Now we wait (UT football)

All UT can do is wait. They did their job against the Aggies and held them to their lowest point total of the year, which Tech and OU didn't. Texas doesn't have the great defense, but they do keep the scores pretty low.
Also, if you look at the teams OU and Texas played, a lot is commented on how OU played two teams in the top 25. But did if you look at the other "preseason" teams, then you'll notice that those two have a combined 1 win between them.
All UT can do is wait. Are they better than OU? Head to Head and on a neutral field, yes. Several say OU is better because they destroyed Tech. But, if Texas didn't drop that interception, or screw up the touchdown, or this or that and actually won, would people say the same thing? Probably not since it would be a moot point and Texas would still be #1.
Enough about football.
We had a few over for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. Nephews are upstairs playing on the PS2. Currently we are watching Iron Man. Most everyone else has gone home. The nephews mom is taking a short nap on the couch. She is wiped out. Azucena is out also. I'm getting hungry again. Maybe more of the good chit before I turn in.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Watching a movie with the temp in the upper 30's. Brrr.

Azucena, for the last year and a half, has been showing a movie at her local church (http://www.saintwilliams.org/movies). We'll probably show one a month or every other month depending on if she can rent the space. For awhile, it's been at the old church, but the last few times, it has been at the pavilion at the new church. The pavilion is nothing more than a kitchen, restroom, and open dance floor.
We take care of the drinks and popcorn and Steve always shows up with cookies. Our first time out, we were able to get about 70 people to show up. Since then, it's been between 40 and 60.
To get an audience, Azucena will put up mini posters around the area along with movie "business" cards so people don't forget. We've been impressed with the response even during times where we thought it would be real sparse. Yesterday was a great example.
These movies are planned weeks in advance. She gets permission from Ignatious Press (http://www.ignatius.com/index.aspx) to show movies like "Bernadette" and "Padre Pio" among others. We always have an intermission to give everyone a chance to stretch, get more popcorn and talk to Azucena about the movie with options to purchase their own copy.

Back to yesterday. We found out early on that the temperature was going to dip to the 30's. This was not good as the Pavilion is totally open air. We tried to use another building (the RE if I'm not mistaken), but we couldn't track down the key. So, with people starting to show up and the temperature starting to drop, someone suggested we use the kitchen. After checking it out, we figured with the 15 - 20 or so people that might show up, it would work. We had the wall to project the movie, we had some room for chairs and counter space for popcorn and drinks and a few kids to sit. It might be tight, but yeah, it'll work.
So while everyone helps set up, I start on the popcorn and a generous lady (sorry, I never got her name) helped with hot cider and sodas and cleanup (we got done around 10:30 and she had a 2am adoration).
By the time the movies starts, we have over 40 people. Geez, it's in the 30's and people want to watch an outdoor movie. Yeah, it's indoors, but they didn't know that. We've got got people craning their necks to watch around the stove hood, several sitting next to the freezers that turn on and off, and smell the popcorn each time it's made. After about 1/2 hour into the movie, we pause to raise one of the counters to allow another dozen people to watch it from outside.
I'm trapped in the corner with the popcorn and sodas and Azucena is trapped outside. Fortunately, we brought plenty of blankets to pass around. Even with coats, it still got plenty cold. We figured we had close to 60 people show up and that doesn't count the few who didn't stay for the showing. My guess is "Padre Pio" is real reason we had this many people. I'm curious if we had a true movie setting, how many would show up. Hopefully we'll show "Padre Pio" again and find out. Usually, I'm isolated while doing popcorn, but this time, I get to watch the whole movie, so it was nice to see what everyone else sees.

