The first thing he said after he came out was that the system used for voting was the most “non intuitive and ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.” He also couldn’t stand the fact that it was all electronic. Funny a computer engineer would say that, but computers are know to fail and in a vote in Finland recently it was determined that almost 2% of the votes were lost. Just plain gone. I would hate for that to have been my vote or in any close election.

I’m sure your next question is who we both voted for. I find that kind of personal and don’t like to argue with friends over political candidates… though give me a specific topic and I’m game. So we decide we wouldn’t share our votes with each other either. We can get pretty politically charged sometimes and we’re not always on the same side. Just ask Sean sometime about the “discussion” we had about six months ago about the American Military. Needless to say we agree on most things and can just vote our own way on the others.

Well all I have left to say is “GO VOTE PEOPLE!”

While most all industries are going through a crunch right now Luminary Micro is pushing right on through. They’ve got another article out and this time it was with Forbes Magazine! How awesome is that!

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/forbes/2008/1110/094.html

We arrived very late Friday afternoon and had to completely repack (as I had packed for the non-primitive type site with running water and such) in order to only have to make two trips… yes we walked 1.2 miles three times! And two times we had between fifty and sixty pounds of gear on our backs and twice we did it in the dark. It’s a good thing we had a few very practical items packed or that trek could have been made many more times that evening. We got our things set up by about quiet time in the park… that would be 9pm or so. We also had some really cool people help us out with the last bit of the second trip. Austin Folks are so Awesome!!! (they were from Austin )

The next day we decided to head up to a scenic point on the map, well that turned out to be a three hour hike, the view at 2200 feet was pretty amazing though. The trees weren’t in full color but there sure were some pretty amazing reds, yellows and oranges among all that green, and yes most of those changing color were maple trees! Crazy to believe all those maples are tucked away in west Texas, and when we got up to head back Sunday morning many more had changed color. It was like being in the New England area and that Texas really had more than two seasons (for those that don’t live here I’d say we have a short brisk fall and the rest of the year it’s summer here ).

All in all we had a good time but I will be sure to check those reservations twice next time as the hike out Sunday was just as rough and we are both now very sore. I even bummed my knee in a fall at the bottom of a dry creek bed with a huge load on my back, but have no fear my price charming was willing to carry me back if need be. Turned out to just be a scrached knee, which he docotored of course, and a spranged knee, thus I will live to camp again. But for now here are some photos from this trip!

Then on Monday we drove out near Lockhart, Texas to see some old friends. I’m sure we all know that it takes a village to raise kids and I’m sure we all have memories of aunts, uncles, extended family and our parents friends. I remember my parents having some great friends and being over at their homes all the time. I even called some of the ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle.’ These people were my village, but as I’ve gotten older they’ve moved to different places and I’ve done things of my own. On Monday I got to see Sam and Steve, Sam has know my mom since junior high at Clute… crazy huh. I remember hanging out at Sam and Steve’s place in Freeport when I was younger and playing with Christina a lot. Then we just didn’t see them for a while. They had moved to North East Texas with their kids Kevin and Christina. We got to visit a few times, I’m sure they remember me and Allie trying to get on those horses. They’re all horse riding pros compared to me and Allie you see and Christina used to even barrel race.

Well times change and we all go to different and new places, but turns out they’re my neighbors here in Austin and Sam and Steve don’t live too far away now. I got to meet both of Christina’s daughters Bethany and Brooklyn, who have grown so much since the last time I saw them they’re now little ladies. Kids grow so quickly! And last night I went to meet Sam, Steve and Christina at Threadgills, because Kevin is in a band. I was pretty amazed as the last time I heard him play he was a lot more country and had a lot less hair. All kidding aside the band, Uncle Lucius, was really good and it felt even better to be with old friends whom feel so much like family.

Back to the wedding, when we were about to go to Monica and Aaron’s wedding the other day I looked amazing (well I can think I did :), but not better than the bride, maid of honor, or mother of the bride (They were all dazzling). I had a cute 1950’s style dress that was a bit dark (greyish silver) with a little beading, appropriate for an after 5pm wedding, the hair do to go with, the cutest slightly modern shoes to bring the look up to date but I was missing a cut little bag and had to settle for just what I had in black.

Problem solved for the next event! I got on Craig’s List and found someone selling the cutest vintage and antique bags. Most of them are Whiting and Davis. If Granny was still with us she would be so excited and have some story to tell me about a Whiting and Davis she had back in the day. I figure I get my thirst for all things adorable and vintage from her. I know the men friends are finding this rant rather boring but for all you ladies drooling there’s more! I got five of them for five dollars a bag. And all the bags came with original matching coin purses and two came with the original boxes. Heaven… that’s all I can say, and it didn’t cost much to get there.

Well that’s all I’ve got for today!

Well I figure by the title it is evident that the last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. To begin with mom, uncle Larry and a friend of mom’s came to visit during Ike. Sean’s parents were also here with a friend as well but they were able to stay in Julie’s new place. For our end, we had a great time. It was fun to have family here to take for some Austin sight seeing and some good Austin food. Though I’ll admit that I forgot how early they get up and go to bed! I don’t function very well before 7am in the morning!

