Tropical Depression #9

Within the past 6 hours, a low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico, has developed into a tropical depression. It is just off the coast of Texas and a bit south of Houston which means...it's gonna be wet for the next few days. It is moving north which means it probably will not develop into a hurricane (but how about a tropical storm?).

I'll keep you posted. As they say on 20/20, "We're in touch so you're in touch."

A Dog's Life

I ran with RunnerOne this afternoon. He didn't try to de-wimp today. We did a 1/2 mile warm-up and then did 10 x 200m sprints. Finished it up with a 1/2 mile walk-run back to The Cal Mobile. It was a good workout but right now I can feel my calves having spasms. I've already had 2 bottle of Gatorade. And I'm tired.

Earlier today, I walked into the living room to check on The Calvinator. This is what I found:

Sometimes you need something like this to put a smile on your face.

Good night!

Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 4.1

Yesterday marked the peak of hurricane season. Still too early to say, "The coast is clear." Remember, it was around September 23/24, 2005 when Rita made landfall and wiped out the rest of southwestern Louisiana and The Golden Triangle of Texas.

Today marks the 6th Anniversary of 9/11 (the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon). I got a snippet of the ceremony held near Ground Zero in NYC and it really got to me.

I had a meeting today and then went to lunch with AttyHou. On my way back to NoRO I heard Green Day's When September Ends. There are several songs that put a lump in my throat and that is one of them. Included on this list is: Seasons Of Love; Alone Again (Naturally); On Eagles Wings; Be Not Afraid; and Rainy Days & Mondays. There are more songs.

Yesterday was a fun day. I made my way to The Galleria to wish Neiman-Marcus a 100th Happy Birthday! They were giving away their famous cookie. Of course I strolled around N-M like I belonged there.

The cookie had its own special shopping bag.

Close-up of the cookie (before I ate the whole thing).

A small tin of mints (for after an office visit).

I had to get a look at the N-M exclusive Prada shoe. I think it was only $995. Pocket change for an oil tycoon. They had a really nice looking shirt by Robert Graham for about $180 or so. Don't worry...I didn't buy either item.

I did stroll around The Galleria. Purchased a new protective cover for the iPod nano. It is red just like the nano.

And of course I had to make my obligatory pilgrimage to the mother ship...Nordstrom

I did do a 3 mile run first thing in the morning and get this...I actually made it to LeFittes to do some weights. It was a quick workout 'cause Everyday Italian and AttyHou wanted to go out to dinner. It's always nice to return to the scene of the crime so we went to Cyclone Anayas. The last time I was there I was a bit tipsy when I left. Not last night though.

I had to be sure to eat my Neiman-Marcus cookie before I went to bed. I know. That can't be good for the body but it sure tasted good.

"Let Me Entetain You. Let Me Make You Smile."

So I went to see Whistle Down The Wind. It was a 200p performance and I was actually surprised at how some people were dressed...not in a bad way. Some people REALLY dressed up! Keep in mind though, this observation is coming from someone who goes to Mass wearing shorts and sandals during the summer months; it's just too hot. Today I was dressed casual chic.


Anywho...it was time for the curtain to rise and I think it was Frank Young from Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) who comes out to welcome us...blah, blah, blah. Then he says there is somebody that wants to talk to us before the show starts and I'm thinking Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to come out at which point I was anticipating peeing in my pants.


Instead, it was Bill Kenwright who is the Producer/Director of the show. In addition to being impressed I start to become a bit concerned.


He informs us that we are the very first audience to ever see this production and he hopes we like the show. (I start having flashbacks to Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? The Musical.) He said he would be doing his notes during the show and that we are welcome to get with him after the show to offer our thoughts...unless we didn't like it then just leave. :-) He said that if we liked the show, then all of America will like the show and he hopes that it runs for a very long time.


So the show starts and to be quite honest with you it wasn't bad. I recognized some of the songs and when put in the context of the story they take on a different meaning. It was quite enjoyable. A little tugging at the heart was in there and I had a couple of lumps in my throat during a few scenes. I thought a few of the rural Louisiana accents were a bit overdone; nothing that can't be corrected. And I may have missed some lines or something 'cause there were a few things that didn't make sense. Enjoyable show.


A funny thing happened on the way to the forum...I mean during intermission. I saw someone that I know and right before the 2nd act was about to begin he asked me what I thought about the show? I told him that I was enjoying it. He said he was finding it hard to believe. I then reminded him that it is musical. And then I start to giggle.