Ok, now to give kudos. I'm impressed every time we show a movie. Kids come along and generally behave pretty well. No matter what is going on, we have a good turnout. We do have our problems, mostly sound, but we work those out and people still show up. Our first showing at the Pavilion last month, we were in new territory and ended with one speaker. We corrected it for this showing and had 4 speakers (playing the dvd on one player, sending the sound through another dvd player and the video through an LCD (figure that out techies)). But we were not expecting the cold. To have all these people show up and several sitting in the cold is just too much to comprehend. We had kids. We had a few elderlies. We had a three hour movie!. Yes, we did lose some during intermission, but it gives those that were sitting outside a chance to warm up inside. And I do want to thank everyone for expressing their thanks on the wonderful popcorn. Unfortunately, I can only take so much credit. I measure out the butter oil, measure out the popcorn, pop until it's done, spray some butter salt, mix and bag. We use one of those commercial popcorn poppers, so that helps with consistency.

Conference and Halloween

I don't usually travel much, but this is the third time in the past 30 days I've been out of town. I'm in San Antonio for TML's Annual Conference. I'll be here through Friday. Will probably miss all the candy giving on Halloween since I may not leave here until after 6. That makes it easily 8pm, maybe 8:30 before I get home. Candy is bagged and ready. I bag the candy so we know how many show up, which is just under 100 (mostly) kids. Azucena is not too keen on doing anything this year. Her mom had an aneurism on Halloween last year and passed away the next day. We'd always pick up Santa (her mom) from the nursing home and dress her in a witches outfit (both of them actually) and help pass out candy. Kids loved it and so did she. Since both of us are out this week, as well as two weeks ago, we didn't bother decorating. Sorry. Last year, I did some decorating, but it must have been the big remote spider and mouse that scared some because the ugly mask I had on can only do so much. I feel sorry for the young lass across the street who went screaming home when I tried to hand her some candy. And it's fun to overhear some kids say "watch out, they'll try to scare you". And we still scare them. Anyway, I'm stuck in San Antonio. After a semi night on the Riverwalk, I head to the hotel gift shop for something for my daylong headache. I also found something that would be a great Christmas present for Azucena, but since she is not getting me anything for Christmas, I decided I wouldn't get anythinig for her either. So, she'd better not spy on my luggage when I get home and find out what I didn't get her for Christmas. Here's a hint and what I'm not getting her... Food.
Ok. I have a delima. The place I'm staying at has wonderful beds. Their key word here is Heavenly. They have heavenly dog crates, showers, beds, etc. The problem is that this bed is soft. Too soft for me to sleep comfortably. I got a backache and no sleep. The last time I was here, I spend the second night on the floor. I used the blanket and comforter from both beds. I'm debating on doing the same thing, or dropping the mattress to the floor and sleeping that way. I asked for a cot, but since I have two beds, the firemarshal wouldn't approve of the rollout bed. Huh? Oh, to top it off, they never replaced the shampoo and bath soap. So I found out when I got in the shower that it was left over. And to think I thought they unwrapped it for me. Ugh. I think I made up my decision on the sleeping arrangements for tonight. We'll see how it goes. It's not too late, but I'm tired and I need my beauty rest. TaTa.

Final wave of the flag

This will be for the bits and pieces to the final waving (sniff, sniff) of the green flag.

Here's a link to prove we were there:
http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/business/10/22/nascar.biz.racepoints/ind...

We got our first bonafide comment. From a fan of ours, Becky. She was in the Charlotte airport heading to Dallas. She'll be at the Texas Motor Speedway race next week and will continue to spread the work.
Nice hearing from you Becky. Although I was able to get our pictures (and some movies) on my laptop, I've yet to figure out how to convert any for my phone. My next goal is to get a good picture of the flag and an edited version of my flag waving converted to the phone.

Doug's big wedding

Doug Rockstead, Azucena's brother, had a pretty large wedding this past weekend.

The wedding was real nice. Someone was taking video and others were doing pictures. It was an outdoor wedding at Onion Creek Country Club, where we saw skunks and deer walking the greens.
The dinner was pretty good and free drinks for all. I don't want to guess how much was spent, but it was about 2/3 of my brothers' New Jersey wedding and we know they spent A LOT.
Doug and new bride Marie also treated the wedding party and immediate family to lunch on Sunday. Not needed, but much appreciated.
Out of town guests were April from Wisconsin and Leroy and Susan from Colorado (also Ronald and Mr. Rockstead from Harlingen). Yes April, we have your camera.

