Monday Meanderings - April 26

We stopped by the hospital the other day to visit a friend, and as we were leaving there was a public address announcement "Code Purple - all Emergency Room personnel." This was repeated several times and I wondered what that code might be. The exit took us past the Emergency area and no one looked alarmed, so I decided it must mean something like "Please gather up all the wheel chairs and take them back where they belong" or something like that. Until we stepped outside and saw a plethora of police cars arriving at a high rate of speed - some with lights and sirens, and we decided it must mean something more serious but we didn't stay to see what it might have been.

Lunched at Mama Roux the other day (wonderful gumbo) and afterward  Barb "happened" to notice that there is a new yogurt shop along the lines of the Yodigity place we enjoyed in California; serve yourself the type of frozen yogurt you desire, top to your heart's content and pay by the ounce pound. There was a lot of fresh fruit available and that made a great combination. Glad it's not real close or some place we drive by daily.

And thanks to my children, who got me hooked on Words with Friends, and my sister for brokering a wonderful deal, and my wife who gave it to me for an early Birthday present, I can now play on my very own iTouch. If you are a WwF player, and you aren't much good, start a game with deda1215.

And our Anacacho Orchid tree is blooming:

Unfortunately, this isn't it, but wouldn't it be nice?

A diversion

Okay, you got me. This blog has nothing to do with Austin, retirement, getting older or embarrassing my family. I just thought it was interesting. I was going to take the lazy way out and just post a link (not one of those below), but right in the middle of a wonderful string of photos was one that I simply didn't care to have show up on my blog. So here are a few samples that I stole. Interesting ethical conundrum; steal photos or link to naughty pictures. Hmmm.

The subject is Sleeveface Photography. Here's the description:

"Sleeveface is an intriguing phenomenon making its rounds on the web. It has become particularly popular on social networking sites.

The technique is pretty straightforward and consists of photographs of one more people obscuring or augmenting any part of their bodies with album sleeves, causing an illusion."

You can find thousands of examples on Flickr or Sleeveface.com

The magic cup of coffee

It's been a busy day. After breakfast and a stop at the Post Office, Barb and I headed in different directions - she to run errands and walk; me to the RFB&D studio. We met up again mid-afternoon - she prepped  for class and I trimmed some limbs to a size suitable to put out for the trash man. Separate cars to Chuy's and she's off to class while I go by the library and check in/out books.

I'm home alone now, and it's time to brew a magic cup of coffee and go sit out on the patio to watch the evening gather. It's chilly and overcast tonight and darkness will come quickly. This afternoon while on the treadmill, I counted a dozen Finches swarming the feeder, eating furiously as if they couldn't keep the fires stoked in their tiny high-octane engines; now they are done feeding, the metabolism has been dialed back, and they are making nesting noises. They are a rowdy bunch and create quite a cacophony; one in particular is really ticked off about something. She sounds like an angry pressure cooker, clattering away. Gradually they settle down and here and there pairs of Finches will volley a single short note back and forth, as if they are reassuring each other that the kids are home and all is well. If I am very still, the occasional bird will come to the water dish at my feet for a bed-time sip of water.

I recognize the liquid call of the Redbirds. They are flying back and forth between this yard and the next, as if they are trying to decide which tree to settle in. There's only one Blue-jay in sight; it calls anxiously, noisily, for it's mate - late getting home from the office. A couple of Mourning Doves coo quietly as they gather up the last of the manna that has fallen from the feeders on high.

Finally, the only sounds are the muffled wheels of cars, hurrying past over on Cameron. The magic cup of coffee is empty.  I gather my cup and my blessing and go inside for the night.

Monday Meandering - April 19

Barb came home from a doctor's visit the other day with a bionic tick taped to her side. It was a small medical device (smaller than a silver dollar) that sampled her blood at some insane frequency, like every 5 seconds, determined her blood sugar level, then recorded an average for some longer period of time - like an hour, then stored it for downloading later. She handled it pretty well. I thought it was kinda creepy.

Chuy's - famous for their t-shirts - has a new one. On the front is a large green chili with a bite taken out of it (ala the Apple logo) and the legend iHungry. On the back it says "We've got an app for that" and the face of an iphone with app logos for Chicken Quesadillas, Chuy Changas, Classic Tex-Mex, Chili Rellenos, etc. Clever.

I got a friend request on Facebook the other evening from someone I didn't recognize by name. That's not all that unusual so I clicked on the person's profile; sometimes I just don't recognize the name, sometimes it is a total stranger who I promptly ignore. On the profile page, the larger picture showed this person to be a babe;  provocatively posed in a Bikini top (or something of that nature). Even though she was a stranger, she looked like someone who might need a friend, but Barb said no. Oh, well.

We got a little behind in viewing the TV programs that we record to watch later. First there was the Olympics, then Men's and Women's Final Four, and some other stuff mixed in there as well. Finally resolved to start catching up - and discovered we have shows dating back to February! Now it's time for NBA playoffs. I just hope we make some headway before World Cup begins. Or when the shows start again next season.

And if you thought you were tough, check out this little guy -

Words with friends

While in Lubbock, Rob introduced us to an iPhone game called Words with Friends. It's an interactive version of Scrabble. I loaded a copy on Barb's iTouch ($2) and we've been playing ever since,

You take turns playing against one other person, but you can have multiple games going with multiple people at the same time. It's asynchronous - you can make your move and check back later to see what the other person played. Since I'm borrowing Barb's iTouch to play, I don't get that many chances to play during the day. Hmmm. This may be the tipping point, iTouch wise.

Fun game, I recommend it, but that's not really why I am writing about it. Rob and I have played 4 games. At the moment, it's divided evenly with 2 wins each. However, I think I can assure you that I am unhappier with my two losses than Rob is with his. In, fact, earlier when he was laying down 4-letter words worth 50 points each Barb texted him to let him know he was upsetting his father!

I pride myself on my vocabulary. I have always scored high in word usage; I breeze through verbose and arcane tomes while reading for the blind. I know a slew of words! A veritable plethora of words! So how is it that that little twerp my son beats me like a drum! can aggregate a few fortuitous words from a paltry accretion of random letters and outscore me by better than 100 points! by a scant margin?

That's my boy!