Estoy Nueces

The road trip will commence within hours and I am excited. The vacation began last night when Mark and I both finished our work and settled in to watch the Sopranos at about midnight. No work for four days. What a luxury.

Wonderful new device at work that I am excited about. Let's just say it is a modern day tape machine that will be taping my show and every show. Sounds a bit like Big Brother, but for me, it will help get an "escape tape" as my engineer called it. I like that. All radio people should be listening to their own shows regularly and saving the good parts. Now if I do something that I like or I think is funny on the air, I can practically immediately e-mail it to myself at home for future use to get a job or look back with fondness. I can even save a whole four show with commercials and all if I would like to.

We had Cooder Graw at the cafe last night and it was a good show. This week I was feeling healthy and energetic. Hooray. I looked great and I was happy to be there. I like this band a lot, but they didn't put on the high energy show I expected of them. I did love their new shirts that said "I was born on the llano estacado." I didn't get one because all I need in this world is another t-shirt to not wear.

The usual hanger-on listeners were there. There is one that is really really beginning to bug me. He has gone from mildly likeable to tolerable to why-is-he-here-again? and I'm getting very very tired of him and his antics. One thing he does that really gets in my craw (where is that craw?) is that he somehow procures the required pass to be backstage in the little house each and every week. We had had a meeting and discussed the need to keep those passes to a minimum and make sure the people there belonged there. There is no free beer anymore so that, in itself, was enough to deter a lot of people from getting in or wanting to get in, but not this prize whore. He still is back there which eliminates a place for me to get away from people like him.

I'm trying to remember the last time Mark and I went on a road trip like this. Colorado in January doesn't count because it was too far and too long. Last year we went to San Antonio and did come home through the bluebonnets, but since we stayed in a fancy hotel and had a purpose in going to San Antonio (to see B.B.), that trip doesn't count either. I think we've had one since we've moved to Austin, but I couldn't swear to it without going through my old diaries and journals. Too long, for sure. I'm looking forward to antique stores, Dairy Queens, interesting buildings, abandoned movie theaters, flowers growing in the sidewalks, sweet little old ladies working in their yards...