9-11-2001

Even with all the horrible stresses and last minute prep for this damn hurricane that is about to hit us hard here in Houston, my mind has still been on the anniversary of the unbelievable tragedies that occurred on 9/11. I was fortunate that as far as I am aware of, nobody that I personally knew lost their lives that day. My uncle had a small office in one of the Trade Center buildings, but he was not there that day. He did lose a few employees though which is just heartbreaking. What can you say about all the death and destruction that occurred that day? It is not something that words or sympathy can ever repair but it is very important to keep those memories alive in our minds and to be aware how fragile life really is and how we should not take even the little joys in our day to day life for granted.
One of the big questions that always gets brought up on this day is where were you when you first heard the news? I was alone in my car with my dog, cat, and a back seat filled with all of the stuff that would not fit in the moving van. Not a good day to pick to move across the state to a new house. The cell phone lines were overloaded so I could not get in touch with family or friends. I did not know where anyone was or what I should do so I just kept on driving down the interstate. All I could do was just listen to the radio and pray that everything would be OK. I remember the roads being almost completely empty..... everybody was afraid to move or go anywhere. Once I made it to the new house, I just remember sitting there on the floor (no furniture, no phone connection, did not know anybody) listening to the portable radio and waiting..............
It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since that day. Where does time go? Even though you cannot change the past, it is important to take all that life has given and taken away from you, and use that knowledge and those experiences to be the best person you can be today and for all your days to come. God Bless America!!!!!

For a minute there, I thought maybe it was just me.....

that had problems with these things.

WTH??? Now.... realize that I am not talking about the simple ones that say "dog" or "cat". I am talking about the ones with crazy squiggles and lines that don't look like a member of any English alphabet or numeric system that I have ever seen. After failing to enter the correct codes on many an occasion or having to hit the refresh button over and over until I can find something that I could identify..... I was actually beginning to be a little concerned that I was either visually impaired, stupid, or possibly dyslexic. However, after a brief and non-scientific survey amongst several of my friends and co-workers.... I have determined that I am not alone. 75% of those surveyed admitted to occasionally having problems solving these things (especially the ones on myspace for some strange reason). So either having problems solving these complicated captcha is a universal problem..... or I just happen to have a bunch of stupid/ blind/ dyslexic friends and co-workers... who knows????

Definition of a captcha---

A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. The process involves one computer (a server) asking a user to complete a simple (Simple my ass!) test which the computer is able to generate and grade (apparently I am a failure!!) Because other computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human.( I think that are trying to say that I do not qualify as human?) A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters or digits of a distorted image (distorted? Ha!!!! Is that a B or a 3 or maybe an E??)that appears on the screen.
Characteristics A CAPTCHA system is a means of automatically generating new challenges which:
Current software is unable to solve accurately.
Most humans can solve. (Yeah right!!)

Plowed down by an old lady.

I ran into WalMart yesterday to pick up some evaporated milk for a pie I was making for dinner and I had a totally surreal experience. I had the can of milk in my hand and I was walking towards the front of the store when I saw a little old lady in a pink jogging suit. She was at the end of the bread aisle and was picking up a box of those individually wrapped generic cinnamon rolls that are so coated in blinding white frosting that they look lethal. I had always wondered who actually bought that kind of crap and I guess I now know the answer. She was ruffling through the boxes looking for the perfect one (probably the one with the most frosting) when she looked up and gave me the dirtiest death ray look ever. I had never seen her before in my life and yes I may have been staring at her and thinking to myself "lady... those cinnamon rolls may kill you" but I don't think I deserved such a dirty look. I looked away and continued walking on by, hoping to just pay for my milk and get out of there quickly, when I suddenly felt someone come up behind me and nearly run me down. It was the old lady in the jogging suit trying to beat me to the registers!! She actually passed me at a semi-jog and I could tell that it was her intention to get there first. Hell no was I going to let this happen! She noticed that I was overtaking her and she full out cut me off and ran to the nearest express lane. Once she got there, she turned around and gave me "the look"' again. Was this really happening? Was I on a hidden camera show or something? No way was I going to get behind her line so I went to the longer express lane and stood in line. By some miracle of God, the customer in front of me turned around and told me to go ahead of her because she was waiting on her husband. I sailed to the front of the line and was out of there in like 20 seconds. The evil old lady was watching me the whole time and she was still stuck in line because the person in front of her was writing a check. Ha! Take that you mean old lady! I don't know what her deal was but the whole incident was crazy. At least "I won" !!!!!

Attention architecture/remodeling nerds.....

A fantastic read if renovating old houses is your thing. My only complaint is that there were no pictures. Boo!! The house sounds so incredibly amazing and in such a state of disrepair when he first started that I would have loved to have seen what it looked like. I have come across so many houses over the years (mostly dilapidated Victorians) that I would have loved to have gotten my hands on. Maybe someday........

Don't mess with Smokey

Damaged

You know how you like a song... and then somehow something happens that you associate with that song and then suddenly that song is just totally ruined for you??? Here is my ruined song.... it was one of my favorite workout songs until someone showed me this.

Was anyone else......

just waiting for his (Michael Phelps) suit to slip just a little farther down???? I was sure that it was going to be another Janet Jackson type of moment. LOL!