O-week 2009

We are winding down orientation week 2009 on the Rice campus. I have to say it's really fun and making me nostalgic to see the 900 new freshmen coming to campus. Afterall, I met Chris my first weekend on campus way back in 2002.

A fun thing about Rice is that there are no fraternities or sororities. Instead the dorms are referred to as colleges. Your college is your home during your time at Rice. It is what all alumni will ask you about. It creates bonds. It creates your college family.

Students cannot pick their college unless they are a legacy of that college. You can request a roommate but other than that you are randomly given a college. This prevents a student coming with 13 of their closest friends, all moving into the same dorm, and never branching out. Your meal plan works in your college's meal facility. No other colleges. You have to learn to live and coexist with your college mates.

All the students seem to love the system and it has bred a lot of college rivalries. Rice students are known for their pranks. Each college develops their own reputations and are taught which other colleges they prank and which ones they work together with to prank others.

Each college also has annual events they host on campus. These range from the traditional and classy affair all the way down to beer bike.

I think I might try to get involved in one of the colleges. Faculty and staff can be associates of the colleges and help out there. Toying with the idea.

Summer is over.

Chris started school Monday. The school year has begun. Routines are forming. I love it. Chris...well, let's just say he doesn't love it but it is necessary.

For our hurrah before he started this semester we took a day trip to Austin to see this:



I loved it; Chris tolerated it. He loved the two meals we got to eat out in Austin.

I may try out for a play here on the Rice campus. It is the same show I was in my freshman year in college and I didn't love the show then but maybe I'd like it more now. Who knows.

One week left in summer

We made it safely back from North Carolina but not without a few hitches. Sunday we got up at 5 am to drive Chris' dad and sister to the airport for their 7 am flight. We got back to the house about 7. Talked with his uncle and grandmother for a few hours. His aunt and her husband came over. Around 9:45 it was time to head to the airport for our flight. 11 am we said our good byes and hopped on our flight from Greenville to Charlotte. In Charlotte we were to have a 45 minute lay over then hop on a flight to Houston. Our tickets were confirmed but we had no seat assignment which basically means we're not making this flight even though we are there and ready.

We talk to the gate attendant who tells us we can volunteer to be bumped (since frankly we already are bumped anyway) and each get $350 flight vouchers, free meal, and standby tickets for the 3 PM flight. So we take it because the alternative is getting bumped and having nothing to show for it but a free meal and standby tickets for the next flight.

So we go and eat and then wait for the 3 PM flight. Unfortunately there were 14 of us with standby tickets and they were asking for volunteers to get bumped. It became very clear we were not going to get on this plane so we asked the gate attendant of US Airways would spot us another meal voucher because we were clearly going to be here for dinner. The complied so now we're up $700 in flight vouchers and $40 of free food. And we now have standby tickets for the 7 PM flight.

Eat our dinner, show up at the gate for the 7 PM flight to be met with the lovely "volunteers needed" sign. So we just take a wild guess that we are not going to get on this flight and ask for tickets for the 10 PM flight. In the meantime the 7 PM flight gets delayed to a 9:30 take off and the counter for the 10 PM flight gets packed.

Show up at the 10 PM gate to see "volunteers needed" so we just go and volunteer since we are clearly not getting on this flight either. Get another $700 in flight vouchers, more meal vouchers for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, and a voucher for the hotel we will be staying in that night. Oh, and tickets on a 6 AM Continental flight to Houston since US Airways is apparently incapable of getting us home.

We made the 6 AM flight and I was at work by 9:30 AM Monday morning. I was completely exhausted and perhaps less focused than normal but I made it.

Chris family is handling Russell's passing very well. Everyone is understandably upset but taking care of things.

Chris' dad has taken this time to buy four funeral plots in North Carolina. One is intended for him and I'm guessing the others are for Chris, me, and Candice (Chris' sister). That's a little creepy and I don't think I want to be buried in North Carolina but for some reason buying the plots made Russ feel better so he did it.

And in other strange news, Chris' dad came back from North Carolina and sometime between Sunday and Tuesday decided he needed to get a Walt Disney World credit card to start building up points for a future visit. If you knew him you would know how random and completely fitting this is for him. I think he got nostalgic for family over the past week and thought about the happy memories he had with his kids there. So now he's saving for a future trip. I don't know when he's planning to take this trip or who with but I thought it was cute.

Sad week

Last week started with the unexpected passing of my bosses husband. They had been married for 35 years. He was an associate editor on my journal so I had gotten to know him a bit over the past few months.

She is observing the Jewish ritual of sitting shiva although she is aetheist. Because her husband mentioned that he thought he may be Buddhist before he passed she is sort of blending the Buddhist and Jewish rituals together. Maybe at a later date I'll write more on this since I did find this interesting.

