UTA Planetarium

Being the nerds that we are, Aaron and I decided to go on a "date" to the planetarium at UTA on Friday evening. Aaron's been joking about going there since we started working at UTA, and I finally decided to call his bluff. In true form, he donned his "NASA" work shirt that he got at a Goodwill in Houston for the trip to the planetarium. This is his favorite shirt because it says "NASA" on it and is a real work shirt for someone named "Slatten" (it has the name "Slatten" embroidered on the lapel. He likes it so much that he actually bought two of them. Apparently the real Slatten retired and gave his shirts to Goodwill. Anyway, we went to the planetarium and were pleasantly surprised because the show was actually quite entertaining--it was about the Seven Wonders of the World. Then this grad student did the whole, "This is the night sky and the stars you will see when you leave tonight." By the way, isn't it ridiculous when they show the constellations and you have no idea what they're talking about until they put the little cartoon on top to show you? Seriously, there was a constellation that was literally two stars with a line going between them--a stick--and then she put the cartoon on top and it was a dog. Really?

So, as we were leaving, the planetarium grad student girl saw Aaron's shirt and complimented him on it. He was beaming. What a dork. So now he has a crush on her. Beautiful.

Also, as we were walking out they had a little kiosk set up with planetarium shwag for sale. The best was this t-shirt with the Periodic Table of the Elements on it. And the elements glow in the dark. How rich. I am concerned about the folks who buy that shirt without irony. That's just sad.

Life on the Farm

I have to preface this by saying that I absolutely love living in the country. That said, there are a few drawbacks. One of these drawbacks became apparent this morning when I walked out the front door. There were vultures (aka buzzards) surrounding our house, just hanging out and looking creepy. Vultures are just nasty. They are huge and gross and eat dead things. And I really hate dead things. I checked around the house to make sure that we had no dead things on the farm, but all of our animals are happily still alive. So, I think they just like hanging out at our house. I thought about telling Aaron to shoot one of them with his shotgun, but then I realized that our house and trashcan would then become even more of a haven for vultures, so I guess we will just hope that they leave soon. Uggh.

Mabel's Poop

Warning! This contains a picture of poop!!!

Mabel has developed a very strange new talent(?). We have solar powered landscape lights along our driveway that soak up the sunlight all day and then light up at night. Apparently Mabel has decided that she does not like the lights shining on her dog house at night because they disturb her beauty sleep. So she has taken the matter into her own hands and has decided to poop right on top of the solar panels so that the sun can't reach them during the day, rendering them ineffective at night. It is truly amazing that she can aim her poop so that it piles right on top of the panel. While somewhat gross, it is also remarkable, though I've never actually seen her in action, so to speak. Just the incredible result. Enjoy!

Best reunion EVER!

This is just so beautiful, it's hard to figure out where to start...

So...last weekend we drove to Giddings for Aaron's 15 year high school reunion. We missed the 10 year reunion because we we still living in Hawaii at the time, so we figured since we actually live in Texas now, we were obligated to go this time. We loaded up Roscoe, George, and Mabel (yes, Mabel, the Great Dane) into our civic and headed down for the 4 hour car ride. I am sure that people who saw us driving down the highway with two schnauzers and a great dane in the back seat thought we were totally insane. In retrospect, it seems that 3 dogs is 2 too many to take a 4 hour road trip in a civic. But, we finally made it, after a stop at a Whataburger along the way to get some fries to tide everyone over about midway through the trip.

So, here is the beautiful part. We show up at the reunion, which is being held at the "American Legion," a medium sized metal building that is used during the week as a gathering place for veterans from WWII. I am guessing this because there were photos all over the wood paneled walls of army guys. So, we walk in and there are maybe 20 people there. Of these 20, about 17 of them were dressed in full western wear, complete with Wranglers, cowboy hats and the like. It was special.

Aaron introduced me to some of the people, and we "mingled," mostly by standing around the beer keg, which as located outside (not sure why). It was then that I noticed there was a dee jay just for our party. And that was when the festivities really took off. The guy in charge announced that it was time for some dancing demonstrations, and called a couple up to the front of the room to perform. This clip is perfect because you can really see the special demonstration, clothing, and venue all at once.

After a while, we had barbeque, and then they decided to turn the florescent (sp?) lights off and turn on the strobe light, which really kicked things up several notches. I convinced them to turn the lights back on so that I could get a video of two of Aaron's classmates demonstrating a dance to "Baby Got Back." Again, truly remarkable, as you can probably imagine.

The highlight of the evening was when they unveiled the "Prize" table. I cannot even begin to do justice to the prizes. Here is a picture of the prize table.

In case you are not able to see the depth, breadth, and scope of the prizes that were won at the reunion, I will recount them for you here. The complete collection includes: 1) Hairbrush, 2) SoftSoap, 3) a box of strawberry pop tarts, 3) a bag of candy, 4) a 2 liter bottle of green tea, 5) a pink candle, 6) a stuffed tiger, and 7) a tin soup bowl with "SOUP" on the side.

It was truly an awe inspiring assortment of goods, as you can see. Aaron won the tin soup cup/bowl, which he proceeded to fill with beer and sip from the remainder of the evening. We were hoping for the pop tarts, but oh well.

Here's a pic of the whole crew at the end of the evening. What a handsome class. It was truly an unforgettable experience. All I can say is "Wow."