Halloween Adventures

This year, I had the pleasure of walking around with the kids (and a group of neighbors) for Halloween. Rod wanted to be the one to answer the door, but I really think he wanted to surprise trick-or-treaters with his Superman costume.

We got about 10 minutes into the neighborhood walk when I received a phone call from Rod. Thank goodness he was the one who was home. He had gone into the garage briefly to get something from his car and on his way back in, a RAT scurried from the garage into the house. Rod said the body was about 5 inches and adding the tail made it about 9 inches. AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH. He chased it around the house and at one point it jumped onto the first stair, as if it wanted to dash upstairs. It would have been a nightmare trying to find it if it did that. He said it ran under every conceivable cover and when I returned home, all the couches were upside down from his searches. The rat even ran over his foot once. Eventually he chased it out the front door. Ugh. To top it off, the kids were getting ready for bed and a huge grasshopper had found its way upstairs and was chaotically bouncing off the walls. it didn't help that Kenneth was laughing hysterically and yelling "It's got enormous fangs! Look at the fangs!!" Evelyn was beside herself with tiredness and got so upset about it, especially when Kenneth grabbed her dress she had set out for the next school day to use to capture the grasshopper. I intervened, trapped the grasshopper in the middle room and when Rod finally arrived at the scene, he went in to get it. Sure enough, he agreed that "this sucker has a set of choppers." Great.

This Halloween rat was rodent incident number 4 in the Walline household. We've been here for a little over 4 years, so once per year isn't too bad I suppose. Some of you may recall my experience with finding a dead, disgusting, drowned rat in the midst of my clean WASH as I unloaded it from the washing machine to the dryer. This was a couple of years ago, around the same time a mouse crawled through our cooling down oven to grab a freshly baked mini-muffin from the cooling rack and try to drag it back down. The other rodent experience involved me seeing a mouse run through the garage, and because this was our first rodent incident, Rod didn't believe me until he found said mouse drowned in a bucket that had a couple inches of water in it.

Life's an adventure, though I'd prefer adventures without animals involved on any level.

I am leaving for Taiwan again on Friday evening and will be back the following Friday. Rod launches the 2nd edition of his magazine in my absence. He's so excited about it!

Toh-Tally

Evelyn tells us that a boy named Nicolas ("sometimes he lets us call him Nick") has a way of accentuating other people's adjectives with the word "Totally." Evelyn likes to use the word "Sweet!" or "Awesome!", to which Nicolas replies in perfect Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High fashion "Toh-tally Sweet...". It is cute to watch Evelyn imitate him.

Last Saturday, Kenneth participated in a special soccer tournament called "Spookout" through the Round Rock soccer association. The teams were 3 vs. 3 so it was much more fast-paced than a traditional game. A different set of rules applied as well. His team won all three of the standard games, which allowed them to advance to the finals. Their last game was so exciting and so close -- they were leading till the last part when the other team scored one goal that put them in the lead. Although I did not get any pictures of the games, I can assure you the boys were beyond thrilled with themselves after all of the games, and truly disappointed when they lost. However, he got a great trophy and the team had 2nd place status in the tournament.


Saturday night, Rod and I dressed up for Halloween and headed downtown to a friend's loft for a party. Rod was Clark Kent and had a Superman costume underneath his suit. He revealed the Superman costume after we had been there about an hour. I attempted a Wonder Woman costume, mostly made out of things I already owned. We had to stop at a Walmart on the way to the party to pick up gold braided rope for the lasso of truth, a gold belt, and a gold wrist bands. This picture was taken before I wandered through Walmart in my red tights, short-shorts, and high heel boots to purchase the accessories. I ditched the yellow-suede belt in the picture for a gold one with a big buckle. The blazer was the only thing that kept me feeling like a semi-normal person. Of course, having Rod accompany me with the suit probably didn't read too well to the Pflugerville Walmart customers. I swear we looked better in person.