The sad part of all this is for whatever reason, he assumed Azucena knew about everything going on. Her first hearing on the wedding came from her ex sister in law. Then more information came from her cousin in Wisconsin. Finally, Doug called. What gives? Who knows.
Then just before the wedding, we get a call to attend the rehearsal dinner on Friday. Again, everyone already knew about it way before we did. Azucena had plans on Friday, but had to drop most of them.
Azucena also made arrangements to pick up her sister since she no longer had a 4 wheel vehicle to drive. But since her boyfriend was out (they only had one key), she had to wait for him to get back before she could leave. This meant she wasn't able to go to the rehearsal dinner.
We didn't go to the rehearsal since we didn't know anything about it, but when Doug and company started showing up at the restaurant, the first thing he did was bitch at Azucena for not picking up their sister. He also was furious that Azucena told him she didn't want to go, which was totally false to begin with. She told him she wasn't able to leave until her boyfriend showed up. Nowhere in that conversation was mentioned that she didn't want to go. Now the sister is mad because Doug jumped on her for not wanting to go to the dinner, which he says Azucena told him. Again, not true. (You see, Doug sometimes likes to hear things as he likes to hear them and not as they are told. He's done this several times, but this is by far the most irresponsible of him.)
Azucena and her sister got it cleared up and Azucena just let it slide since it was Doug's wedding weekend.

Bank of America 500

As you can see from Azucena's entry (http://www.rockover.com/node/103), we are sitting in Dallas for awhile longer.
Our itinerary came out and I WAS suppose to do an on air with NASCAR media tomorrow at 6:15 am, but it got canceled.
The rest of the highlights (which unfortunately are mostly my duties):
Meet with the media on Saturday before race
Get introduced at the Drivers meeting on Saturday
Pre Race pace car ride for both of us
Wave the flag
Garage visit (best time for autographs)
Visit NASCAR's R & D center on Thursday
Dinner on Saturday
Photo shoot with Jessica Simpson after waving the flag.
Will probably meet Aaron Peirsol and other notables during the race
We've been given tickets for Friday's race. Not sure where we'll sit, either in the Bank of America lounge or regular seating. Either way, we'll have fun.

Azucena actually prefers it this way. She gets to go with me to these and she'll take lots of pictures.

Friday's events

My gawd, it seems like we've been here forever. We have this RV rental and have spent more time sleeping in it in one night, than we have spent not sleeping overall. But, hey, that's the problem with being celebrities, even if your fans don't know who you are.

Our Thursday 5am live-on-camera appointment got moved to today (Friday) at 5:30am. Patrick must have gotten the short straw. He met us around 5am and escorted us to the tent where the live interviews were going on. Patrick, by the way was our point of contact (can we call him our personal assistant?) for Bank of America. I'm pretty sure he works for Octagon, a marketing firm that handles the marketing duties for Bank of America and other companies and people.
Here is the station that taped our 1 minute segment, but since it was live, don't count on finding us: http://www.wbtv.com/, They do have an article mentioning a Very Special Person from across the country that will attend the race, but that turns out to be someone named Cindy McCain.

I didn't do much today. Couldn't get into the garage area because I wore shorts instead of long pants. That's a no-no for garage access. I knew that yesterday, but forgot today; boo hoo.
After I changed clothes, I sat in the stands and used my binoculars to spy on Azucena, while she was in the pits taking pictures of the practice and Nationwide qualifying (we have a "cold pass" which means once practice started, I wasn't allowed back into the Garage area. Since she was already in the garage, they didn't bother trying to kick her out. There are too many people there to check badges). She was walking around with a Mother/Son couple she met up with (Zela and Eric). Eric apparently has connections with one of the Nationwide teams and gets instant access with just a phone call. I think he has better contacts than us.

