A Friend From Far Away Isn’t So Far and Work On Memorial Weekend

Film School Friend:
Unlike Trey, my highlight this past weekend was not watching the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium take shape. Instead, I had a great time hanging out with my old friend, Cortnee.

Cortnee is a friend I went to film school with and she produced one of the short movies I directed. It was wonderful catching-up over some good food.


Work:
I had my first three-day weekend with UTA and I was surprised when I heard Trey had the weekend off too. Even though he had the weekend off he was on call, which means stand-by. So we didn’t make any plans for Monday. Sure enough that morning he receives word his services are needed out of town.

Sometime, between waking-up and brushing my teeth, he convinced me to go with him. He lured me by saying, “You can browse the downtown shops, while I fix the (whatever it was that wasn't working).” I went and 8 out of 10 shops were closed for the holiday. Even with all of that, I don’t regret forfeiting the holiday to go with him out of town. I think I had more fun acting retarded with him, even more so than if I had stayed home.

Putting the Car in Park

Every other weekend Trey and I park the Element in the Wal-Mart parking lot and we stare across the street. We don't look at a lake view or the sunset or anything romantic like that, instead we stare at the construction of the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Yes, I'm convinced he's obsessed and he takes me with him to take pictures.

Morning Commuter: Part I of II

I'm just one of many American's who commutes to work. I wake in the morning and I think, "I hope I can beat the traffic." I must be new to this commuting thing because I actually look forward to driving in the morning. Recently I've been looking into purchasing audio books. I found this one store that works the same way that Netflix works, accept its audio books. I'm seriously thinking about joining.

The reason why I’m interested in audio books is because I don't want to feel like I'm losing time. If I'm going to be in a car for 30 minutes at a time, I want to be doing something productive.

Summer Plans

1. Attend a Wedding-Brian and Susan's Wedding near the coast
2. Go to the Ball Park
3. Go to Six Flags
4. Go to a Water Park -Maybe hurricane harbor
5. Shopping - My favorite
6. Attend a concert - I have to see which bands are coming to this area
7. Go to the Botanical Gardens
8. Go and Visit Uncle Jerry and Aunt Karen in Southlake
9. Go to Central Market to shop, eat and take a culinary class - Honest to God, I love Central Market. Have you been? It makes shopping an event not a chore.
10. Take bikes out to Trinity Trails
11. Continue to work out - I recently got a membership here at the UTA gym. It's amazing! The cardio machines have LCD screens so I can watch the food network while burning off some calories.
12. Find a church and make some new friends in this area.

We Got An Offer On The House and We Accepted

This weekend we agreed to an offer on our house. It's an offer we couldn't refuse. Now it's a waiting game with home inspection and waiting to close. The sale is pending so anything can happen between now and then, but I'm trying to stay optimistic. Keep us in your prayers this week.

Open To Change? Maybe

Since we've moved we've had to make changes and I'm the first to welcome change with open arms. In this case I'm resistant. The whole dog-sitting thing isn't working out and the best alternative is to find new homes for both of our dogs.

Luckily or unfortunately, I can't make up my mind....Daphne has already found a home with a nice lady who is an acquaintance of a friend of ours. As for Bruiser, he’s in the beginning stages of being introduced to a family.

I told Trey that once we get settled in a house, I'm going to ask for Daphne and Bruiser back and he informed me that, "You're not suppose to give a dog to a family and then a year later ask for the dog back." I don't see the problem.

Anyways, I called Linda yesterday and she found a job! She's my jogging buddy from Abilene. Linda and her husband are moving to Oklahoma. I’m so proud of her.

Run-away Beagle

Brandon is fostering Daphne and Bruiser and D-Dog is already in trouble.

She's managed to dig her way out of his yard. I know it's stressing him out with having to chase her all over and therefore it's stressing me out. I feel so helpless. I'm here and Daphne is there. Brandon's doing the best he can, it's not him it's the never ending quest Beagle's have to follow their nose.

This weekend we're making a trip to Abilene to secure Brandon's backyard and try to make it Beagle proof. In the meantime, Johnny and (let me try to spell this right) Jonell are fostering D-Dog at their house. Thanks guys! Poor Daphne is probably traumatized with all this adjusting, but Bruiser couldn't be doing better. Last I heard Bruiser was cuddling with Molly, his sister.

Nikon vs. Canon

I'm currently camera shopping for work. I told my boss we could use my Canon SLR, but she is strongly against workers using personal equipment for work. So, the upside is I get a new toy at the state's expense...too cool!

I know several photographers and they swear by Nikon and so I went into this camera shopping adventure with the intention of buying one.

Today, I made my way to a professional camera shop and after holding the Nikon in hand I was disappointed. Trey was with me and he saw a Canon 30D and asked if we could test that one out. The camera body, the options, and especially the image stabilizer lens are very impressive.

Before I fall too hard for this camera, I have to check the specs to see if this camera passes the test.


Apart from camera shopping, I think I’m annoying Trey because everyday after work I come home and tell him how much I love my job. Most of the time he goes along with it, but now after almost two weeks he’s probably thinking shut-up already. Oh, well at least he doesn’t make it too obvious I’m annoying him. (love you trey)

Trey's Coming Home!

That's it.

From Abilene to Fort Worth and Back

This weekend I finally got to see Trey! We met in Cisco because Brandon graduated from CJC. I also had a chance to see my mom, Trey’s parents, grandparents, Shelly, and some old friends. Trey and I didn’t stay long after the ceremony because we wanted to get back to Fort Worth before midnight.

And now it’s start of a new week and yes, Trey is back in Abilene. We don’t know when he’ll start working in the DFW area, so for now he’s just working in Abilene and coming home on weekends (home now being Fort Worth). At least we had the entire weekend to see each other, but while he was here I put him to work. We went to my office and I had him hang several frames so at least now it doesn’t look so sterile.

We also had a chance to go to the mall and Trey bought a Tony Romo jersey. Regular retail price is around $200 and we found this one on sale for $50. I’m so glad we found it because I know he had his heart set on buying one, no matter how much it cost.

Submitting a Video To Oprah

My first video project here at UTA will be submitted to the Oprah show. Apparently students in one of the nursing classes initiated this video.



So, yesterday I had a two camera set-up and interviewed the class in a panel format. They talked about serious nursing issues that affect both you and I. The main issue discussed was the nursing shortage. Talk about a huge issue! Even if this video doesn’t make it on air, I hope Oprah raises public awareness of the serious nursing shortage in this country.

Okay, back to the video: So, by submitting this video they are hoping to stir up some interest and hopefully appear on the show. I would love it if it aired on national television. When my supervisor told me we’d be producing this video I told her, “I love Oprah, I tivo the show everyday!” No joke.

As you can tell work is great. The people I work with are extremely talented and I have so much to learn from them.

short and sweet

We don't have an ISP yet at the apartment so post may be slow the next few days.

I just wanted to let you know the move went smoothly, the job is even better than I anticipated, and living in DFW is AWESOME! The only downside is Trey is back in Abilene for at least a week working. I'll see him this weekend and hopefull he'll be done working there and he can start working in this area.

That's all I have for now.