Tuesday, Apr. 11, 2006 12:19 am
Uncle's Party
Of course, I was gone from Friday night until Sunday night so that is part of it. And I'm still wrung out and exhausted from it all.
I drove to Dallas on Friday night. Man, I hit the front about 10 miles from Temple and I thought my car was falling apart. Suddenly it was making noise and harder to steer and then I realized that things were flying out of the sky at me, too. Just hard north winds suddenly there.
The gas prices were going up as fast as the temperatures were going down, too. In Austin the gas was maybe 2.57, which is high in comparison to the last few weeks. I got up to about Salado and tried to fill up and it was 2.67 at a little podunk place. I thought I surely could do better so I went a little further and it was still 2.67 so I got about a half a tank. Then it was 2.71 and then 2.77 and then in Dallas it wasn't unusual to see 2.82 or 2.84. Just crazy!! Fortunatly, I got 2.61 near my sister's house on Saturday night so I was set for the drive home. I need more tomorrow, but I'm back in Austin and it is usually 2.59 again.
The trip was a lot faster and more fun with the iPod. I really enjoyed hearing my collection on shuffle and listening to the new CDs I just got. Mostly I was listening to Bruce Robison's entire collection on shuffle for the drive up.
Saturday we got up early and my sister and I met my parents and drove to Oklahoma. The bluebonnets were lovely all the way up to Quanah, Texas. Mom and Dad were in good spirits and didn't drive us crazy at all. No one needed Valium this trip.
My aunt had a wonderful party for my uncle. It was a great surprise to see how many people were there. All of my first cousins except the one with cancer were there. Four of the next generation were there, too. My mom's first cousin and all of her family were there. It was a great party with great food and lots of love. The weather was beautiful and we had a good three hours of visiting before heading back to DFW.
My nephews didn't go with us, but I got to see a lot of them at their house. The younger one has a new girlfriend and I got to meet her. He was very proud. The older one is about to graduate from high school and I saw all of his pictures that they are considering. He is a handsome confident boy.
I slept like a rock Saturday night and stayed deep in slumber until 11 Sunday morning and then still couldn't get un-groggy for the longest time. Finally got my act together and ate and got on the road. Another easy drive with my iPod. Home for a good nap and then the Sopranos and three episodes of Big Love. I think we are now hooked on that one.
Today, Monday, was a pretty typical workday. I think my show was rather lame.
Tonight the intern took me to Vivo on Manor. What a great restaurant! I'm glad I got to try something new. Very cool place and great food, too. We went from there on out to the club on the east side. We were way too early, but we stayed and sat through a set before we bailed. He's heading back to his work on the gulf tomorrow and then he goes to Japan in two weeks. The life he leads. I'm sure glad I don't have to think about packing for two weeks in Japan. I do need to think about a weekend in Tyler, however and I'll worry about that tomorrow.