The Final Pic(s) Of The Day for 2014 - 12.31.14 - New Year's Eve

In the Roman Catholic Church, January 1 is a holy day of obligation. It is the Solemnity of Mary.

And it seems that in 2014, I spent quite a bit of time praying for various reasons and people so I really did feel obligated to attend the vigil Mass at St. Anne. I approached the church from a different direction and decided to park in front of the church instead of the back parking lot.

The lights were just coming on and it the bell tower was glowing.

On Sunday, I didn't take a photo of the church decorated for Christmas. It really doesn't need much ornamentation.

And how did I spend the remainder of the evening? At home with The Calvinator. I didn't have any chilled champagne so I opened a bottle of pinot grigio, had some chicken enchilada hash and watched Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin on CNN ring in the new year.

"I Wanted To Be A Boy Scout.."

Congratulations Anderson Cooper on being presented with the annual Vito Russo Award at the 24th Annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards.  Anderson was recognized for his stature and accomplishment as an openly gay journalist.

Madonna, dressed as a Boy Scout presented Anderson with his award after her comments on injustice and bullying. 

"[The bullying epidemic] is no different from a white supremacist hanging a black man from a tree before the Civil Rights movement. It's no different than a member of the Taliban shooting a young girl in the head for writing a blog about the importance of female education. It's no crazier than an Iranian gay man being hanged for falling in love with a man. I don't know about you, but I can't take this sh*t anymore. That is why I want to start a revolution. Are you with me? It's 2013, people. We live in America -- land of the free, home of the brave -- that's a question, not a statement."

To read more about the event, visit Huffington Post here and here.

Source: AP

Source: Getty Images

How Did You Spend New Year's Eve?

I opted to stay home.  Harris County was continuing it's No Refusal Weekend.  I didn't want to have an adult beverage or two and then get stopped and go through the drama of dealing with a cop on NYE.  So The Calvinator and I stayed home and watched Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper report live from New York's Times Square.  I was also flipping over to Andy Cohen's House Party on Bravo.  At midnight, a wig dropped from the ceiling and Kim Zolciak sing Tardy For The Party.

Here in Houston, it was the ingaugural Gloworama.  On Thursday evening, I watched a portion of the tech rehearsal.  It looked like a fun, free, family evening.

I hope that 2011 is great for you and your family!

New Year's Eve...in case you missed this

LOL LOL LOL LOL

That's what I did when I watched a tape version of CNN's coverage from Times Square. I was sorta watching it when I was preparing to go out for the evening. Here is a picture of Sushi was sitting in a shoe in Key West waiting for the stroke of midnight. At midnight, the shoe was lowered. Sushi has a thing for Anderson Cooper.
Then there is this photo of Bill & Hillary Clinton dancing. They were in Times Square to push the button to make the ball drop. Music was playing and they started dancing. I'm willing to bet it was Hillary's idea to dance live on the telly. She probably told him, "Yes, you campaigned for me. Yes, you turned over the donor files for your library so that I could become Secretary of State. Now, you WILL dance with me. You are nowhere near forgiven for the Lewinsky fiasco so dance dammit! I SAID dance!" Then there is this clip of Kathy Griffin going off on someone in the crowd. I guess the guy told her she sucked. This clip is NSFW so wait until you are home. There were some other great moments (like the pole dancer in Atlanta who pretty showed the entire East Coast and Mid-America her vajayjay).

Once again, do not play this clip at work.

blogging Hurricane Ike (part VIII)

So here is what has sorta been happening today since I last posted.

Intertwined with all of this are phone calls from friend; those of us who stayed and decided to hunker down. Also, replying to e-mails from concerned friends and family members and checking FaceBook.

11:00a.m. CDT - Started doing laundry for two reasons. 1) If I lose power, not sure when I would be able to do laundry again. 2) Need some clean clothes when Anderson Cooper arrives to interview me and Calvin.

