February 2000
February 29
All you virtual tour fans, here's another one in the Heights. This one is surely too small, but I liked the neighborhood and house. I'm going to make an appointment to see it this week. It has a garage, so at least there's storage.
February 28
I went driving around looking for houses again today. My favorite section of the Heights is Woodland Heights. They have had stricter deed restrictions historically than other areas, so the neighborhood is fairly intact. Houston has no zoning, by the way. The elementary school there, Travis Elementary, sounds like a neat school. They have a garden, and they have dinosaur bones in their playground! So if we find a house there, Nico and Aidan can do some paleontology when they visit.
I'm getting frustrated with looking, though.
February 27
We did see the Wonder Boys last night. Since I had read the book almost four years ago, I thought the movie should be better (it's hard to make movies from whacky books I guess), but the audience seemed to like it. And it was fun seeing Friendship again. When they were filming last winter, Ed and I walked around the block to see the various trucks and RV's on site. We happened upon the prop truck, and noted that each prop "type" was labeled in the large semi-truck....lamps, raincoats, etc. I noticed that there was a large collection of briefcases of every type. So during the movie, I was on the lookout for briefcases, but I didn't see one. There was a knapsack, but no briefcases. Just an interesting insight into movie-making, I guess -- they're ready for anything. We were also wondering how they would handle the weather. The first big weekend of filming, it was very cold, and we had a beautiful snowful. Then it rained (of course). They needed to do additional filming in April, and we were surprised one day to see that artificial snow covered the street. It was foam! I walked through it, and it kind of messed up my shoes, but eventually biodegraded. The weather in the movie was a realistic depiction of Pittsburgh weather: snow, then rain, then snow, then sun, then rain.
We went to a bunch of open houses today, but found things on either side of our wish list: either two big (and too expensive), or too small (with lots of work). No virtual tours.
February 25
I haven't really been actively looking for a job yet, since I know I can't really start work until we find a house. (The house hunt has been more difficult than expected!). Nevertheless, since I put my resume on monster.com, I've had many calls from recruiters, and begrudgingly committed to a phone interview on Monday with a woman from Baker Robbins & Company. The job would be as a litigation support consultant, using the knowledge I gained at Uniscribe, but in a client consulting environment, not production. I would only accept a job there if there was potential to move into some of their other areas, such as e-commerce. Another prospect is BMC Software, which is based here. Ed had a meeting over there last Friday with a guy who offered to shop my resume around. It's supposed to be a great place to work, and they're hiring a lot of people. Anyway, salaries here are much higher than in Pittsburgh, and there are no state or local income taxes. Of course, the cost of living is much higher, too!
February 24
I just had a fairly humorous conversation with a Continental ticketing agent. I'm going along with Ed when he goes to San Francisco on business next month. He realized today he was given the wrong return flight, and I made my flight the same as his, so I needed to change my ticket. Maybe the guy was just having a mathematically challenged day.
Here are virtual tours of two houses we're looking at (but hope we find something better). The one at 805 Highland in the Heights is big but needs a lot of work. It's close to a really great elementary school with dinosaur bones to climb on! The other one is in Montrose, not the Heights, so would be right near the museums. The problem with this one is it's close enough to the freeway to be noisy (we think -- haven't been inside it yet). And it's expensive (both are). But I like the looks of the interior. Neither house is anywhere near ideal. I just like the virtual tours.
February 23
The rodeo is in town! The rodeo is in town! I forgot to mention this earlier. On the day we went to Galveston, I drove to the airport to pick up Ed's friend Forrest. Suddenly, traffic on the freeway slowed to a near-halt. The "feeder" roads on each side of the freeway were filled with hundreds and hundreds of people on horseback, dressed in frontier garb, some pullling covered wagons. This is a big tradition here. People travel by horseback from Dallas, Brownsville, San Antonio, etc. , for the rodeo. Then they camp out in Memorial Park.
We haven't been to the rodeo yet. I want to see the horse acts, but I don't really care about the concerts, and that's really what you buy tickets for.
February 21
We finally saw American Beauty last night. I didn't know anything about it, so really enjoyed it. I won't mention anything else about it, in case you haven't seen it yet. I made a link to the movie site because I thought it was unique, but now that I installed a firewall, I'm noticing that this site is trolling through my TCP ports! I'm not sure if that's bad or harmless - it's the first time I've had it happen. We are looking forward to Wonder Boys coming out Friday. Lots of scenes from Ed's street!
February 19
We saw an interesting play last night: Debutante Ball, by Beth Henley, at a tiny little theater behind a Burger King.
February 16
It's spitting rain here and boy, does it feel like summer. It's humid. There are birds everywhere. I don't know if I like it.
We went to Galveston last weekend for a wedding. We stayed at the Tremont House. The wedding was at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and the reception was at Ashton Villa. Check out some of the other photos at this site, too. Galveston is very pretty, and less than an hour away. Oh, here's an interior shot of the church. Unfortunately, one of the groomsmen passes out cold at the altar near the end of the ceremony. He lived, though.
And we went to a Mardi Gras party that night given by Z Krewe. I don't understand all this "Krewe" stuff, but it seemed like a cross between a hash group and the Yacht Club. Mardi Gras is a big deal in Galveston. They have the balls, floats and krewes just like New Orleans.
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February 15
Heat's on in the house hunt. Drove to the Heights and saw a new open house. Also toured Garden Oaks area - very nice, but not much for sale.
Talked to Mike Hosny about appointments to see houses.
Talked to Craig Guidry.
February 14
Ed in Miami.
Ed's network card arrived - installed LAN - it works!
Made a Flash Valentine's Card for Ed and posted it to the Internet. Made risotto for dinner.
February 13
Great Storm movie, dinner at Luigi's, home.
February 12
Breakfast at hotel. Window shopping in Galveston.
Wedding at 3 in Sacred Heart Church - a groomsmen fainted. Reception at Ashton Villa. Drinks at Hotel, then Fitzgerald's Pub, then on hotel roof with Z Krewe, then Bob & Linda's room for tag team wrestling.
February 11
Picked up Forrest Mackenzie at the airport. Met Ed at Bob and Linda Millan's house.
Road trip to Galveston! Ed has rehearsal for Miranda Shults' wedding. Rehearsal dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, then drinks at our hotel (Tremont House).
February 9
Talked to a recruiter about a litigation support job.
hub arrived.
Ran errands. Working on learning Freehand.
February 8
3 mile run in Memorial Park.
ordered Network hub and adapter.
Ed's in Dallas. Went to Tristan und Isolde at the Houston Opera with Mark Wolf. Dinner at Angelika.
February 6
WEent to open houses in the Heights - saw some cute houses.
Wine tasting at Fay Farkas' house near Memorial Park.
February 5
Party at Melissa's - crawfish.
February 4
Ed stayed home again today.
February 3
Ed's still home, but beter.
Received Freehand & Dreamweaver.
Went to lunch at Guggenheim's.
Went to Rudy Lechner's for dinner - met Mike Ho.
February 2
Ed's still home, but working at his computer.
Received Ani DiFranco CD (free) from BN.com.
February 1
Ed's a cripple this morning. Couldn't even crawl the whole way to the bathroom. I wound up printing and answering e-mail for hime, running out for lunch and coffe, etc.