all had a great time. Jeff and Jim hung the light set last night, then we enjoyed a quiet game of cards. Friday was a bit noisier and a bit out of control, since the ante controls were removed. ALL IN anyone?
Mom got a nice roomba robot vacuuming system. Several of you have heard of it - vacuum the house while you sit, sip and watch. Unfortunately, it was dead as it came out of the box (I may not have hooked up the battery correctly). She was able to return it, but Bambi met mom on the way home. Bambi is fine, we think, but mom's car took a hit (uh, sorry pun, I know, but it did get hit).
For those in Texas, we got a bit of a surprise (twice). Called dad Christmas evening and talked about the snow in Ohio, and he mentioned lot's of snow in Brownsville (surprise 1). Yeah, that Brownsville, south Texas, next to Mexico, border town, did I say south Texas? Anyway, it turns out he was very correct. 2 inches worth (2nd surprise). 1st snow in recorded history (or last 109 years). Bypassed Austin completely. Last time there was significant snow in south/central Texas, San Antonio got hit pretty good. One shopping center had the roof cave in from the weight of the snow.
New Years coming up. What plans do you have? Can you invite us? It looks like a quiet evening of games and/or cards.
Till Next Year, us.

December 22, 2004
Had dinner with friends and some family. Nini (Azucena's sponsoring her into the Catholic church) was there and sort of celebrated her birthday. We also passed out some for others. Jim and I had a joint Christmas gift which turned out to be a table top air puck hockey game. Either the puck needs to be smaller, or the goals need to be bigger, but I really think the table needs to be wider. It works fairly well. Nothing to brag home about, but the kids (not me and Jim, but ARO), would love it, I'm sure. We can set it up on our dining table, but it definitely needs to be wider. Goals are scarce. I also got a Christmas mug w/chocolate and ARO got a waterglobe from Nini. The waterglobe is motion active, not windup. You move it and it starts swirling. Pretty Cool. I think Kimmie would have sat in front of it for hours, except she needed to go to work tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, Doug Sr., Ronald, Azucena and I are going to meet with Angie and give her her Christmas gift. If you want to know what it is, wait until after tomorrow. I know the Rocksteads like to tell everyone what they got others for gifts, but I don't. So you'll just have to wait, or ask Azucena.
Anyway, as you've probably figured out by now, we've got company until Sunday or Monday or later. We'll have another present opening on Friday. If it doesn't get icy, we'll do the Overman's on Saturday. Stay Tuned for more details.

December 18, 2004
I think shopping is over with. I think. You never know. I thought it was over with last week, and the week before that. Anyway, I really think shopping is over. We have one Christmas gift opening party tomorrow (Sunday) for some of the Rocksteads. Angie is going to be out of town during Christmas (visiting relatives, either in Dallas or the Valley). So, we'll open some presents for them and the kids (Angie, Doug, Doug Jr, Marcus).
Wednesday, probably, we might do another with friends (Jim and Evelyn, Kim, Nini). We all agreed not to buy presents for anyone, but Evie is the first to break the promise every year by sending us something through the mail. Paybacks can be hell.
Friday, we'll do one with the rest of Azucena's family (Dad, Mom, Ceci, Ronald. Doug and kids may be there)
Saturday, after Azucena gets back from Christmas Mass at the nursing home(s), we'll head over to my mom's for one more (Mom, Randy, ARO, Jeff, Sue, Ben, Katie, Anna). Gary, Carol and kids will have to do on their own back in New Jersey.
Finally, at the beginning of next year, we'll have one final present opening with Ceci's "extended" family (Raul, Johnny, David, Jessie).
We signed up (er, Azucena signed us up, I'll have you know) at her church to sponsor a family for Christmas. 2 girls and a boy. Also, she got her work to sponsor another family. Presents and dinner, oh my. We did a LOT of wrapping. Let me rephrase that. I'm not allowed to wrap anymore. KIM did a LOT of wrapping. She came over last week and spent an hour or so wrapping presents while watching Dodgeball (the movie). Good movie, by the way. We got J&E and Kim to stop by last night and conned Kim and Evie to help wrap some more, while Jim and I did football. Like I said, I'm not allowed to wrap presents. I can hang lights, go shopping, clean up, but not wrap. Whatever I did to get punished like this, I'd like to know, so I can do it again next year.
One last spot check... a few more presents to wrap, but since Airplane (the movie) has started, I don't think ARO will get the last of them done before tonight. (They're due tomorrow, shhhh).

