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dolariDammit! First I miss AWFW's 3rd Anniversary, and now I missed CS'es which was MArch 4th! Oh, well, I'll have Anniversary stuff up this week. Makes it easier to drop Closetspace stuff, cause I forgot I have a Doctor's Appointment this Monday.
#9 Fund: $250
TUESDAY
The first official day of my Vacation.
Got up a little early, knowing that I was gonna stop by Erin's TACT meeting, and scope things out there. It was actually a pretty good coincidence that I went. (1) I had managed to run super late with the comics, so we couldn't meet up on Monday. (2) Tuesday was wide open for both of us and (3) we had the TACT meeting that Erin had wanted me to go to for a while.
I met her at Waterloo Ice House for dinner where she gave me her unused wireless card, and we sat and caught up since the party of many moons ago. Much talk about work, friends and #9. We shifted freom the Ice House to the meeting house (which was REALLY nice, a converted house turned into a series of meeting rooms and offices), and coninued our conversation till it was toime for the meeting.
To tell you the truth, I was kinda cringing when I was asked to come to these. My experiences with support groups and TG PAC meetings is that it's 35 seconds of business, and two hours of gossip, cattiness, and nothing deeper than Superficial Stuff. I hate crap like that. Another alarm bell went off when I found out several Tri-Ess members were there. Tri-Ess and I also have a bit of a history, which we've seen some sparks recently, but which I'll talk about some other time.
However, Erin was there - and Erin doesn't do gossip/cattiness/politics (well, social politics) or anything. If she felt this was important, then it was.
And I'm glad I stuck it through. I met some very nice folks there, who spent the meeting time devoted to business (with the social stuff at the very end). They were here to work, not to preen. Strangely enough Rifka was there, who I didn't think had any connection to TG issues.
Eventually, as the meeting went on, I got lassoed into working on a logo for them, from what I can tell, for T-Shirts. I've got four ideas in mind, and have worked on one already:
The other designs involve using the Texas Star (Five pointed 3-D star you see on our State Seal), The standard upside down triangle and using their current logo mixed with the State shape.
I'm really loathe to go into the triangle one, though, since I think it's overused, and graphically boring. The problem with the logo, right now, is I don't know what it's FOR. I'm assuming this is for shirts they're putting together, so I'll prolly just do plain B&W logos for now, let them decide on what basic design they want, and then do detailed logos based on that (if they even want them, pure black is cheap to reproduce on Shirts).
In the end, I'd definatley get more involved in this group, if only work was a little more forgiving. In the meantime I have a pencil and a webcomic at your disposal.
(Oh, one thing I gotta say, before I finish this...there was a someone there named Sofia. I don't know if she was CD/TS/TG or CPO Sharkey, but, my goodness she looked great. :) She looked exactly like a real life Sakura from the Street Fighter Alpha Series).
We broke up afterwards, and Erin and I finished up our game of catchup, and went our seperate ways. Erin, we all need to get together more often. :)
When I got home, I popped in the wireless card. I don't have a wireless hub, but I wanted to test my PCMCIA slot on R. Dorothy since I got her. So in it went...and suddenly....10 items pop up in the list of nearby networks. O_O Of those 10, 6 were unsecured. I pretty much got free internet if I wannit....
The evening went very well with the late night #9 chat session. :)
WEDNESDAY
I got up and got out - ROAD TRIP. I'll spare you the blow by blow, since I did that with the map in one of the previous entries. Some notes from the trip:
1) Fitzhugh is HARD to find since the road it's on has had a different name everytime I've driven it.
2) Blink, and you'll miss Henly.
3) Boardhouse - this little area has an old routing of US 290, and I REALLY lucked out. I decided to take pics for a highway webste, and when I got to the gate I usually get to (which is locked) it was wide open. Feigning ignorance of tresspassing laws, I grove right past them. I ended up driving about an extra mile on the old road I hadn't driven before. Unfortunately, the next gate I hit was padlocked shut. No getting in. Still, it allowed me to take a ton of pics of another area of old abandonned highway. Hopefully, the site I took the pics for will accept them and put them up.