Blue Angels Air Show

Last weekend we zipped up to Dallas to visit our friends, Tiffani, Jim, & Abby and see an air show that featured the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels are 'the best of the best' as far as fighter and stunt pilots. It was a beautiful day, but despite the nice weather, the sun made us tired. OK, when I say "us" I mean the 4 females in the group. Tiffani laid on her back on the hot concrete at one point and I spent time sitting with my head facing down to avoid too much sun exposure. Evelyn and Abby took only one good photo where they didn't look exhausted or upset. Rod took a picture of me and Tiffani that I refuse to admit was the reality of the day (and also refuse to post it). The wind had whipped several hairs out of the ponytail that was attempting to restrain them and we looked like splotchy-faced Olans. Kenneth and Rod spent most of the time happily looking up at the sky with cameras. Rod was bright red the following day. The Blue Angels portion of the show was very cool, I have to admit.

AbouTown Launch

Rod and one of his College Station colleagues, Chris, launched a community newspaper called AbouTown that gets mailed to everyone in Bryan/College Station. We are all very excited about it. They had the launch party about a week and a half ago and lots of folks showed up to support them.
While we were there, the kids went to Elizabeth's house and hung out with their cousins. OF course, they had a lot of fun.

We've been so busy that we have had a poor plant in the pot in which we bought it for about a month. I faithfully watered it in the tiny pot, but it definitely needed to be planted or it would die. The kids helped plant it in the front yard. Hopefully it will grow to block the view of the water meter and hoses!



Saturday started out with the usual soccer games. Rod took this cute picture of Evelyn and a couple of her teammates. This weekend we went to an awesome (!!) restaurant south of downtown called Home Slice with some friends/neighbors. It was amazing. The pizza was great, but the meatball sandwich was to die for. Those of you who know me, know that I would not ordinarily lush over a meatball sandwich so it has to be good! Afterwards, we headed over to a green city festival, organized by the City of Austin.

DC Trip: Day 4

The last day of our trip included a morning visit to the Textile Museum. This is not a traditional stop that a DC-visit might entail, but it is worth it. My work is directly involved with Industrial Design and textiles play a role in user perceptions. The museum was recommended by a colleague who has specialized in Colors/Materials/Finishes as they relate to products. It was located about 4 blocks from our B&B, in a historic neighborhood. As we walked down the street, we realized we were surrounded by embassies. Walks later that day in a slightly different direction showed more of the same. Although it makes sense, it still surprised us how many we saw. The picture is me in front of one of the Ireland embassies. The Museum was located in the former family home of the man who started the collection that has now grown into the largest collection in the U.S. The third floor of the museum actually has a textile library for students of this art.


After the Textile Museum, we had lunch in the Dupont Circle area at a French Bistro and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening shopping in Georgetown. Our flight was early Sunday morning and we were very glad to get home to see the kids.

DC Trip: Day 3

Our third and fourth days in DC were a little bit more relaxing. The morning at the B&B was a little odd, though. Forgive the detailed story about the toaster situation, but it bothered me at the time. The regular B&B management was not around when I got up for breakfast; instead, another lady was handling the kitchen and clearly was not aiming for customer experience. I was all set to toast my own bagel using one of the three available toasters set up in the dining area, without any need for eggs or anything that might require assistance. Because they only had mini-bagels, I opted for the traditional toaster where you can lay the bagel flat, as opposed to the sideways-entry toaster, which is really meant for larger items. I placed my bagel halves in the toaster and realized it wasn't plugged in, so I reached around the table and plugged it in. Out of nowhere, this lady appears and tells me "You can use the other toaster!" Taken aback, I said "this is fine, I plugged it in". Clearly still invested in my bagel-making tactics, she pointed out "this one has a bagel setting!" OOOOKKKKK. I could tell she was edgy, so I looked at her blankly and moved my bagels to the sideways toaster that she desperately wanted me to use. Of course, the bagel setting was actually meant for normal-size bagels, not mini ones so it didn't really work out. As soon as I got the bagels in the preferred toaster, she grabbed the tray from the first toaster, dumped the few crumbs into the trash can, put the tray back in and unplugged it. WHATEVER. If she really didn't want people to use it because she didn't want to clean it, then it shouldn't have been an option on the table. Sigh.

Our first stop of the day was the Smithsonian Hirshhorn museum, which is primarily sculptures, mixed in with a few other exhibits. The exhibits included:

* An art series by Morris Louis. His striped canvases appealed to me tremendously. I may try to find a print of one that I really like for framing purposes.

