amateur night

Be careful if you go anywhere on the road between today and tomorrow morning - the amateurs will be out.
I have done quite a bit of emotion-focused coping this week regarding school. I am going to be the PhD with the most organized bathroom, closets, and possibly the cleanest house. I am in a cleaning out mood. I threw away a bunch of expired tylenol, etc from the bathroom cabinet yesterday. fascinating.
I am going exercising with Marie this morning, then I plan to spend the next 2 days finishing my stats. I was telling Brad - I have taken several stats classes, but only in the last one did we use the computer to do the calculations. I did value learning the concepts and why and when to use what. However, now that it is crunch time, I only want to know how to get the computer to do what I want. Terminology differs, etc.
Aunt Barbara sent us a Christmas cactus. It's going nuts.

feisty exchange?

AP headline says Saddam had "feisty exchange" at gallows. Don't you think we all would be "feisty" before being hanged? What did they expect him to do? He is likely insane. He was likely a terrible person who tortured and murdered 100's of people. I have so many problems with the outcome of his trial, however. And I still do not think we, as civilized people, should a)kill him b)hang him or c)put the damned execution on tv. I saw a little of 20/20 last night, and they had already named the event, "death of a dictator." That really makes me want to puke. But, I cannot believe that we in the United States of America have the death penalty. We are no better than Medieval Europe. Or than some other countries in the world we would label "backwards."

Been working on my data. Good and bad news. A little confused as to what to do. Applied for a job at DSHS. Pretty pessimistic, but also just going to put one foot in front of the other.

Enjoyed TH's visit. As BH and I walked home from dinner, I said TH brings a different energy to our house - in a good way. BH and I are both quiet, and TH is quiet, too, but still another person to interact with is pleasant. And TH makes the place better than when he arrived, an extra. Who wouldn't love that? Another pro for kids. I could not stop myself from trying to persuade him to move here when he is done with school.

Going to try to continue to put my nose to the grindstone for the next week.

back in black

going tomorrow to pick up my 11 year chip. this is a good time for me to go to a meeting because the twins are driving me up the wall with I don't knows and I don't cares. I know it is my problem and not theirs. my part is going to the hardware store for bread for the 10000th time. progress, not perfection.
having a nice time for the most part. got some work done on my diss. unfortunately for me, the sample is very low on ATOD use. good for the school district. although, I suspect there was some underreporting. boo.
this time 11 years ago I was on my way to a meeting. made a bad pit stop and ended up having a terrible night. so terrible that I had a moment of clarity. it always pleases me to hear that amazing things happen from terrible things.
I don't believe God micromanages every aspect of everyone's life 100% of the time, but I believe God was micromanaging my life that night. and I don't know why I received the Gift, but I am grateful I did.

in the sangre de christos (cristos)

excited because I swam my fastest 100 m free time yesterday in Santa Fe - 1:26 during a set of many, and I did it a couple of times. this is almost exactly the same as my freaky fastest 100 yd free time of 1:17 I did during the summer of love with JH and MD.
having a good time enjoying snow, getting up early, eating awesome food, and exercising. tomorrow morning I am going to get up a 4 am so I can go to the gym I like where the people are the ultimate hippies. last year I overheard a conversation in which the gym regulars were lamenting about using energy to "heat their wooden boxes", i.e. use gas to heat their houses. Brad and these folks are definite earth ship inhabitants. tomorrow we are off to Red River. no internets, but I am hoping to get some skiing in. I used to LOVE to ski. I went 2-3 times a year every winter. maybe now that I am not giving my money to IMNA, we can go again, sometime. there are few physical feelings sweeter than carving a beautiful S curve or hopping down moguls without falling down. sex, swimming fast for me, ok cuddling, soft blanket naps in the winter. those are about equal in pleasure. some high sensation seeking, some extremely low.

long time no write

1. Opposition to Walmart building at Northcross Mall.
Brad and I attended a meeting with 400 of our neighbors last night who concur.
Here is a letter you can send to Austin City Council authored by Brad. Impressive.

I am writing to voice my opposition to the proposed urban Walmart on the site of the current Northcross mall. As a ten-year resident of Austin, I support responsible, neighborhood-friendly growth at Northcross and throughout Austin. I appreciate all the work the mayor and the city council has done in recent years to foster quality development. The revitalization of downtown, the Mueller redevelopment, the Huntsman site, the Triangle development, and planned high density, transit-oriented sites are just a few examples of recent high-quality development that have enhanced the quality of life in Austin. The proposed 220,000 square foot urban Walmart, however, is incompatible with the shared vision Austinites have for their city

The proposed Northcross Walmart Supercenter would be the second largest development in central Texas. Only Ikea is larger. Ikea is located on I-35 on the outskirts of a suburban community. The proposed Northcross Walmart would be located in a semi-dense urban neighborhood unsuited for retail development of this scale. I understand Lincoln Properties’ site plan predicts no increase in local traffic while an independent analysis predicts a tripling of local traffic. This is absurd. On this basis alone, the development should be halted.

Austinties oppose Walmart because Walmart is bad for our neighborhood and bad for our world. Walmart has a long, documented history of:
- increasing local crime
- harming local businesses
- decreasing surround property values
- increasing traffic congestion
- reducing local employment
- suppressing local wages
- increasing dependence on city and state government services
- polluting
- illegally employing children
- destroying the middle class
- enabling the exploitation of the poor around the world

Please confirm that you will direct the city manager to suspend approval of the Northcross mall site plan.

More info at http://www.responsiblegrowthfornorthcross.org/blog/

2. Intramural meet was a success. Swim meet participants = high sensation seekers! The whole thing was very exciting. You wait for your event. You watch the other events. Your event = extremely exciting. It was a psychological victory, if nothing else. I did go 39 high for 50 breast which got me 5th place out of 10-11 20 year olds!

3. Stacy and Steve's wedding this weekend. It is going to be a romantic weekend getaway for us. I am looking forward to it. Our Thanksgiving 5 day vacation was also extremely pleasant and relaxing.
I am sure it is I who is less anxious or something, but as a couple, we are doing very well. It seems to me we are both trying hard.

4. Texas Invitational Swim meet continues this evening. If I am not too tired, I am going to go.

5. Coach Steve cancelled this morning's practice. I am going to ride my bike inside.

because 6. it's cold outside!!!