4) Tracking the old Frederickburg and Northern is no where NEAR as easy as US 290 was. That railroad hasn't existed for nearly 60 years and a lot of brush has covered the tracks. If you can't see the ground, it's hard to find the berms or the gullies it ran through. One whole area I'll need to revisit with more accurate maps, since my 1940 map didn't cut it, and I couldn't find a crossover.
5) I'm no spring chicken anymore. I'm so incredibly out of shape, it's not funny. Just last year, I made it down to the Rail Road tunnel and back without breaking a sweat. Wednesday? I was winded halfway back up.
6)
Why don't Texans build bridges over rivers and streams? One road I went down for pictures was completely impassible because the Guadalupe River ran over the roadway. There was no bridge here, just poured concrete. No way I could see the roadbed, and I Wans't gonna try. I've crossed this road before, but, I mean, come on. If I dont' feel safe in my pickup, then you NEED a bridge. That "Channel" you see to the right is the roadway, the "hump" in the water is the road, and the white ditch you see on the other side is the continuance of the road.
7) McDonalds uses wireless in their stores, and you can access it with a card. :)
8) Dairy Queen doesn't.
Again, the day ended nicely with an Emily Chat Session (TM)
THURSDAY
Boring day, I literally have done NOTHING but help bit with Dean's dinner plans, and sayt in front of this computer playing video games. Now exactly a PRODUCTIVE Vacation Day, but, well, what can ya do. Hopefully today, I'll hit Mayfield Park
Here, let's make it productive:
LAYER ONE
-Name: Jennifer
-Birthdate: July 26th
-Birthplace: San Antonio, TX
-Current Location: Austin, TX
-Eye Color: Deep brown (sometimes black)
-Hair Color: Black
-Height: 5'7
-Righty or Lefty: Righty
-Zodiac Sign: Leo. A supposedly VERY Leo.
LAYER TWO
-Your heritage: Mexican, mostly. 1/8th french. Several of my cousins and one uncle are light skinned with blue eyes.
-The shoes you wore today: My usual sneakers
-Your weakness: Money and Food
-Your fears: Destitution and Hopelessness
-Your perfect pizza: EVERYTHING but anchovies. This includes pineapple.
-Goal you'd like to achieve: To have an audience eager to read my work.
LAYER THREE
-Your most overused phrase on MSN/AIM: ::hugs:: Oh? and anything surrounded by "::"
-Your thoughts first waking up: Damn.
-Your bedtime: around 8AM
-Your most missed memory: Enjoying the wilderness behind my house.
LAYER FOUR
-Pepsi or Coke: Coke
-McDonald's or Burger King: McDonalds, but only if there's no Whataburger nearby (or craving McNuggets :9 )
-Adidas or Nike: Keds
-Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Lipton
-Chocolate or vanilla: Dark Chocolate
-Cappuccino or coffee: Tea or Coke, please.
LAYER FIVE
Do you...
-Cuss: like a sailor.
-Sing: softly and to myself. I sang for someone recently, and remembered why I don't try out for American Idol.
-Take a shower everyday: Absolutely. Sometimes twice.
-Want to go to college: I'd like to go back, but this old dog can't take time for obedience school.
-Like(d) high school: No.
-Want to get married: I'd like to...but I dunno. Marriage is a scrap of paper, legally ratifying a friendship. It's nice to have, but not always necessary.
-Believe in yourself: I have to. Vert little else works.
-Get motion sickness: No.
-Do you think you're attractive: No.
-Think you're a health freak: No.
-Get along with your parents: We're both at a stalemate. Neither denying, nor approving.
-Like thunderstorms?: Oh, hell yeah.
-Play an instrument: Piano. I can even read music.
LAYER SIX
In the past month have you...
-Done a drug: Dean asked me to sip some Guinness for St. PAtricks Day. It was the first alchohol I've had in over ten years, and possibly my third or fourth drink ever. It reminded me why I don't drink. PTUI!
-Gone to the mall: Not in a month.