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November 28, 2004
Day after 2 days after Thanksgiving. Yesterday we had some different friends over for an evening of dinner, talking and cards. Vanessa, Matt and baby Emily paid their respects. Along with Kim and her mom Kathy, some of Matts' groomsmen, and the usual conspirators. We had leftover turkey remade as enchiladas. Very well done - Again. Matt's (or is it Matts') parents were suppose to stop over, but they got busy with other business. Several of us played cards, while others chatted. Watched Roberts' fairwell video (beware, if you do venture here, it is 17mb, not for the faint of computer systems). All in All, we had a great time. Now we get to finish it all up this evening with hamburgers at Jim's house to celebrate his dad's birthday.

November 27, 2004
Well, Thanksgiving came and went. UT won their football game, Women beat Tennessee in Basketball, Cowboys won again, and after all the rain we've had, it was a very beautiful day.
Mom, Jeff's family and Azucena's siblings & parents were here. Couldn't quite talk Jimmie and the GrandParents to visit, but I think they were already booked. Meal was great as usual. Afterwards, we talked, watched some TV and eventually played Texas Hold-Em. ARO came back from a total loss to dominate. Jim went from dominating to coming out ahead. Doug got another dollar added to his kids education. Jeff went from dominating to a total loss, and then some.
Latest word is that Vanessa and Matt and some little infant will be joining us for dinner on Saturday. Maybe a few more friends and family also, too. Gotta go, need to get ready for this dinner here.

November 18, 2004
I went to the hitting range tonight and hit nothing but the Driver. About 2/3 of my shots were super nice - down the middle and with pretty decent distance. Since I was experimented some, I hit a few like Kevin Costner did at the practice range in Tin Cup. High and to the right. I think I saw Jeff do that once when Dad was here - It's still swimming, too. Part of my experimentation was stepping back a bit and adding more power. I had several that had distance and height, two qualities that haven't gone together with my tee off's before. I'd say I was pretty well pleased.
Got word dad was in New Jersey. He's been seeing the grandkids. Since he's got a new Cell Phone, he was able to send me a picture of the kids last Sunday. I need to give him a call to let him know I got it.
The last I heard with Ceci is she may have found a band. If she comes by for Thanksgiving, we may hear more. Also, I worked on the web site some in September or October. It's looking better. I sent a request to the Wench to make some adjustments, but don't think she has yet, so if you see any problems, email her and let her know.

November 7, 2004
Went golfing again with Jeff and Azucena. Gary had left on Wednesday, so no go with him. He was probably in New Braunfels at this time. Jim was suppose to go with us, but he landed on a pretty young blonde while playing an unscheduled soccer match on Friday. He still hasn't told us what his name was, although he keeps hinting the blonde was a she. Anyway, the weather was very nice. Azucena did pretty good. I shot 20 better than I did on Tuesday. I think I had 115. My tee shots were really nice, the best I've done in over 20 years, but I couldn't do anything else. I landed in more traps than I have all of this year. But, one trouble spot was my tee off, so I'm happy about that.

November 2, 2004
Went golfing with Gary and Jeff. Jeff and I had 95/94. I didn't really do that bad. My chipping, which had been doing real well when Dad was here, started going south. My tee offs were doing better, though. At least we had some fun. Although I wouldn't go that far. It was cold. We took small blankets to keep our legs warm. It was windy. I actually had to pay attention to the wind and use that to play the shots for the first time in my life. It was wet. Didn't stop drizzling except when we stopped for lunch. I wore long pants and they were wet past my ankles. I had to take the golf glove off because I couldn't grip the clubs. Oh, Gary, That one shot you hit, like 400someoddyards, the one where you hit it past the creek, up the embankment on the green (Par 4 hole, back nine, probably 14th)? I mentioned this to John, a coworker who does a lot of golfing and he thinks I'm lying. He stared at me for about a minute before he could say anything. By the way, one advantage of playing in the cold, windy rain... no one else behind you. There was a tournament that finished before we started, but even though we signed on around 11am, there wasn't anyone else behind us. Oh, I almost forgot. Gary had a 75, I think. Maybe a 78, but it was in the 70's. And I though Jim had a good swing. Gary's was sweet and powerful.

November 1, 2004
Gary was still here, can you believe it... We had dinner at Jeff's and then played cards later on. Jeff and this Texas Hold Em craze. Anyway, Jim came away a winner AGAIN. He got off to a slow start winning 1 time in the first 3 games he attended. But since then, I don't think he's lost. Gary had to borrow to finish one hand, won and never looked back. I don't think I've won since we last held a large poker party at our house. Hmmm.