11:20a.m. CDT - Decided to run over to Subway because earlier in the day I saw employees waiting to get in. When I stepped outside it was getting breezy and cloudy. Earlier in the day it was calm and sunny. This made me start singing It's Too Late...you know that line, "You were light and breezy and I knew just what to do."

Got to Subway and they were closed but I noticed that Quiznos and Texasadelphia were open so I went to Quiznos to grab my last meal a sandwich. Also noticed that the Shell station on Memorial Drive is out of gas.

11:45a.m. CDT - Took Calvin for a walk. Lots of people out walking their dogs. Noticed that DePelchin Children's Center had secured their picnic tables which had me concerned. PROJECTILES!

1:05p.m. CDT - Cleaned out the bottom of one of the closets in case I need to use it to hide from breaking windows. Did a Hunker Down Drill with Calvin. Had to bribe him with peanut butter. He didn't want to leave the closet.

1:45p.m. CDT - Filled up the bathtub with water but I'm not sure why. Somebody told me to do that so I did.

1:50p.m. CDT - Jessica Willey on KTRK Channel 13 interviewed a guy that had to be rescued from West Beach (Galveston). His name is Joe and Joe said, "That is a nasty fat storm. That pig is huge." I wonder if that pig wears lipstick? Joe also said that where Joe Cantore is that is where the most damage will be. BTW...Joe lost his Corvette and his shoes.

2:04p.m. CDT - Erik Barrajas showed up for work.

2:05p.m. CDT - Break in the clouds and the sun shined. Coincidence?

2:06p.m. CDT - Andy Cerrota is in Freeport.

2:07p.m. CDT - Still looking for Anderson Cooper.

2:15p.m. CDT - Put batteries in portable radio/cd player so that I can play showtunes if I lose power. Found an old Sony Sports Cassette player (remember cassette tapes?) that also has a tv band, radio band and weather band. It still works.

2:25p.m. CDT - Found a fortune cookie and opened it. Fortune for today is He who grabs the last lettuce wrap is the least hungry. Got hungry again and wondered if P.F. Changs is open. Doubt it. They have good lettuce wraps.

2:30p.m. CDT - Water is rising in Galveston Bay. Not a good sign.

2:50p.m. CDT - Saw taped footage of Jeff Ranieri on Galveston Island. He saw a snake that was coiled and guessed it was at least 10 feet. Then he said he saw a porcupine. The MSNBC anchor told him it was a rat. Wondered if Jeff has ever been to a zoo?

3:00p.m. CDT - Michael Chertoff, Director of Homeland Security says 100,000 homes will be damaged by flooding. Let's hope he is wrong.

3:10p.m. CDT - Calvin is still asleep.

blogging Hurricane Ike (IV) (aka we are disaster worthy of Anderson Cooper)

Calvin and I returned to NoRO this evening. A group of us met at AttyHou's house to help him put away things that could become projectile and fly over the fence and land on me and Calvin.

I called Joe & Helen in Ft. Worth and told them that I am staying. I gave them my reasons why and reminded them of what happened during the evacuation of Hurricane Rita. You see...

As of 900p CDT, the contraflow lanes out of Houston have not been opened. News reports are saying that traffic is very heavy on I-10 west (going to San Antonio) and I-45 north (going toward Dallas). Been there. Done that. Not doing it again.

Also, in 2005 when The Calvinator and I left Houston, Rita was approaching Category 5 status. It later dropped to a three or so but to see a cat. 5 coming at you is quite disturbing...and then it turned.

I went to JAX for my last supper and did take-away. One of the local gas stations is already closed. Some restaurants were closed. To look at SOMA and Max's Wine Dive you'd never know we're waiting for a hurricane.

I've been checking my water supply. Trying to catch up on stuff and sorta wondering what's going to happen.

While I was watching last night's episode of Project Runway the phone rang and it was alnhouston. I answered, "Did you see Anderson Cooper?" because I knew that alnhouston was out running around town today and thought he had seen him. What I didn't know is that Anderson Cooper was on the telly broadcasting live from Houston! I am watching him right now and cannot figure out where he is in the city.

Calvin is ready for his Anderson Cooper close-up.