Sunday, April 21

Happy Birthday to Dewey! Yes, Deward J. Doody turns a grand old one year old today. He is celebrating by watching birds for awhile, then taking a nap.

Recent visitors to the tall ship Elissa in Galveston may find yesterday's incident of interest.

Saturday, April 20

I was bored tonight so dragged out some old videotapes -- movies I'd taped from TV in '94 and '95. Sandwiched in between was a Primetime Live episode (probably taped by Mom) about a promising junior figure skater named Tara Lipinsky. It was actually fun to watch. They tried to turn it into a show about how much parents give up for their kids to do sports (her parents had just refinanced their house and begun living 1500 miles apart, and her mother said that if they had it to do over again and Tara wouldn't know the difference, they wouldn't have encouraged her skating). When Tara said her goal was to win an Olympic gold medal, Diane Sawyer was a little condescending, but she did it and I'm sure her parents are glad they gave her the chance. I must say that having seen her so many times up close and in person, on and off the rink, she has grown up into a much prettier girl than she looked at age 11.

Our guests have gotten out of here just in time -- it's 90° and humid today. I am determined not to be bothered by the heat this summer. I've been spending the day refinishing Grandpa's school desk, and will go for a bike ride later. Ed's in San Francisco, both for business and to visit Erica.

Monday, April 15

We did the Houston Heights Historical Home & Garden Tour this weeked. Since we couldn't actually be on the tour this year, Bart Truxillo stepped in (his is the perennial stand-in house). I'm really glad, because I always wanted to go in his house. It's the big white 19th century Victorian on Harvard St. that I think all of our guests have walked by. It's a beautiful house from the outside. Inside is even better. He has a great art collection, a lot of antiques, things found within the walls of the house (we once saw him on the show "If Walls Could Talk" on HGTV). He has a pool, and a pond. From the basement (yes he has an above ground basement that used to house livestock) there is a window into the pond so you can see the fish underwater. In the back he's built a greenhouse that has huge bird cages, some 20 feet high with zebra finches and fantail doves. He also has chickens and roosters in a coop that you can see from the basement. And I will always look at the house with more respect now that I know that the tower on the right is a library that goes up and up with ladders into the peak, where a disco ball spins.

Friday, April 12

Today was a fun day at work, even though it began as wall-to-wall meetings that went through lunch.

Yesterday, I and two other managers decided to do something fun today. Since we, like many other companies these days, are under severe budget restrictions, keeping morale up is an issue. It's long been my contention that you don't have to spend extra money to keep people in a good mood (this was the reasoning behind the Snowman at Christmas) so today was the first "Movie Day" on our floor. I booked the conference room for the whole afternoon, and we showed "Office Space", using a laptop with DVD player, a projector, some PC speakers and lots of snacks. It was a pleasant surprise for everyone, and a success that we will try to repeat when possible. Some questioned our choice of movies, but I gave a disclaimer speech beforehand explaining that we were not to draw parallels with our own company, but rather feel superior to the miserable company portrayed in the movie. Everybody appreciated the outing.

Technically, my greatest success as a manager of programmers will remain the day when I successfully got the vending machine supplier to give us Mountain Dew and Ho-Ho's (which involved a little more paperwork than I expected), but Movie Day and the Snowman will be good memories, too.

Thursday, April 11

Tomorrow is heavy trash day, so I've been out in the dark chopping down our bougainvillea and trimming the bushes. The bougainvillea froze this winter. It probably would have come back from the roots, but it was a stock plant and we could get something better. It had huge thorns, and I've seen several thornless varieties in unusual colors. I also pruned all the purple-leaved bushes in the backyard for the second time this spring. It wouldn't take long for such a small yard to get overgrown!

Ed is in Brazil. I've seen him for two days in the last three weeks, and he'll be traveling several more times in the next month.

I will try to add something this weekend about the Steele vist. But I also have to do my taxes, so don't get too excited!

Monday, April 1

The Steeles arrived Saturday night amidst thunderstorms and tornadoes. The boys were glad they got to see lightning from the plane. The Easter bunny came to Houston. After the morning hunt we went for a walk around the neighborhood, then visited the beer can house and the Arboretum. We had a seafood risotto for dinner. We do have pictures, but they're not ready to post yet.

Today we visited the Houston Zoo. Then we came home and played in the yard. We're all tired!