October 31, 2004
HALLOWEEN, YEAHHHH!!! OH, Gary, Carol and the kids came for a visit. We all got together at Mom's for late lunch and halloween. Jeff, Carol and kids show up, relatives from Temple (the Graves), Jimmie (uncle) Elaine and her daughter and friend and a few others. Had a pretty good time. Had an even better time going around the corner to trick or treat. Mom's street is deserted for halloween, so we went up one street (new subdivision) and picked a street and had a very enjoyable time with the activities.

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September 24, 2004
Yeah, yeah, I know. The web site needs fixin up. Broken links everywhere. Some Wench decided to make our web site a sub site off the RockOver Productions. This meant fixin all the links, which we haven't completed (hey!!!, it's only been about 8 months, give us a break). Home links are broken and the hobby pages are flat out gone. No backup, nowhere. Ouch.
On to the other new some sad news, some glad. Word is out that Cecilia's band has broken up. Everyone who has her cd, know this, is is now a collector's item. Comment from a lowly brother-in-law... Cecilia, I hope you keep your chin up, because the band you were a part of was real, real good. There's got to be a few out there anxious to sign you up.
Dad is back in Ohio, Dayton that is. We snuck a cd of Eddie Rabbitt and his bunch of his hits. I got a cue from dadyo when he kept saying "That's a good song" on about 1/2 the cd that I played for him. So, while shopping at FYE's at Lakeline, we picked one up and snuck it in his luggage. Talked to him today and he said Eddie Rabbitt was a singer he'll never get tired of (not verbatem, but you get the idea). The cd we got for him was a most excellent gift. You are very welcome Mr. Overman. We enjoyed his company, he enjoyed his vacation. He wasn't sure what to expect, like how do you take a vacation from retirement? As it turns out, we put him to plenty of work (ugh, don't sound no good, do it). Reading, Golfing, Cards, Shopping, Babysitting, Movies, More Reading, More Golfing, More Cards. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing he got more done in the 3 weeks he was here than he normally does in 3 months at home. It didn't hurt that Jeff and I live close to each other and I took lots of time off (Thanks again Patty), or that Jeff had time for him as well. He also got around on his own, library, IHOP, Jeff's, more IHOP, Wal-Mart. We'll do it again sometime, but when he's good and ready (like maybe when he gets bored from retirement again???).
Hello Robert, hope all is well today. Did you get your hours changed? Any scheduled vacation plans for Texas? There's still some editing to do to make your going away CD complete, but she's been busy with other stuff, so it may take awhile..I think Kimmie says hi, but I'm sure she's been busy too. We heard from her yesterday, but it was in brief passing of emails.

September 15, 2004
Well, it's been almost two weeks and it's been pretty good. Been out golfing 2x now and I think I'm ready to golf professionally. NOT!!!. I did much better the last outing than I've done since before Gary got married. Probably in about 20 years. We'll be going again tomorrow and will set another tee time on Monday.
Jeff's got this Texas Hold-Em thing going. He can't get enough. Not a bad thing. We'll be stopping by probably tomorrow night and maybe again on Saturday to try and lose some money.
Dad's booked a flight back to Dayton next Wednesday (Dayton, Ohio, not Dayton, Texas). That will give him almost 3 weeks here. I had no expectations on how long he would be staying so this is about right. He finally found Andy Griffith at Hastings. Fry's, and Best Buy didn't carry him, but found several albums here. Now, Brenda Lee, we'll have to get off Itunes since he only wants one song of hers. Hopefully he's been jotting down others so we can make an album of it. And does he read... Wow!. Fast. I wouldn't lay money on him or Azucena, but they both would challenge for the title among friends and family.
Robert, hope you are doing fine up there. At least you are away from the wet weather, I hope. We have been too, but it's still been nice. Rained quite a bit yesterday. I'm sure Kimmie says hi, but haven't seen her since Monday's holiday.

