Thursday, February 28
I was searching for "Batterman" today, and came across some GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) obituaries for Civil War veterans from Elgin. I've copied the obituaries here, in case the original link goes away. I'm not sure if they're related, but it's worth looking into since we know so little about the Battermans.
Tuesday, February 26
I had a couple of cavities filled in my front teeth today, and while I was at it, I had my damaged front tooth redone. So now I don't have the weird discolored cap with remnants of the metal pin in it anymore. It looks much better, but I might also consider porcelain veneers for the front two teeth.
I have been spending so much time in the dentist's chair that I grew tired of "DentistTV", a blatant marketing scheme which forced already paying customers to believe that they needed yet more cosmetic surgery by exposing us to constant visuals of before and after teeth. So today I requested an alternative, and was happy to learn that I could watch National Geographic specials instead. I learned a lot, but to be honest, National Geographic is all about teeth after all.
In other news, we are to have record shattering low temperatures around 20 degrees for the next two nights. Which is most inopportune, since we've had very nice weather in the 70's for the last week. Which means that all the magnolias, redbuds and azaleas which were tricked into blooming the last few days are goners. I'ved covered our beds. We don't have much blooming right now, but the foliage for a grand bulb display has sprouted and is vulnerable.
Monday, February 25
Today's buzz was the probable declaration of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Williams Communications. For those of you playing along at home, WCG was my official employer last year. Since their IT department was a shared service with their Williams Communications Solutions subsidiary, most of my department got sold with WCS to Platinum Equity Holdings to form NextiraOne. WCS sold voice and data systems, while WCG focused on broadband networks. Meanwhile, the Williams Companies (WMB) is responsible for about $2 billion of WCS' debt, and also had considerable Enron exposure (WMB is an energy company). I'm not sure I'll be working in the Williams Tower by this time next year -- whether by renaming or relocation is less clear at this time.
Sunday, February 24
We went to the rodeo on Wednesday. I saw many things I thought I'd never see. Pig racing, for one. A swimming pig for another. Lots of cows and pigs and chickens and goats and deer and llamas and sheep and ducks and wallabies. Yes, wallabies. This evening more than anything I've done in Houston explained Texan attitudes. For example, in the children's petting zoo area there were exhibits where we watched eggs hatch, and saw chickens at various stages of development. Right behind these exhibits was this mural describing how the cute animals became dinner. Right next to the cute cows was an interactive display showing which cuts of beef came from which part of the cow. And during the rodeo itself, the announcers were actually explaining why cows protect the environment: "If the cows go, the grass goes with them".
Anyway, after touring the livestock show, we sat down for the rodeo itself. First was a parade, complete with covered wagons and lots of horses and flags. Then was the calf scramble, where kids try to catch calves with their bare hands and put a leash on them (a girl won this one). Then the various bronco busting a calf roping and chuck wagon racing events. I finally got to see some cowboys! It was fun, but I do feel a little sorry for the animals.
After the rodeo events, there was a Bob Dylan concert. He was good, but the AstroDome is a terrible concert venue. I would have preferred to go when Lyle Lovett was playing, but decided that I'd rather see him play in a smaller theater after all. Next year the rodeo is going to be held in the new football stadium, which should be better since it has a retractable roof. The AstroDome feels like a big dark cave.
I am going to be working in the yard most of the day, and Ed is doing his taxes. You can see if he's working on the webcam I set up. The picture isn't great because for now the camera is pointing toward the window, but I'll fuss with it later. It should refresh every 20 seconds or so.
Sunday, February 17
We've been feeling kind of housebound lately, so today we drove up to Austin for the afternoon. I hadn't been there yet, and while we didn't stay long enough to do too much, we did wander around the University of Texas campus, go to Barton Springs, drive around 6th St., stop at the Ginger Man (Austin) and have really, really good Mexican food. We need to go up for a weekend sometime.
Saturday, February 16
It turns out that Ed has even more Olympic opinions than Linda does, which is why I'm in here and he's out there.
This was a busy week. I came home at least once per day until Thursday, when things got too hectic at work. I had to work late two nights, and one night took Ed out to dinner so he wouldn't get too stir crazy. Which explains why I didn't turn my computer on more than twice all week -- and once was Friday morning to check my work e-mail before leaving. Then this morning I woke up with a stomach bug, and instead of enjoying the nice weather spent most of the day lying around and throwing up. By late afternoon I felt well enough to go to the nursery and by a lime tree and a Lady Banks rose.
Monday, February 11
I think we've got the sleep technique down now: sleeping pill + couch cushions. I only came home once today, because Ed slept for 6 of the next 8 hours. He's learning how to do some things on his own.
Rock County surveyors: who is the 1919 surveyor (Robert H. Batterman - Robert not Richard)? And have they really only had one in the last 27 years?
Sunday, February 10
After a long, uncomfortable night during which sleep began at 4 am, Ed is not as upbeat today as yesterday. He did get a sleeping pill prescription, but didn't want to take it. I think he learned his lesson and will take it tonight.
