Free Juice and Coffee for 50-bucks
Had quite an evening last night. It started off well enough. My friends Dave and Angela took me out to celebrate getting my Masters classes finished and to sort of "pay me" for shooting portrait shots of their 2-year-old son, David Michael. So we all went to Baytown Seafood in Vanvleck. I had never been there, but I'm sure has heck going back. If you like seafood... no matter how far away from Texas you live... make the drive. It's worth it.
After dinner I left Dave's place and came home to the ever-present workload. I actually got a lot done before I noticed that it was after 10p.m. I had a funeral to go to this morning (my step-father's mother passed away after a long illness and I was asked to be a pallbearer), so I decided to turn in and get a good night's rest. I logged off, shut down the laptop and started getting ready for bed.
I hadn't been away from my desk for more than a few minutes when the first snap came. The power went off for about 30 seconds. Never a good sign. I could also hear the wind pick up and rain start to hit hard on the windows. Apparently, when I wasn't paying attention, a hell of a storm rolled in. When the power came back on, I immediately went and fished out a flashlight. Just in case.
Good thing, too, since the power went off again only a few minutes later. And this time, it stayed off for a couple of hours.
Even though the outside temperature was dropping, it was still pretty warm inside my house, and not having a fan going was giving me a double whammy... I needed the "white noise" to help me sleep. So I ended up lying awake until well after midnight. And frankly, that's too much time staring into the darkness for someone with my particular affliction -- the Over Active Imagination (TM). I had plenty of time to think about pretty much everything.
For example, I found it ironic that there could be so much electricity floating around outside during a thunderstorm, completely free of charge (pardon the pun), but inside where I'm PAYING for electricity there's none to be found. These are the thoughts of the logical minded as they lie awake during thunder storms.
I finally did get to sleep, once the juice kicked back on. But I didn't feel too rested when my alarm went off this morning. Time to get up and get ready for the funeral.
I didn't really know my step-father's mother. Adelia Ruth Tumlinson (I think it was "Adelia," I'm not 100% on that) died at 81 years of age on Tuesday morning. She left behind a rather large family, if today was any indication.
What struck me as I sat and listened to the service was that I didn't know more than four people in the whole room. I'm 32 years old... I've been a "Tumlinson" since I was around six. Now my mom and Cecil (my step- and adopted father) have been divorced since I was around 12 or so, and since that time I haven't exactly spent much time with Cecil. But you would think that in 20 something years I would have met these people at some point. But I might as well have been sitting in a room full of strangers.
And by the way, there's nothing like a funeral to get you thinking about life. I like my life, but I have to admit that I'm often a little on the lonely side. Seeing all of these people and their families didn't do much for making me feel better about it.
On a much lighter note, though, today I bought the coolest coffee maker ever. Hamilton Beach's Brew Station. I...am in awe. It's almost like a religious experience. This thing, it's everything I ever wanted in a coffee maker. You just put your mug in there and press the button with it and COFFEE comes out! It's like manna from Heaven!
For 50-bucks, I'd buy it twice if I thought it would do any good.
So today's been quite a day. And now I get to relax a little before the big holiday hub-bub tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me, in case I don't get to you in time, have a happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone stays safe and gets to see their family. Be grateful for all of them.
And for coffee.
After dinner I left Dave's place and came home to the ever-present workload. I actually got a lot done before I noticed that it was after 10p.m. I had a funeral to go to this morning (my step-father's mother passed away after a long illness and I was asked to be a pallbearer), so I decided to turn in and get a good night's rest. I logged off, shut down the laptop and started getting ready for bed.
I hadn't been away from my desk for more than a few minutes when the first snap came. The power went off for about 30 seconds. Never a good sign. I could also hear the wind pick up and rain start to hit hard on the windows. Apparently, when I wasn't paying attention, a hell of a storm rolled in. When the power came back on, I immediately went and fished out a flashlight. Just in case.
Good thing, too, since the power went off again only a few minutes later. And this time, it stayed off for a couple of hours.
Even though the outside temperature was dropping, it was still pretty warm inside my house, and not having a fan going was giving me a double whammy... I needed the "white noise" to help me sleep. So I ended up lying awake until well after midnight. And frankly, that's too much time staring into the darkness for someone with my particular affliction -- the Over Active Imagination (TM). I had plenty of time to think about pretty much everything.
For example, I found it ironic that there could be so much electricity floating around outside during a thunderstorm, completely free of charge (pardon the pun), but inside where I'm PAYING for electricity there's none to be found. These are the thoughts of the logical minded as they lie awake during thunder storms.
I finally did get to sleep, once the juice kicked back on. But I didn't feel too rested when my alarm went off this morning. Time to get up and get ready for the funeral.
I didn't really know my step-father's mother. Adelia Ruth Tumlinson (I think it was "Adelia," I'm not 100% on that) died at 81 years of age on Tuesday morning. She left behind a rather large family, if today was any indication.
What struck me as I sat and listened to the service was that I didn't know more than four people in the whole room. I'm 32 years old... I've been a "Tumlinson" since I was around six. Now my mom and Cecil (my step- and adopted father) have been divorced since I was around 12 or so, and since that time I haven't exactly spent much time with Cecil. But you would think that in 20 something years I would have met these people at some point. But I might as well have been sitting in a room full of strangers.
And by the way, there's nothing like a funeral to get you thinking about life. I like my life, but I have to admit that I'm often a little on the lonely side. Seeing all of these people and their families didn't do much for making me feel better about it.
On a much lighter note, though, today I bought the coolest coffee maker ever. Hamilton Beach's Brew Station. I...am in awe. It's almost like a religious experience. This thing, it's everything I ever wanted in a coffee maker. You just put your mug in there and press the button with it and COFFEE comes out! It's like manna from Heaven!
For 50-bucks, I'd buy it twice if I thought it would do any good.
So today's been quite a day. And now I get to relax a little before the big holiday hub-bub tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me, in case I don't get to you in time, have a happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone stays safe and gets to see their family. Be grateful for all of them.
And for coffee.