September 5, 2004
Well, several of you know my dad is in town. Came in on the 8:30 Amtrak from Chicago, from Cincinnati (Ohio). Anyway, we spent too many hours last night at Jeff's playing Texas hold-em. Jeff took off, then I started catching up at Jeff's expense, but Sue we holding her own fairly well. Then Anna took over for Sue and didn't know what the heck she was doing but ended up raking in some money (Remind anyone of a certain 14 year old a few years back? Jim? Was her name Heather?). I think we played until about 1:30. Jeff lost some of the money Anna made (she left to get her beauty rest). We took dad's money, but I think it was his way of kind of paying for services while he's here. He's in pretty good shape considering. He doesn't have a whole lot of stamina, though. Like, he can go golfing, but he makes us take a cart. But then, the golf course makes us take a cart.
Hello Johnny. Sorry we won't be seeing you at tomorrow's picnic, but maybe we can get together again later for more fun and games.
Oh, about forgot. Went to see Ceci sing last night at Joe's Generic again (www.joebates.com/joes.htm). She'll be there Monday night at 10pm. Jeff and Sue came along, and so did dadiyo. I heard a few new tunes and Jeff's still trying to figure out what Te-ni-Nee-ni-nu means. Now, if we can just remember to bring the ear plugs. Missed seeing Raul, but Johnny was there. Intently listening to the music, or was it that her voice hypnotized him, couldn't tell.

August 31, 2004(very early am)
It's about 4:50 am and I've been awake for a few hours and can't get back to sleep. It all started with the fan making a racket and since I'm a light sleeper, it was like torture, so I figured I'd be better off on the couch downstairs (difficulty spelling without my glasses!). Then the dogs wouldn't quit barking. A cat was making a lot of noise. I went for a walk around the corner of the house and it was Tiger. Hissing gone and dogs ain't barking. Now I have this cough and congestion which is keeping me up. Ugh. The only saving grace is I have today off.
Haven't mentioned this before, but Dad is coming to town this weekend. He'll be arriving Friday evening on the Amtrak. How long he stays is his guess. Jeff mentioned that I have him on my days off and when I'm at work, he'll take over. Jim also volunteered to play golf once or twice. Should be a real nice visit. Got Patty (co-worker) shotgun trained enough on the Classifieds that she can take care of these on the many days I'll have off. Thank-youuuu Patty.
Coughing has stopped, uh, no it hasn't. Darn, thought I could go back to bed. Another cough drop, I guess.

August 8, 2004
Well, I was dragged to some Prince concert Friday night. Floor seats. $75 floor seats. Sold out $75 floor seats for $300. Did I mention he had a second concert on Saturday, that probably was not sold out? But it was a great concert. We got close up views of him and other members of his band. Candy was HOT. Did I already say she spent $300 for $75 floor seats. Row 11, by the way. She also has 10 hours of his music. How do I know this??? Because she's told me. More than once. Including Friday night. 300....75.... you do the math, but don't tell me the results.

August 1, 2004
Azucena had a 20 year High School reunion for Rio Hondo HS. She dragged me all the way to Harlingen/Rio Hondo on Friday in a convertible with the top down and I was still not getting over whatever I had from earlier in the week. Just being in the car wore me out pretty good. But, alas, we did have a good time. Stayed until midnight for her reunion on Saturday. This was taking place at a classmates house and it turned out quite well. The few kids that showed up flew kites and played a bit of soccer. They listened to some music from 1984 that ARO had put together, and they chatted all night long. Can't say I was bored. Ronnie ??? was good to listen too, very enjoyable. And Ronnie, although I never saw you in high school, I don't think your clothes shrunk much more than 1/2 size. You were very lovely to look at - uh, not that I was looking, yeah, that's it. Mr. Mac looked about the same. Although Azucena had wanted to spend lunch with him and catch up, it was Ronald who did all the catching up instead. Oh well, she'll have to try again next time.
100 degree temp coming back and yes, it was a bit warm. Don't think I burned any, what do you think?
I'd put a link of video and pics she/we took, but since she's leaving for D.C. tomorrow, I'm guessing it'll be about 3 weeks or more before they get posted.
Our next goal is getting a schedule set for my dad to come down from Dayton, Ohio. He's been here before, but it's been about 8 years or so. I visited in late January when he was staying with his brother in Celine, Ohio. Not sure what caused it, but his heart is pretty much giving out. He was in the hospital for awhile during Christmas time. After much testing and such, they've given his heart about 5 years. We'll see how long it really lasts, but I'm gonna miss him. Don't talk to him much as it is, but I might have to change that.