Later that evening (right before the Nationwide race started), with our new found connections, we hung around the 88 garage which is sponsored by the Navy. Azucena walked right up and talked to the commander of the group. She also talked to a few Navy crewmen and got her picture taken with one of them, then she ran off to get an autograph. "I got it!! I got it!!", she says proudly a minute later.
Then we started dodging race cars as they were backing them out of the garage to line them up on pit row. Since I almost got run over, I demanded an autograph from the driver. I guess it didn't work since they just chuckled and kept going. Driver was nowhere to be found anyway.
In the pits, right before the race started, I was introduced to an 88 crew member, he says. "Hi. Don't drop the flag!!!". Then walks off. It was getting busy so he couldn't stick around to talk.
We hung around the pits for about 1/2 the race, which went extremely long: two rain delays and a few accidents that took awhile to clean up. Race started at 8pm and ended around 12:15am, about 1 1/2 hours longer than normal.
We finished the race in the grand stands. Didn't get back to the camper until 12:45. But since we don't have anything planned until after noon on Saturday, we get a chance to sit and relax for a bit (or sleep). At least until 11 anyway.

Bank of America photo album of Friday events

Nationwide practice, garage and race

Saturday's big day

We are done. Spent. Wiped out.

We had lots of fun. Had our own interview along with Aaron Peirsol. We had our own photo "session" with Piersol also. He brought a gold medal and Azucena got to look at it up close.
We sat in the Drivers meeting, although we were not introduced. Aaron Peirsol was and got a rousing ovation. Azucena did get several autographs here. But most of the autographs overall were of driver's crew and the staff that waited on us hand and foot.
I got introduced to the NASCAR fans before the driver introduction, along with Aaron Peirsol, Elizabeth Dole and Cindy McCain. Yep, They were there, as well as at the Drivers meeting. And yes, Azucena did get their
autograph and spoke to them briefly. I spoke a bit to Ms. Dole as we stood at the receiving line to shake hands as the drivers were introduced. She was getting hungry and wanted a hot dog and fries. Ms. McCain was further down, and she had a few "secret service" people dressed casually keeping an eye on things.
We had one photographer and video crew following us around. We had to drop stuff off at our camper so we encouraged them to tag along. They interviewed the next door neighbors and on cue, we came out and talked to them as well.
For the big finale, I finally got to go up the flag stand. Ooops. I didn't have earplugs or headphones, so I was going to be in a wail of hurt when the cars started coming by. We got about 4 sets of earplugs plus a set each of scanner/headphones and we left them with Christa (personal assistant, really our Point of Contact for Bank of America who was with us ALL day Saturday. Patrick was with us most of the day as well.). So, I'm at the top of the stand with a green flag double to practice with in front of our cameraman and a few others that wanted photos. Azucena climbed up and we got pictures taken and she took a few. Then the flagmen climbed up and gave a few instructions. Flag waving went smooth. Alas, I could only stay for 5 laps. The flagmen, Richard and Rodney, travel to all the Cup races and alternate who waves the flag. The other has to keep the flags ready to pass off to the Flag waver. They alternate races on who waves.
Our last stop was at the Bank of America tent behind the pit stops. There we waited for awhile before Jessica Simpson showed up. She got her photo taken with Mr. Piersol and then with me.
Christa took us to our camper to drop stuff off and said good bye outside the last gate we would enter. We were in the Bank of America stands and at some point, Azucena got bored and just had to turn around and mention the green flag for one last time. The guy she talked to kept saying "No Way" "That's so cool" "No Way" "That's so cool". Towards the end of the race, his buddy showed up and found out. His comments were "No Way" "That's so cool". I wonder how much beer they had. Yes way, Yes so cool. Photos and pictures to prove it and she did.

By the way, at the start of the day, we thought this couldn't get any better. It did when we got our own media interview (two more followed after that!!). Then it got better when we saw the ESPN highlights of UT/OU. Then it got better when Azucena got to see and talk to Ms. Dole and Ms. McCain. Then it got better when I was introduced to 150,000 or so fans (I thought I was going to see their introduction, not being introduced). Then it got better when Azucena was able to join me at the top of the flag stand for a moment (yes, she had to exit before the real flagmen came up, but still). Finally, it got better when we were chatting with campers across the road and found out that Ohio State won. Then we chatted awhile with our next door neighbors and thanked them for being gracious enough to be put on the spot and on camera.
Some would think that it got better when I had my arm around Jessica Simpson. Not to say it wasn't better, but that was already part of the plan. Not my arm, but next to Jessica. Ok, so since I was able to put my arm around her, I guess it did get better. Then during the race, Brian Vickers was blowing away the field, so it definitely was about to put the cap on the trip. Then Jeff Gordon was blowing away the field. Double cap.
And you thought a Hole in One would be the highlight of your life. Not any more.