-Eaten an entire box of Oreos: Not since my age went into the double digits, but yeah. :)
-Eaten sushi: And become addicted to it. :)
-Been on stage: Several times, only recently have I not been completel destroyed by nervousness.
-Gone skating: Nope. I have terrible balance.
-Made homemade cookies: No.
-Gone skinny dipping: No. but I did go swimming fully clothed once. On purpose.
-Dyed your hair: No, but I'm considering it.
-Stolen anything: No.
LAYER SEVEN
Have you ever..
-Played a game that required removal of clothing: No. Nor would I play one.
-If so, was it mixed company: n/a
-Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: No. I refuse to lose control.
-Been called a tease: Yes, and only recently.
-Gotten beaten up: Yes. By family, in fact.
LAYER EIGHT
-Age you hope to be married: It would be nice, but is not necesarry.
-Numbers and Names of Children: I've always been fond of the name Kira, but I refuse to have children, even if I wanted one.
-Describe your dream wedding: Close friends, accepting family and maybe even me.
-How do you want to die: I would like to die with dignity, hopefully of old age. Or going out protecting someone I love.
-Where do you want to go to college: Eh. Who knows. Penn State was nice when I was there.
-What do you want to be when you grow up: A writer. An artist. A woman.
-What country would you most like to visit: Canada. ;) Not to mention Japan, the UK, Venice, Italy and of course Thailand.
LAYER NINE
-Number of people I could trust with my life: Three
-Number of CDs that I own: 100+?
-Number of piercings: None
-Number of tattoos: None
-Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: At least twice. My old name has been in the papaers three times I know of.
-Number of scars on my body: Two large round scars on my right foot (jokingly called my extra nipples) , caused by a grisly accident I won't say here. A large scar down the back of my right leg where I fell through the floor at Dell. A gash on my right hand where I was rammed into a mailbox. My left arm also bends backwards.
-Number of things in my past that I regret: I regret so many things. If had my druthers to live my life again, I would have changed many things. But you can't do that...so best to move forward and hope for the best.
#9 Fund: $250
TUESDAY
The first official day of my Vacation.
Got up a little early, knowing that I was gonna stop by Erin's TACT meeting, and scope things out there. It was actually a pretty good coincidence that I went. (1) I had managed to run super late with the comics, so we couldn't meet up on Monday. (2) Tuesday was wide open for both of us and (3) we had the TACT meeting that Erin had wanted me to go to for a while.
I met her at Waterloo Ice House for dinner where she gave me her unused wireless card, and we sat and caught up since the party of many moons ago. Much talk about work, friends and #9. We shifted freom the Ice House to the meeting house (which was REALLY nice, a converted house turned into a series of meeting rooms and offices), and coninued our conversation till it was toime for the meeting.
To tell you the truth, I was kinda cringing when I was asked to come to these. My experiences with support groups and TG PAC meetings is that it's 35 seconds of business, and two hours of gossip, cattiness, and nothing deeper than Superficial Stuff. I hate crap like that. Another alarm bell went off when I found out several Tri-Ess members were there. Tri-Ess and I also have a bit of a history, which we've seen some sparks recently, but which I'll talk about some other time.
However, Erin was there - and Erin doesn't do gossip/cattiness/politics (well, social politics) or anything. If she felt this was important, then it was.
And I'm glad I stuck it through. I met some very nice folks there, who spent the meeting time devoted to business (with the social stuff at the very end). They were here to work, not to preen. Strangely enough Rifka was there, who I didn't think had any connection to TG issues.
Eventually, as the meeting went on, I got lassoed into working on a logo for them, from what I can tell, for T-Shirts. I've got four ideas in mind, and have worked on one already:
The other designs involve using the Texas Star (Five pointed 3-D star you see on our State Seal), The standard upside down triangle and using their current logo mixed with the State shape.
I'm really loathe to go into the triangle one, though, since I think it's overused, and graphically boring. The problem with the logo, right now, is I don't know what it's FOR. I'm assuming this is for shirts they're putting together, so I'll prolly just do plain B&W logos for now, let them decide on what basic design they want, and then do detailed logos based on that (if they even want them, pure black is cheap to reproduce on Shirts).