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July 23rd, 2004
Ooopsie. I am a bit late on this. Last Saturday night, Ceci and the AllNighters played at the Blues on the Hill festival in Harlingen. 3 bands and hers was the last and best. I'm only saying theirs was the best because I know her. You'll have to listen for yourselves to find out. I understand she's doing Joe's Generic Blues on Mondays now, maybe more.
Anyway, after the showing, everyone was invited (estimated count was at about 600) to a blues bar for a gathering. Several were there and waited about an hour and 1/2 for Ceci to show up. When the house band took a break, the AllNighters took stage for a few songs, then one more, then one more. One of the songs, which included a former drummer of hers, was totally made on the spot, she called it Improv 101. Sounded pretty good too.
An article on her and her band, www.riosun.com/music/m407161.htm. (updated: 9/5/04, forgot to provide link to her web site: www.the-allnighters.com)

July 10th, 2004
Went to go hear Cecilia (Rockstead, Azucena's sister) and her band, The All Nighters at Joe's Generic Blues Bar on 6th Street. She had the early gig from 6 - 8 and by the time they were done, the bar was pretty full. Ceci is the singer of the family. She's got a real good voice. Good range. If you ever get a chance to hear her, do it. They should be playing there again next Saturday as the 8 - 10 band. Her band has also got a CD out, as well, too. Two songs are theirs, All Nighters (women who want it all night) and the Instrumental.

July 5th, 2004
Today was our day off. We slept until 11am, then took a nap at 2. Had to take another at 5. It's now real late and I can't get to sleep. Not sure why, but I'm guessing the naps had something to do with it.
Just kidding with the naps. But we did sleep till 11am. Azucena gets more "recharge" out of it than I do. I just get more sleepy after so many hours. For her, it's like catching up on her sleep.
I hear Vanessa got the baby suit for Emily Elizabeth Marek. Sounds like it will be perfect fit in about a month. This was a coat, booties and hat that Azucena knitted for her.

July 4th weekend, 2004
What a blast (homage to Robert?, I think not, but hey, he's the pun man). Yes, we missed Robert and we still wish him well (I didn't really say that, did I?).
Saturday we played cards without him for the first time since he left. I'm not sure what this means, but Jim and I got our butts handed to us by the girls. They came from wayyyy down that second Canasta game to just blow us out. Sorry Robert, we couldn't hold it without your, nor probably without Kimmie's inexperience, although we weren't able to use that much lately anyway.
Sunday we started with hamburger and hotdog cookout at our place. Jeff and Sue came over and that was a pleasant surprise. I left a message the day before more to tease them because I thought they were out of town. Mom was in New Jersey with Gary and his family, so they were "not invited". J & E came over, as well as Doug and his kids. Ceci wasn't able to make it, which was a bit of a disappointment since it was her idea to have the cookout to begin with. Kym had to bow out because her mom broke her ankle. Sorry to hear about that Kim. Hope she doing better.
I had also charged up the batteries for the RC cars so the kids and Jim and I could play with them. Found out I reallllly need to toss some old useless ni-cad batteries. I think the recycling place accepts them. Anyway, the kids had fun, Jim had fun and I quit after I ran my personal RC down the gutter. Fortunately it's only a 4 foot drop so it didn't get hurt too much. I let Jim take over after that. After the cars winded down and got away from the playstation some, we did a few fireworks on our driveway. Later, we tagged along with J&E to some of Jim's cousins in North East Round Rock and did about 1 1/2 hour of fireworks. Jim, Jason and Sam did most of the firework shooting off, and I did some supervision. The rest of the group (probably 20 in all) stayed back and enjoyed watermelon and the fireworks. We took a break once in a while to watch the other fireworks going on in the general area.
Monday, Azucena and I stayed in bed until about 11 am (our original goal !!). Then we did lunch and some shopping. Then we took a nap at 2. Put the shopping up as well as the dishes and a load of clothes. Then we took a nap again at 5. Lazy, huh!. I just hope I'm not too tired to go to bed for real between 11 and 12 tonite.
Just kidding about all the naps, but we really did get up at 11am. Did the dreaded Wal-Mart shopping and watched T-3, then Somethings Gotta Give. Good movies both. I am not going to claim Art critic, so if I say it was a good movie, then it could be anywhere from a 5 - 10 in rating. Great will probably land an 8 - 10. OK may be a 4 - 6. Sometimes my Good and Great are the same thing. Not Bad can also mean Good or Great, you just have to be listening to how I intone it.

Just found out several HOME links are broken and the page for my slot car racing is gone. I've fixed some links, but the slot car page will need to be redone. Boo hoo.
Enough for now. Laters.

