It's been a year--A YEAR!--since I've posted anything to LiveJournal. I do read every once in awhile, because I've become interested in my Friends, but it always feels kind of voyeuristic, too ( Read more... )

I just completed and billed for my first real contract job. I've worked contract before, but it was at the client's office and really wasn't much different than being an employee except that I had to pay my own taxes (which is why a few years later they hired almost all their contractors under IRS duress, but that's another story.) This time I'm ( Read more... )

Asian Lettuce Cups with Spicy Ground Turkey Filling It is: A) delicious, B) fast, C) easy, D) relatively low calorie and E) delicious (doubly). Everyone I've shared this with who has tried it raves about it and says they now make it at least once a week. While I've never been to PF Chang's I'm told one of the favorite things on their menu tastes ( Read more... )

There is a big ass spider living on my front porch. I first noticed him Labor Day evening. He had built a big web hanging from the eaves and anchored to the porch railing. He is brown and his body alone is almost the size of a quarter. The first time I saw him he was eating a huge beetle that he had caught in his web. The next morning when I ( Read more... )

How can 5 months have gone by without posting anything? I have been reading others posts, commenting randomly and rarely. I have been feeling ‘weird ( Read more... )

I'm losing my job. My company announced a few months ago that they were going to sell all of their offshore and international oil and gas properties and just remain onshore North America. That means they won't need the people that work those properties either. Of which I am one. I guess it's the equivalent of a plant closing. But we have to ( Read more... )

I've just gotten caught up with Dollhouse and I must say that I am loving it very hard, something I never would have guessed after the first few episodes. Too bad that it's been canceled just as it's getting good. Or is that why it's getting good? Most of the best series have planned expiration dates.

We just got back from a week at Big Bend Ranch State Park. Four families stayed in the Big House with overflow in the bunk house and we had the place virtually to ourselves. I hiked in the desert everyday except my day for KP duty where I made my mother's spareribs which are always a big hit. I made 8 racks of pork ribs, but the original recipe ( Read more... )

We have been friends with our next door neighbors for 30 years. They are a couple (couple A) with no children and most holidays they rent a house in or near Big Bend. We've gone with them a few times and we plan on going this Christmas, too. There is another couple (couple B), mutual friends of ours for as long, who live just a few blocks away ( Read more... )

I'm back at home again. I've shipped about 7 large boxes of the family relics to my house and they are starting to dribble in. I have no idea where I'm going to put the stuff. My brother and his wife had no interest, so I am the defacto keeper of the family archives. Nothing much of any monetary value except possibly the two double string of ( Read more... )