The driver's introduction (on the pre-race show - ESPN) got pre-empted by the finish of the ND/UNC game.
Even though you don't get to see me wave the flag, unless you have hi-def and look really hard, you will see me and Azucena while Jessica Simpson sings the anthem (look for the flag in the stands and you'll barely make us out). After she sings, the camera keys on a flag in the stands and you'll see me standing there clapping. Just before Aaron Peirsol starts the engines you can see both of us, and Azucena is the better shot since she's by herself.
After the race starts (on ABC), you won't catch us unless you know its us (white blur among dark colors). And yes ABC could have shown the starters, but they chose to go from a different direction which was the only real disappointment because we had lots and lots of people pausing their activities to watch the start of the race.

Till we see everyone, see ya! And is it ever late. The famous never sleep, do they.

Bank of America photo album of Saturday events

Saturday events: Meetings, Introductions, race, etc.

Bank of America 500 wrapup

Sunday, while Azucena was at church, I cleaned up and packed bags. I'm glad we took an empty bag to fill up, because we did.

We were a bit concerned on how to take the flag home. With the pole it was attached to, would they allow it on the plane? Would it have to be checked? Would it be lost? I was going to find tooth and nail to take it on the plane. I would have been willing to lose the pole and buy a new one, but the airlines said it was ok. Maybe it was Azucena's Wave the Flag reasoning that did it.
While walking down the terminal to our gate, I saw a few others in NASCAR gear and thought 'OH YEAH, other fans are heading home just like us. I wonder if they know who we are. Hmmm.'
So Azucena calls one of her new contacts and chats for awhile. When I get back from the bathroom, she's talking to someone that overheard the conversation. She thought I was the flag waver, but wanted to verify, so they chatted for awhile. Azucena also showed her some pictures. Now I become the celebrity. I unfurl the flag and we take a picture with it. Wow, we've hit the big time. Did I say it couldn't get any better? Well I lied.
Someone else showed up and started confirming things. I chatted with her for a minute before walking to her mother (in a wheelchair) and I went through the NASCAR Points thing and our experience. Just as they were getting ready to board I unfurled the flag again and showed her mom. You should have seen her face light up. She is a NASCAR fan, but this must have been something for her. She was truly elated. We visited again on the plane because mom and daughter when on a fishing trip with Martin Truex, Jr. and wanted to share pictures.
So we got to inform just a few more people about NASCAR Points rewards.

What can be better than first class treatment? Flying first class all the way there and back.

By the way, Monday I took my truck in to get an oil change and other stuff. While paying, we talked a bit about NASCAR and I started to mention about winning the Wave the Flag and got cut off. Boy, how quickly we fall.

We can't thank Austin, Patrick and Christa enough. I can go on and on about how much they enhanced our experience, but that would take too long and bore you to death. But trust me when I say they went out of their way to make sure we had a great time. I'm afraid if they do this again, it won't be as great for the next winners as it was for us. Hopefully it will, but I don't know how it could be any better. It was impressive to see them use their connections to make the experience even better. It seems like Patrick and Christa knows everyone.

We've talked about if there was any time where we were less than pleased and outside of the rain shaking my faith, we couldn't come up with anything, except.... The start of the race. This wasn't Bank of America's fault, but with all our fans out there taking time to watch the start of the race, I was disappointed they didn't get to see what we were there for. But, a dvd is being put together for us and we'll share that with everyone, so stay tuned.