Mike and Carla and Hoda Hosny stopped by today and brought dinner from Eatzi's, which was very nice. I must admit I am not the best nurse, especially with a crabby patient. I'm already sick of taking the sling on and off. I have a dentist appointment at 8 tomorrow, and a conference call at 9, and then will come home to help Ed get dressed and do his exercises. Then I'll come home sometime after lunch for round two. Luckily we don't live in the suburbs!
Saturday, February 9
Ed is home and in very good spirits. His pain is a lot less than he expected, and his recovery should be much shorter than expected. It's a sunny day and he's taking next week off, so he's just whistling and having fun.
I, meanwhile, am exhausted, having gotten home late last night after a day of waiting and waiting for surgeons and car service guys.
Friday, February 8
Ed had his shoulder surgery today. It went fine. It turned out that he didn't have a torn rotator cuff, but he did have a damaged bursal sac, a large bone spur, and extensive scarring (what the doctor referred to as a very frozen shoulder). All of these were corrected. Ed is surprised that his pain level is not as high as he expected, probably because he had both local and general anesthesia. Anyway, he's staying in the hospital tonight. I didn't expect this to take up the whole day, but it did, and any hope I had of getting into the office at the end of the day was lost when I drove Ed's car three blocks from the hospital and ran out of gas. All I had time to do after waiting for help was to go home, feed Dewey, eat some bread and head back to the hospital so we could watch the Olympic opening ceremony together. So it was a long day.
Wednesday, February 6
NOTICE: What follows amounts to a good three days' reading. You are welcome to spread it out over three days, and thereby not be disappointed by meager posts tomorrow and Friday.
Cuban / pressed sandwich lovers: a New York Times article describing how to perfect your technique, which is a little different than the way we'd tried it.
I haven't been keeping up on posting Looking at Art. Last night the gallery was Mixture Contemporary Gallery, a new place apparently without a website. The artist was Kelli Scott Kelley (bottom half of the page -- these paintings were part of the exhibit). She painted things that looked like they were out of old European children's books -- the kind of books that scared me when I was little. I liked the paintings, but I wouldn't want one in my house! The studio visit was the home/studio of Mary Jenewein (the linked pieces were the actual ones she had hanging in her studio). She does sculpture, furniture, painting, welding, and these collages that she assembles and then paints on. She was the most interesting woman -- 68 years old, got her MFA in her 40's, very hospitable and friendly, with a great art collection in her house. I would like to meet up with her again. I enjoy the studio visits the most at Looking at Art.
Last week the gallery visit was Sandi Seltzer Bryant at the McMurtrey Gallery. We've been there before, last year we saw Renzo Barchi with Mom and Dad at our first Looking at Art. Anyway, Sandi was from Squirrel Hill, and says she got into art because of the strong art culture in Pittsburgh, particularly the Carnegie International. The studio visit was the home of Thedra Cullar-Ledford. I can't find a good link, although she said she has a website, but we did see the Mon Flammas Eructans Macilla ( Volcanic Tit ) right there in her living room. She was also very funny and personable, but my favorite part of her talk was when her 8-year-old son tripped headfirst right into the middle of the audience, whereupon Thedra, without batting an eye, introduced him.
And the week before that the gallery visit was Texas Gallery (they have a website, but it just shows their current exhibit, which was not what we saw). The artist was Rachel Ranta (she's on the web, but this is an old exhibit, which was not what we saw). This exhibit was a series of "greyscale" (not really, she did have some color in there) still lifes. Again, a very likeable speaker. The studio visit was Lee Mingwei at Rice University's Sewall Hall. Again, I can't quickly find a good link to the actual exhibit (update: here it is, the trick was not to search within the Rice site itself, but on Google!), but he had a show at the Whitney with an interesting interactive website. Mingwei was asking for volunteers to show him around Houston, and I think we could have shown him things that other people didn't know about, but we were thinking that Ed would have surgery at any time so we didn't sign up.
An observation made during the creation of this post: most artists and small galleries should have low-budget websites, since many people link to these, and many other people e-mail links to these. I sense a business opportunity!
Coming soon in this space: new rugs! new feature! and GIANT PRESIDENTS' HEADS!!!!!
Monday, February 4
Ed's surgery is scheduled for Friday morning. Unfortunately, I am in training all week, so I don't know if I'll be able to be there.
Sunday, February 3
After the Patriots beat the Steelers last week, I was picking them to win the Super Bowl. Nobody believed me. But not only did they win tonight, but I think that this will go down in history as the most exciting Super Bowl ever (because most of them are duds, lets face it, and never are they decided in the last few seconds).
For those of you watching the Super Bowl for the commercials and lamenting the demise of AdCritic, iFilm is archiving the ads here.
Saturday, February 2
Ed and I skipped out of work early yesterday and went to see The Royal Tenenbaums. It was really, really, really, really funny. Highly recommended.
Happy Groundhog Day!!!
Ed got some good news on Thursday. His blood pressure has fallen back into the the normal range and he got the green light to proceed with his surgery. It hasn't been scheduled yet, but hopefully it will be soon.