* A room with a name plate that was called "Milk Run". The idea was that you were supposed to walk into this darkened hallway with glow-tape arrows to direct you to an even darker room. The messaging dictated that you wait several minutes for your eyes to adjust and said not to "walk in the white area". A security guard stood in the area between the semi-darkened hallway and the "milk run". She guided us, one at a time through the darkness by holding our elbow and asked us if we wanted to sit. Sure, why not. This involved further elbow guiding until she gestured (I could barely see) to an area that had a bench. By this time, I realized we had been guided past a row of people already seated on what was a bleacher-like bench. After my eyes adjusted, I was embarrassed at how much those people could see us stumbling around, shoulders hunched and hands out searching for solid objects. The milk run itself was just a stark white floor with a reddish-orange lighting glow coming from around the corner that projected onto the white floor. It was very serious in there and I asked Rod if he thought we should expect anything else. We eventually got up and left. The security guard told us that "milk run" implied a sunrise on a farm and that was what the exhibit was about.

* A video that was more like animal performance art. The artist videotaped a wild wolf and a wild deer together in a white room; basically, taking two wild animals out of their natural element and watching what happened. The images would zoom in on the deer, which was clearly stressed out (breathing hard and darting eyes). The wolf circled around but got bored and laid on the ground to sleep after a while. The goal was to have observers look deeper into themselves (according to the signage). It didn't do much for introspection (for me anyway).

More tomorrow...

DC Trip: Day 2

We are lucky enough to have 2 cousins in DC, Hank and Sarah. Hank has finished college and is working near the Capitol and Sarah is a junior at George Washington University. Hank arranged a personal tour of the US Capitol through our state rep's (Mike McCaul) office on Thursday morning. A very nice intern named Emily showed us around and we heard about many details that I don't think we'd have been told on a regular tour. No famous politician sightings, although we saw Nancy Pelosi's chamber entrance with a "closed" sign blocking the hallway. :)


After that, we visited the Library of Congress, which was one of my favorite sites on the whole trip. It is not only beautiful, but the ambiance reminds you that education is sacred. We walked past the Supreme Court building as we left the Library.

After lunch, we visited the American Indian museum and the Botanical Gardens, then headed back to the B&B to rest up before meeting my cousins for dinner. We met in Georgetown at a restaurant called Clyde's and had a great visit. We hope to see them more often. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the four of us!

DC Trip: Day 1

Rod and I landed in DC around 3 PM last Wednesday and after purchasing $17 worth of two drinks and a shared Cinnabon at the airport, we bought Metro cards and hopped on the Red line to Dupont Circle. Our B&B was perfectly located in Upper Georgetown, which was a safe(ish) and eccentric part of town. The Metro station at Dupont Circle was about 5 blocks from the B&B, so it was a brief walk every time we wanted to use the subway. The escalator up (see Rod's picture) was very steep and moved very slowly. Our B&B was quaint, with spiraling stairs and wooden floors . We were on the 4th floor (no elevator) and our particular room was really rather big, with our own bathroom and mini-refrigerator. The fourth picture from the top (in the center row) of the website was our specific room. http://www.lodgingsinternational.com/accommodations/1663.htm


After relaxing a bit and unpacking our luggage, we checked out the street map and determined that we were only about 3-4 miles from the part of DC that had the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, etc. We ate at a locally famous Italian restaurant called Anna Maria's. There were pictures of the owners (father, then son as the pictures progressed in time) with famous politicians and celebrities. I am standing in front of the restaurant in the picture.

We continued our walk down to the monuments for a night-time view, which we'd heard was a requirement since the lighting is so beautifully placed. We walked by the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the Lincoln Monument. On our way to the Lincoln Monument, we walked along the rectangular pond that was featured in the Forrest Gump movie; by that time, it was dark and swarms of large gnats were attacking us along the entire length of the pond in periodic (every 30 seconds or so) bouts. On our way back to Georgetown, we walked through the George Washington University campus. The next day, we regretted the 8 mile walk because our shins were quite sore!

Pulling Nails

The photo is a collage someone at work made of various people at work during the Habitat for Humanity project. I am in the top-left photo, sitting on my rear end in the shade while doing my nail removing work. Might as well make it as easy as possible!

Rod and I are heading to Washington DC Wed-Sun this week for a mini-vacation. We are excited about the trip, although work is relentless.