Bank of America photo album of Museums and Race Shops

Visiting car museums, Roush, Red Bull and Hendrick shops

Golf Miracle

This is so amazing. Saturday, golfing with my bro's, Jeff and Gary plus Dad, with Anna tagging along, I hit a hole in one on the 6th hole at a par 3/4 golf course in Dayton, Ohio. A couple of other people were watching too, so it's official. They will put a tag on the plaque in the club house.
So I'm hitting a lot of achievements this lifetime. McDonald's All American Band (no longer around), bowling a 290game/700 series, pick up the big 4-6-7-10, Hole in One, Wave the Green Flag (10/11/08).
We are at dad's apt right now, watching football and talking shop. Getting hungry so we'll head out for dinner real soon.
Ok, that's it for now. Enjoyed USC losing on Thursday.
Today (Sunday), we played another round of golf at Wright-Patt here in Dayton. Lots of fun. Anna played some. But since I haven't played in over 2 years, my arms are not up to it. Couldn't survive more than 12 holes. But still had a lot of fun.
Heading home tomorrow. It's been fun seeing Gary and dad again. Lots of fun.
Next stop, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

OMG - It's NASCAR Calling

Azucena was able to snag a "life altering" opportunity called "Wave the Green Flag Experience" from Bank of America with her NASCAR Points(by the way, even though this is normally worth 500,000 points, we only needed 150,000 for this one time offer!!! O M G). You see, we've used the NASCAR credit card for several years now, getting NASCAR points with each purchase. All large purchases including house renovations, animals, HEB and anything she bought went on the card.
Originally her goal was to get two garage passes at the value of 150,000 points. Oh, the race is in Charlotte on October 11th at 7:25pm. The race is called... Bank of America 500.
Anyway, Monday she gets an email from the credit card company with a one time offer, first come first serve, only 1 opportunity available. Like putting 100,000 names in a hat and only one can be drawn. We deliberated for about 2 minutes (mostly if I would be able to take off, which being close to our Annual Conference, is questionable). I gave the ok, she called, they said Congratulations.
We get to wave the green flag, have access to the stage where drivers are introduced, Garage/Pit passes and a "gourmet" meal in the club suites, plus they'll try to get us a meeting with Jeff Gordon and his crew. They mentioned wanting to take our pictures and maybe video tape us(I guess they plan on turning us into celebrities).
Even though Azucena is the winner, instead of trying to meet her driver Brian Vickers, she opted to try to meet with Jeff Gordon and his crew, since he's so hard to track down. As a concession, I'll have to wear the Brian Vickers coat when I wave the green flag (Yes, she turned it down and said I had to do it. S'Okay wid me).
To give you an idea on how much it would normally cost us, Pit passes run about $100. Club suites and food run at least $550. Waving the Flag and Driver Intro are truly priceless since they don't sell these "events".
It's not totally free for us. If this was Texas Motor Speedway, it'd be easy. Drive, camp and have fun. But this is Charlotte. We fly, rent and have fun. All for about $800 more than it would be if it were Texas. Plus, now she's talking about renting a motor home and staying at the track instead of a hotel. But we'd be at the track, where if we stayed at a hotel, we'd have to drive back and forth and miss other opportunities. Hmmmm. Donations anyone? Update: RV's are already sold out, so we are "stuck" with the hotel scenario.
Oh, I almost forgot. Azucena will be in the pre race pace car. This either leads the drivers to the podium, or after their introduction. I don't know which is more cool, waving the flag, or riding in the pace car. Only the flag waving can get you in a whole lot of trouble if you drop the flag. I think Richard Petty lost his hat when he waved the flag at Daytona 500 this year. And no, we don't get to tell the drivers to start their engines - That's another winner altogether.

ARO visits Dad-O; Rob back in TX

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.

ARO in DC; Kate Clark the actress to be

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.

Azucena's brand spanking new car

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 Convertible SLE (This is the best I can do http://www.toyota.com/camrysolara/exterior-360.html. Choose SLE Convertible, 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.

ARO misses RSO

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.

ARO in Honduras.

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

ARO in DC

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.

Fry's, TV and Wii OH MY!

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 (yes, that's me choking in the background. 52" is not big enough?).
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.

Happy New Year!

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.