So now I'm distracted because I wonder what he thinks of Cats or Phantom of the Opera? Does he really think that Eva Peron said, "They need to adore me so Christian Dior from my head to my toes."? Does he think that Mame Dennis can really, "...charm the husk right off of the corn."? Did Aunt Eller (latent lesbian that she was) really tell the farmer and the cow man to be friends? How about Snoopy singing that he thinks he is some fierce jungle animal? The list goes on and on!


I go to the theatre to escape and to be entertained. And yes, some things are meant to be unbelievable.

NYC Sept. 8 - 10, 2001

This is one of my all time favorite photos ever. (It was taken on the evening of September 8, 2001.) Not because it looks like Ben and I are wearing a headpiece but because we were all laughing and smiling and just happy to be happy.

We are standing outside of the Paramount Hotel. We had just left the bar and you couldn't take photos inside the hotel lobby or the bar much less move the furniture in the bar because each piece had it's place and you messed up the design by moving it around...blah, blah, blah...so we took our picture outside before we headed over to Splash. (I seriously doubt if Philippe Starck would have known we messed up his design!) :-)

Prior to meeting up with Greg, Sean, Jim and Ben, I went to see 42nd Street and I pretty much tapped danced my way over to meet the bois. It was good meeting place before we did other things that evening.

The short story behind this weekend:

• On my 37th birthday, live on the east coast, at the beginning of the 830A segment, Katie Couric says to me, "Oh. I thought you were 40 or something like that." To which I replied, "No but I'll be back." So I had to go back in '01.



• I went to NYC thinking I was going to spend the weekend alone which I was fine with but I was surprised by the bois. It really was a fun weekend.



• Katie didn't talk to me again. Greg had enlarged a photo of me (at age 5) and put my face on tongue depressers and handed them out to the crowd. At one point Al Roker asked a lady, "Whose face is that?" Matter of factly she says, "Timmy." Al says, "Who's Timmy?" She says, "I don't know."



• Due to a storm that had blown in on the evening of 9/10/01, I had a flight delay out of EWR back to IAH. I got back to IAH really late and didn't get to bed until around 200A on 9/11/01. Greg and Sean had also departed NYC and Jim and Ben were coming back on 9/11/01. One of the last things Jim said to me before we said our good-byes was, "I wish we were going home tonight." I said, "I wish I was staying another day."



• Due to what happened on 9/11/01, they were stuck in NYC for the rest of the week and ended up driving back to Houston. They were supposed to be at the New York Stock Exchange early on 9/11/01 to rub the bull and watch them ring the bell but they overslept and had no idea what was transpiring not far from the apartment they were staying in. I was sitting on the couch in my Lucky boxers with bed head and bleary eyes watching everything transpire and was frozen but was able to call them and pretty much make no sense as I was yelling and crying.

The question was asked the other day, "Shouldn't we move on and stop acknowledging 9/11?" My thoughts lean toward letting people deal with it in their own way. I still get choked up because I had just been there. The fun and frivolity of the extended weekend didn't matter anymore.

"Better have you naked by the end of this song"

So things didn't go as planned this morning with my Saturday run. The plan was to go to Memorial Park and do 7 miles or so.

I got up this morning and walked The Calvinator then got ready to go to Memorial Park. I had put on a pair of shorts that I hadn't worn in awhile and me and my happy @ss were off to the park. And just in case you're wondering, I was wearing my Crocs.

So I get to the park, put on the running shoes, slather on some Body Glide on the thighs, put on the iPod nano and tried to determine if it was shirtless running weather 'cause the humidity was feeling really high. Figuring that I'd prolly have to lose the shirt (which running shirtless has nothing to do with being vain and trying to show off...it's more about scaring people...I mean being hot and uncomfortable) at some point, I decided to just say "f__ it" and if people go blind, well so be it.

I do my ritual pee, take a swig of H2O and off I go. Everything is fine until about the 1 1/2 mile marker. (I won't comment on the people who decided to use ME as their pacer and wouldn't get off my @ss.)

Right around 1 1/2 miles the shorts start to slip. It is then that I remember why I haven't worn these shorts in a long time. When they get wet (from sweat or rain or both), they start to slip down. So here I am running and wondering what kind of a show I'm giving to the people behind me. If you read in the headlines today that there is a crack problem at Memorial Park, you'll know that they're talking about ME!