In the end, I'd definatley get more involved in this group, if only work was a little more forgiving. In the meantime I have a pencil and a webcomic at your disposal.
(Oh, one thing I gotta say, before I finish this...there was a someone there named Sofia. I don't know if she was CD/TS/TG or CPO Sharkey, but, my goodness she looked great. :) She looked exactly like a real life Sakura from the Street Fighter Alpha Series).
We broke up afterwards, and Erin and I finished up our game of catchup, and went our seperate ways. Erin, we all need to get together more often. :)
When I got home, I popped in the wireless card. I don't have a wireless hub, but I wanted to test my PCMCIA slot on R. Dorothy since I got her. So in it went...and suddenly....10 items pop up in the list of nearby networks. O_O Of those 10, 6 were unsecured. I pretty much got free internet if I wannit....
The evening went very well with the late night #9 chat session. :)
WEDNESDAY
I got up and got out - ROAD TRIP. I'll spare you the blow by blow, since I did that with the map in one of the previous entries. Some notes from the trip:
1) Fitzhugh is HARD to find since the road it's on has had a different name everytime I've driven it.
2) Blink, and you'll miss Henly.
3) Boardhouse - this little area has an old routing of US 290, and I REALLY lucked out. I decided to take pics for a highway webste, and when I got to the gate I usually get to (which is locked) it was wide open. Feigning ignorance of tresspassing laws, I grove right past them. I ended up driving about an extra mile on the old road I hadn't driven before. Unfortunately, the next gate I hit was padlocked shut. No getting in. Still, it allowed me to take a ton of pics of another area of old abandonned highway. Hopefully, the site I took the pics for will accept them and put them up.
4) Tracking the old Frederickburg and Northern is no where NEAR as easy as US 290 was. That railroad hasn't existed for nearly 60 years and a lot of brush has covered the tracks. If you can't see the ground, it's hard to find the berms or the gullies it ran through. One whole area I'll need to revisit with more accurate maps, since my 1940 map didn't cut it, and I couldn't find a crossover.
5) I'm no spring chicken anymore. I'm so incredibly out of shape, it's not funny. Just last year, I made it down to the Rail Road tunnel and back without breaking a sweat. Wednesday? I was winded halfway back up.
6)
Why don't Texans build bridges over rivers and streams? One road I went down for pictures was completely impassible because the Guadalupe River ran over the roadway. There was no bridge here, just poured concrete. No way I could see the roadbed, and I Wans't gonna try. I've crossed this road before, but, I mean, come on. If I dont' feel safe in my pickup, then you NEED a bridge. That "Channel" you see to the right is the roadway, the "hump" in the water is the road, and the white ditch you see on the other side is the continuance of the road.
7) McDonalds uses wireless in their stores, and you can access it with a card. :)
8) Dairy Queen doesn't.
Again, the day ended nicely with an Emily Chat Session (TM)
THURSDAY
Boring day, I literally have done NOTHING but help bit with Dean's dinner plans, and sayt in front of this computer playing video games. Now exactly a PRODUCTIVE Vacation Day, but, well, what can ya do. Hopefully today, I'll hit Mayfield Park
Here, let's make it productive:
LAYER ONE
-Name: Jennifer
-Birthdate: July 26th
-Birthplace: San Antonio, TX
-Current Location: Austin, TX
-Eye Color: Deep brown (sometimes black)
-Hair Color: Black
-Height: 5'7
-Righty or Lefty: Righty
-Zodiac Sign: Leo. A supposedly VERY Leo.
LAYER TWO
-Your heritage: Mexican, mostly. 1/8th french. Several of my cousins and one uncle are light skinned with blue eyes.
-The shoes you wore today: My usual sneakers
-Your weakness: Money and Food
-Your fears: Destitution and Hopelessness
-Your perfect pizza: EVERYTHING but anchovies. This includes pineapple.
-Goal you'd like to achieve: To have an audience eager to read my work.
LAYER THREE
-Your most overused phrase on MSN/AIM: ::hugs:: Oh? and anything surrounded by "::"
-Your thoughts first waking up: Damn.