On my way home from seeing my boss I called Chris to let him know I was on the way home. Less than 5 minutes later I walked through the door to find his dad just called to say his granddad passed away.

Tomorrow we leave for North Carolina where we will be until Sunday. Say a prayer for Chris and his family. Chris has never experienced a death in the family so this is particularly hard for him.

So many activities, so little time!

So much has happened since I last wrote so I think it is time to do a bullet update (and I will likely forget things) to be followed by pictures later.
- DC/NYC - On Wednesday, June 17th I took off to DC to meet up with my friend, Krista, for our girls trip to NYC. Lindsay Hoefer picked me up at the airport. It was fantastic to get to see her and see where she is living in that area. We drove over to Krista's and had a nice dinner. Bright and early the next morning we got on a bus for NYC.
- In NY we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural Science, the Superhero Supply Store, Serendipity, Vinyl, a comedy show, a couple of parties, and the musical Rock of Ages. We stayed in Brooklyn with Krista's high school friend who was a fantastic hostess and super fun. Rock of Ages was not my first choice of show but since Guys and Dolls closed so close to our departure, most shows that I was interested in were sold out by the time we got there. I ended up loving the show and was totally impressed by a few of the cast members that were new to me. Wesley Taylor, in his Broadway debut, stole the show as Franz. See the show if you have the chance.
- July 4th we flew to North Carolina to see Chris' grandparents. I stayed for a week, Chris for two. We spent most of the time hanging out around their house.
- Saw 42nd Street at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. Saw Cabaret with new staging at the Hobby Center. This weekend I saw Phantom at the Hobby Center and it was absolutely amazing! The staging was spectacular. Very impressive.
- Sonya and her family came to see us this weekend. We went to the NASA Space Center and were really impressed. I would like to go back again as we didn't see everything. Sunday we took a trip to Galveston and spent some time at the beach in between rain storms.
-And finally, last night Chris' sister Candice came up to visit for a few days. We went to the Astros v. Cardinals game last night (NASA night in honor of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing). Had a lot of fun and a little bit of a late night.

This weekend we are going to go to Abilene to spend time with my parents. Then we will have spent almost a solid month with some sort of family around. We will have a few weeks left before Chris starts school again. We have a few things we want to do before then. More on that later.

No guys and dolls

Well, looks like the commenter is right. Guys and Dolls closed early. Boo on that. I got the email that our tickets were being refunded right before the email about the blog comment.

On another note I realize that the WWW is open for anyone to read what's there but I always find it a little creepy when I get comments from folks I don't know. On the other hand I like comments so I know who is reading. Yesterday's commenter appears to run a blog with a high interest in Lauren Graham. I didn't read much just saw lots of pics.

Much to do today because, of course, I have packed nothing. I need to finish up at work here, then meeting Kassie for lunch, and then packing. Trying to fit in a swim workout in between there.

Mid June

Today is my sister's 29th bday. It is also the day my mother in law is getting her gland removed. They only found cancer in that one gland so good on that. There is a major facial nerve through that gland so as long as the docs don't hit that the surgery should be no big deal. And MIL is thrilled that this will all end with her getting a face lift. So go plastic surgery.

I finally got Chris to start swimming with me. I've been trying to convince him that swim workouts are the way to go but he wasn't having it. Until now. We spent at least three hours in the pool over Saturday and Sunday. For every hour I have him swimming laps I owe him 30 minutes of pool play time. It's a good trade off that makes us both happy.

I finished the entire Twilight series in a week and capped it off with the movie last night. I really enjoyed the series even if it needed to be severely edited down. The movie was alright. I didn't like some of the parts they added and I found Bella incredibly annoying. I didn't picture Edward as Robert Pattinson but I did like how he played the part.

Also saw "The Taking of Pelham 123" and "Away We Go". "Pelham 123" was good but not worth going to the theatre for. "Away We Go" was wonderful. If you haven't heard of it this has Maya Rudolph (SNL alum) and John Krasinski (Jim Halpert from The Office) staring as a couple preparing to have a baby and looking for where they want to live. It's funny and touching. There's one scene with a little boy that just absolutely cracked me up for it's sheer shock value. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be showing on many theaters but if you are in Dallas or Houston go see it.

Wednesday morning (bright and early)I will hop on a a Jet Blue flight to go to DC. Lindsay Hoefer will pick me up at the airport and somehow we will meet up with my college friend. Then Thursday morning college friend and I will hop on a bus and ride to NYC where we'll stay with her high school friend. I'm super excited. We're going to see "Guys and Dolls" (currently starring Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham). I'm excited. I'm looking forward to our girls trip.