Now I'm regretting not wearing a shirt 'cause at least the shirt would give me some coverage. I'm trying to figure out what to do 'cause I could only run for about 30 seconds before I'd have to pull the shorts up. I get to the 2 mile marker, grab some water and think, "This ain't so bad. I can do this."

Rather than do 1 more mile, I decide to do 2 more. Big mistake. The slippage only gets worse...and you see it only happens when I run not when I walk. I just wanted this to be over with so I kept running and pulling up the shorts.

I guess at one point I must have pulled them up too high or they were too low 'cause I noticed people running toward were staring at me and they weren't looking at my face; they were looking around the waist line.

Now I'm thinking, "What do I have in The Cal Mobile that will keep the shorts up?'' Nothing. So, now I'm just trying to finish and for some odd reason I think of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake singing Rock Your Body at Reliant Stadium during the Super Bowl and her wardrobe malfunction.

See how my mind works? You should all be afraid of me!!!!

Anywho, I finished 4 miles, cooled down and went home. The shorts are now in the trash can.

Speaking of running, I haven't been doing weights very much or spinning and I'm feeling really guilty and fat. These guilt trips are from 12 years of Catholic school. ;-)

There she is...

As mentioned in a previous post, in the olden days this would be the day that the new Miss America would be crowned. To refresh your memory, the pageant was started to keep tourist on the Atlantic City Boardwalk for a few days beyond the Labor Day holiday. The pageant originated on September 7, 1921 and was originally named the Atlantic City Pageant. In 1922, the name was changed to Miss America Pageant.

Like clockwork you could always count on Miss America being crowned close to my birthday…until they moved it to later in the month and then changed the month to January or February or something like that. Let’s get to the point of my rambling.

On September 9, 1961 there were two things happening. Hurricane Carla was pounding the Texas coast and the new Miss America was going to be crowned. Linda Jacklyn Loftis who was originally Miss Ft. Worth went on to become Miss Texas and was favored to win Miss America. My mother was having labor pains and wanted to see if Linda would be crowned as the new Miss America before she would leave for the hospital. As it turns out, Miss North Carolina (Maria Fletcher) was crowned that evening. Miss Texas was 3rd runner-up.

I have romanticized the story and tell people that I was almost born at home because of the Miss America Pageant. (I was actually born the next morning at 6:58A in a hospital.) And even though Ft. Worth (Haltom City) is nowhere near the Texas coast, I have romanticized it and said that the change in barometric pressure induced my mother’s labor pains.

Many times in my life I have pondered aloud, “No wonder I turned out the way that I am. What choice did I have? I was born during the weekend of a hurricane and the Miss America Pageant!”

For various reasons, I used to have an obsession with the Miss America Pageant. Texas always sent contenders to the pageant and usually they ended up in the Top 10. The first Miss Texas to be crowned Miss America was Jo-Carroll Dennison. She was Miss America 1942. So you can imagine the screaming that happened in my house the evening of September 11, 1970, when Phyllis George was crowned Miss America 1971!

I remember the headline on the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram the next morning was something similar to: By George, she did it!

And then 4 years later, Shirley Cothran did it again! And this is where the story gets good.

OK…so my sister and I sang in a choir at church. It was a small group; a folk choir. Because it consisted of guitars and voices we would practice at different homes ‘cause we really didn’t need to be in the church.

So one night we’re at the McMullin’s home. The McMullins were very active in the Miss Texas Pageant association/system/corporation/whatever and were chaperones. During our rehearsal Shirley Cothran, THE FORMER MISS AMERICA...I’ll repeat that…THE FORMER MISS AMERICA…comes walking into the living room and tells us that we sound really good. They never told us she was in the house!!!! I was stunned. And just in case you’re wondering, no she wasn’t walking around in a tiara or a beaded gown. She was just as normal as normal could be.

Anyway, I outgrew my obsession with Miss America shortly after everything blew up with Vanessa Williams, Miss America 1984A. (That isn’t a typo.) It really had nothing to do with the scandal. And don’t get me wrong…I’m a big fan of Vanessa Williams. Talk about someone who was handed lemons and rather than making lemonade she poured some vodka on them and now look at her, she’s Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty!

My obsession with Miss America was quasi-renewed when I moved to Houston and would attend Miss Camp America. They held this event the same night as Miss America and it was truly one of the best events in town.

So that’s the story. Guess it also sorta explains my obsession with hurricanes. And to let you know how big of a nerd I can be, I used to memorize the list of major hurricanes that hit the U.S. I used to know the name, the year and where it hit.

Go ahead and say it, “You need a life.”