June 11-13, 2004
This weekend was a racing weekend for me and a church weekend for Azucena. I'm sure she had more fun than I did.
Since she couldn't go, a last minute change of plans included David and Johnny, sons of Raul, who is a friend of Ceci, sister of Azucena, wife of Randy. Anyway, we left Friday morning and got setup and relaxed as best as we could considering it was pretty warm.
It was also a bit windy. Windy enough that we had to use additional ties to tie down the gazebo. Normally we just stake it at the poles. But with the wind, I added 4 cables to help keep the gazebo. grounded. After last year on this weekend, Saturday night, after midnight, we found ourselves ready to fly to Kansas, it was blowing so hard. Our previous gazebo. had tried to take flight and was grounded only by two punyass stakes. This year, I wasn't taking chances. It was a good thing too because after midnight, the winds came pretty good and I thought for sure, the tent and gazebo. would end up in Kansas. Then the rains came (this is Friday night, this year, by the way). It turns out our tent does not keep the rain out very well. David and I had to hide in our sleeping bags to get away from the drops. Saturday night turned out to be a repeat performance. Only this time, David was fast asleep and never woke up. Poor soul got up the next morning soaked. And it was blowing so hard, I thought the tent was going to knock me off the hammock I had recently bought. Nice portable hammock. Takes up a lot of room in the tent, but it serves me well.
The wind and rain weren't our only problems. We camped in the same spot in April and didn't have any problems. This time, we had ants in a lot of places. They found the cooler with ice, but fortunately stayed away from the food. It was also hot during the daytime. I think I was using outdated suntan lotion (if there is such a thing). I got red on my neck and a few weird places.
Doug and Angie and kids stopped by tonight. Jim and I were playing Madden 04 on the Playstation. After our game, Doug tried a few minutes and, how to say this politely, got whooped. This should be a lesson to you kids. Don't play with the same team time after time. You get to know the team inside and out, but when you play with another team, you are then clueless. Play with different teams so you get a feel for different strategies. In other words, Doug put all his toys in one basket and had trouble when he didn't take his basket with him.
Alright, time for bed. I plan on sleeping pretty damn good tonight since I don't sleep well when camping. Not complaining, just explaining. If I were to complain, I would quit camping. I like to take it in stride and go with the flow. We adapt as best as we can to our surroundings and it makes it easier to deal with issues.

June 6, 2004
Went to Dave and Busters to use our birthday coupons. We had a great time and they changed the way you select your token prizes. There is now a room to go into to choose. Unfortunately, the wench took all the coupons I won and put them on her card. Rats
Robert should be in Connecticut by now. We watched a movie called Deliverance, which I only stayed past the first 10 minutes because it was in Roberts' honor of camping in Georgia. I actually found the whole moving very sllllooowww and boring. Sorry Robert.
Went to the Krumnow reunion on Saturday. Only about 35 people (including infants) showed up. Less than half of what has shown up in the past. Also, it was held at this years' president's house. Wasn't too bad. Nice breeze, good brisket and sausage, potato salad and beans. Only people there that I knew was Robert and Phyllis Krumnow. Normally there are at least a couple dozen that I recognize. Not this time.
Oh, I set up a slot car track in the living room and we raced some cars around and watched the cats, especially Sneezy chase the cars from one end of the living room to the other. Tiger generally sat in one spot and would swat at the cars as they came by. Bashful look as if he could care less, or rather like he wasn't interested, but we knew he was. Sneezy was just hilarious. Never learned. But then, neither did we, Jim and I. We kept teasing them and having a great time. Azucena just laughed like it was the funniest thing, probably because it was. I've got some footage of them from the other day, so if it ever gets put up, I'll link it.

June 1, 2004
The video is on the web site here. It is a pretty large file. Expect about 5 minutes if you are on cable or dsl. Azucena may update the video with the latest version that includes the live performance of Vanessa Marek. I showed it to a few people at work and one got it and the other sort of. I guess you had to have been part of the gang for quite some time to catch all the innuendo's (beware of the sheep). The Montague reminded Robert of a funeral, but we all enjoyed it anyway. I thought Kim was going to pee her pants she was laughing so hard. Everyone was laughing hard, it's a wonder no one peed their pants. Robert's supposed last day is tomorrow, or is it today?

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May 29, 2004
We've been putting together a video for Robert's going away present. I got a viewing of it last night and Azucena has done a magnificent job getting this done. I thought I was going to cry at one point. I'll see if we can get it up o