-Your bedtime: around 8AM
-Your most missed memory: Enjoying the wilderness behind my house.
LAYER FOUR
-Pepsi or Coke: Coke
-McDonald's or Burger King: McDonalds, but only if there's no Whataburger nearby (or craving McNuggets :9 )
-Adidas or Nike: Keds
-Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Lipton
-Chocolate or vanilla: Dark Chocolate
-Cappuccino or coffee: Tea or Coke, please.
LAYER FIVE
Do you...
-Cuss: like a sailor.
-Sing: softly and to myself. I sang for someone recently, and remembered why I don't try out for American Idol.
-Take a shower everyday: Absolutely. Sometimes twice.
-Want to go to college: I'd like to go back, but this old dog can't take time for obedience school.
-Like(d) high school: No.
-Want to get married: I'd like to...but I dunno. Marriage is a scrap of paper, legally ratifying a friendship. It's nice to have, but not always necessary.
-Believe in yourself: I have to. Vert little else works.
-Get motion sickness: No.
-Do you think you're attractive: No.
-Think you're a health freak: No.
-Get along with your parents: We're both at a stalemate. Neither denying, nor approving.
-Like thunderstorms?: Oh, hell yeah.
-Play an instrument: Piano. I can even read music.
LAYER SIX
In the past month have you...
-Done a drug: Dean asked me to sip some Guinness for St. PAtricks Day. It was the first alchohol I've had in over ten years, and possibly my third or fourth drink ever. It reminded me why I don't drink. PTUI!
-Gone to the mall: Not in a month.
-Eaten an entire box of Oreos: Not since my age went into the double digits, but yeah. :)
-Eaten sushi: And become addicted to it. :)
-Been on stage: Several times, only recently have I not been completel destroyed by nervousness.
-Gone skating: Nope. I have terrible balance.
-Made homemade cookies: No.
-Gone skinny dipping: No. but I did go swimming fully clothed once. On purpose.
-Dyed your hair: No, but I'm considering it.
-Stolen anything: No.
LAYER SEVEN
Have you ever..
-Played a game that required removal of clothing: No. Nor would I play one.
-If so, was it mixed company: n/a
-Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: No. I refuse to lose control.
-Been called a tease: Yes, and only recently.
-Gotten beaten up: Yes. By family, in fact.
LAYER EIGHT
-Age you hope to be married: It would be nice, but is not necesarry.
-Numbers and Names of Children: I've always been fond of the name Kira, but I refuse to have children, even if I wanted one.
-Describe your dream wedding: Close friends, accepting family and maybe even me.
-How do you want to die: I would like to die with dignity, hopefully of old age. Or going out protecting someone I love.
-Where do you want to go to college: Eh. Who knows. Penn State was nice when I was there.
-What do you want to be when you grow up: A writer. An artist. A woman.
-What country would you most like to visit: Canada. ;) Not to mention Japan, the UK, Venice, Italy and of course Thailand.
LAYER NINE
-Number of people I could trust with my life: Three
-Number of CDs that I own: 100+?
-Number of piercings: None
-Number of tattoos: None
-Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: At least twice. My old name has been in the papaers three times I know of.
-Number of scars on my body: Two large round scars on my right foot (jokingly called my extra nipples) , caused by a grisly accident I won't say here. A large scar down the back of my right leg where I fell through the floor at Dell. A gash on my right hand where I was rammed into a mailbox. My left arm also bends backwards.
-Number of things in my past that I regret: I regret so many things. If had my druthers to live my life again, I would have changed many things. But you can't do that...so best to move forward and hope for the best.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-19 08:38 pm (UTC)And bridges, or their lack, is easy to explain, actually. Texas groundwater has a *lot* of one of two things in it, iron or silica. Either one tends to chew through any vertical obstruction it runs into. In order to avoid this taking out a bridge in only a few years of floods, the supports have to be made in about the most expensive way possible. Cheaper, unless the thoroughfare is a trade artery, just to build a flat road and let the locals call out of work due to flood. (and in most of those areas, the locals won't because they've got vehicles/plans for the inevitable flooding.)