Happy Holidays

Ok, so my blog has gone into "ignore mode" for a bit... But before I left town for the holidays, I wanted to pass along the trailer for the next season of Lost. This show is one of the very few reasons I still subscribe to cable.

RHPS

Finally, this weekend, I was able to pop my cherry on an experience I've always wanted to take part in, but just never made the time: a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I happened to be in the cool and trendy part of Houston Saturday night, having dinner with friends. They wanted to hit the bars, but I just didn't want to. Not my scene and I'd already been dragged there for my quarterly quota.

So, on my way to a coffee shop, I saw that the River Oaks had it showing. (the coolest theaters I've been to in a while--it was one of only two theaters in Houston to show Brokeback Mountain on opening weekend)



Let me tell you, it didn't disappoint. If you've never been to one of these participatory midnight showings, I highly recommend it. They had a very enthusiastic live cast that acted-out the entire move on-stage at the same time it was playing. Dirty. Raunchy. It even got a little wet at one point. I haven't had that much fun in a while. (when was the last time you were *expected* to make noise, be disruptive and throw things during a movie?)

Here we go again--destroying the country

"I don’t think the issue’s about being against gay marriage. It’s about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that’s important. You have to have a basic family structure. There’s never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived."

-- Mike Huckabee

Yeah. Anyone remember South Fagistan? They redefined marriage and where are they now? I guess that country didn't survive.

I never realized that Merriam-Webster had the ability to dissolve an entire civilization.

Yeah! Cold?

Finally, our first frost of the year. Too bad it will be gone in an hour. At least it will be a nice and cool 65 today. Enjoy what you can.

Near Miss?

(I wasn't going to blog this because it's not that darn interesting, but I wanted to move the previous bad news from the top of the blog--thanks to all for the kind words and phonecalls)

So, between Norway and everywhere else, you will normally fly Scandanavian Airlines. (there isn't much of a market for larger airlines) The biggest part of their fleet are Dash 8's. Those are cool little turboprops.

My coworker in Norway "warned" me that they didn't have the best safety record, so I checked them out before I left the country. Nothing I could do, but it was interesting.

In a nice twist, the NY Times reported that just a couple of weeks after I returned, Scandanavian Airlines announced that they would retire their entire Dash 8 fleet after yet another landing gear failure.

Oops.

So Long and Farewell

Today I say "goodbye" to Trogdor. For over four years now, he's been the best cat I could ever hope for. It's said that "dog is man's best friend" and I can't dispute that. But Trog came in a close second. Not a day went by that he wasn't waiting for me by the door when I got home. He rarely left my side and more often than not could be found sitting in my lap. (if I wanted him there or not) And whenever I'd lay down to sleep at night or just for a nap on the couch, he always slept with me. He was a very loving companion.

But Trog had been strange in his eating habits recently. Some days he wouldn't eat much and other days he would eat just fine. But other than appearing to be a little lazier than usual, he seemed normal. But when he started quickly loosing weight and almost stopped eating entirely, I got worried fast.

I took him into the local vet and was immediately referred to the vet school at A&M. After several tests and a long night of worrying, I got news even worse than I'd feared--advanced kidney disease. Surgery might have prolonged his life for a while, but not long. Nothing else could be done.

So, Wednesday I drove back up to A&M and did the only humane thing I could think of. At least I got to comfort him in his last few minutes. He laid on my chest and--even as scared as he was from not being at home--I got a little purr out of him.

It's been a couple of days and the worst of it is over for me. But I still find myself forgetting that he's gone and wondering why he isn't sitting next to me on the couch. That part will take a while to get past.

So, I just wanted to say "thanks Trog--you were a great cat."


P.S. I also want to say "thanks" to the Bloyds for their advice and support duing all of this. I really appreciate you two.

Either you get it or you don't

...but damn, it's funny.