As it turns out most of our family and friends back along the coast fared the storm pretty well. Though there were a couple of exceptions, as mom went home to a tree in her home and some pretty wide spread water damage and my cousin Mark lost his back porch due to a tree. Everyone else had shingles gone or trees in their yard, but were safe and just mostly annoyed by how long it took to get the power and water working again. From what I understand there are some parts of my home town that are still without electricity. It’s amazing to think about the amount of damage done over night by mother nature. My uncle was telling me that parts of beaches I grew up on look completely different and that Galveston looks like a trash dump. I do hope that in time things get back to where they were. Sean and I send out our thoughts out to all those still without and hope the best for them all.

Go here for more information about the Hurricane and recovery:

http://www.google.com/ikeshelterinfo_sept08.html

Well soon after our evacuees left Sean and I went into moving mode. We decide to paint our new place to make it feel a bit more like home. Sean picked out some great colors… guess who did the majority of the painting though. I say this with love as I am technically the one still out of work and with the most amount of time on my hands. He did do the last bit when I just couldn’t touch up any more and mom helped me get started before she went home. It turned out great and by the end of this week we will have completely cleaned and moved everything out of our old place. We don’t quite have the new place together but as soon as there aren’t a thousands boxes laying around I’ll take some photos and post them. I don’t know how long we will be at this place but we both really like it and look forward to having guests as we now have a guest bedroom. (nudge, nudge, hint, hint, wink, wink:)

As for the other things happening, well Abigail and Olivia had their first birthday and we celebrated at Nonnie and Poppies. They both really enjoy chocolate cake, but you can judge for yourself. For those of you who may not know Olivia had surgery a few weeks back. It was mainly nerve racking because the doctors had to give her anesthesia. She came out of it just fine and all scars seem to be healing nicely. Due to this Sean and I got to spend a few days with Abigail (it was hard enough keeping the one with the stitches from touching them, much less keeping the other from touching them out of curiosity). Sean and I enjoyed having her with us. They’re both such good kids.

We also got to help Melissa’s twin sister Monica and her fiance Aaron celebrate their upcoming nuptials. Monica, Melissa and I headed out for Trudy’s and Sean and Aaron went to Driftwood, Texas for some local BBQ and BYOB :). We met up after dinner and went to 6th street to see Esther’s Follies. All in all we had a great time celebrating and can’t wait until Saturday, as that’s the big day. I’m sure I’ll have some wedding photos for you to check out and from hearing all the planning details it sounds like it’s going to be a grand affair.

Well for now I need to post some stuff on Craig’s List and finish putting books away.

P.S. We wish Jason, Ying and Aiden safe journey as they head to China today. We’re going to miss you, see you in a month!

National Hurricane Center:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

South Florida Water Management District Plots page (it will refresh if you use your browser reload button):

http://my.sfwmd.gov/sfwmd/common/images/weather/plots/storm_09.gif

Well the one thing we all should remember is that everthing keeps moving and work doesn’t stop. Thus I should get back to packing. Sean and I get the keys to our new apartment in South Austin this weekend. We will try to post some photos of our place soon…. I just realized that everyone being in Austin might not be so bad… they can help us move! No free evacuee status here, you’ve got to work for it. Well that is going a bit over board, but at least we will have something for them to do.

*UPDATE* 10/06/08 - Photo links have been added to this post.

Well this month has just flown by. We’ve been home to visit the family once this month. We also have a trip planned this weekend to head to Lubbock to help Evan move into his first real apartment. He will be starting his third year at Texas Tech University. Then I’ll be heading home with Sally to help work on my Dad’s house and hang out until Sean shows up the last weekend in August for the all important Birthday Baseball game (Pawpaw turns 78 this year!).

Anyway I just thought I’d update everyone one our future living situation. You may or may not know that Sean and I had been discussing buying a home here in Austin and our friend Lance (who recently became a realtor) helped us start the process. We found the price range and area we were looking at to be a very fast paced market. We found one house that had only been on the market for about 5 days that already had upwards of ten bids on it. Needless to say we learned quite a bit from family, friends, and Lance, but in the end we decided (for many reasons, if you really want all the details call me up and we’ll chat about it) it was not the best decision for us to make at this point in our lives.

I have to admit I felt bad about the situation as Sean had been really looking forward to more space. We did a bit of searching and some compromising and we found a great 3 bedroom apartment with a garage. So unfortunately we don’t get to have the big garden we had been dreaming of but we have the room for guests (you’re all welcome to visit by the way) and we will have a place for some tinkering in the garage. The complex is also located in what I’d call the best part of Austin meaning… not far from the farmers market, close to all the best eats in town, a bus ride to Sixth Street and Zilker, and for all those that decide to visit we will be a hop, skip and a jump from the airport.

Well I will update you more as we get closer to the move in and we know more details. We both wish you all the best!

As always we both hope all of you are in good health and happy.

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